Thursday, December 1, 2011

Today is World AIDS Day

I wasn't going to blog about it because I hardly feel qualified to comment on it. To my knowledge, I don't know anyone who has or had AIDS, so other than growing up in the shadow of condom billboards, my life hasn't been touched by the disease.

But from my Christian perspective, I realized I do have some things to say.

In its early days, AIDS was miscast as a gay disease. I have heard loud Bible Thumping televangelists declare that AIDS is God's retribution for gay sin.

This is clearly not how I see the issue. Because this is not how I see God.

My God created Heaven and Earth. He created Man in his image and we are all perfect in His site, even if we are flawed by sin. We are all perfect creations of God. Born just as God intended each one of us to be.

I have spoken to enough gay people to know that they were born gay. I have grown up with enough gay people to clearly see— sometimes before it was even clear to them — that they're gay. I know being gay isn't something a person chooses. It is just who they are.

The God I know, the God I believe in, wouldn't punish someone for being who He created that person to be. I can't and won't believe that. The God I know is merciful and forgiving. Slow to anger and loves righteousness.

I have often wondered if God's intended purpose for homosexuality — or same-sex attraction as some churches call it — is to test pious religious people.

God calls us to love our neighbor, regardless of who that is. And our neighbor is defined as everyone else on Planet Earth. To not be able to love someone because of their sexual identification, or their race, or because they just annoy the ever-living daylights out of you, is not a true Christian way to behave.