Last week, I was very pleased and proud to sign a petition at the website www.chogaffirm.com. It calls for the denomination Church of God, Anderson, Indiana, to be affirming of the LGBTQ community, and to apologize for past wrongs. There’s more to it, of course; those interested can go to the website and take a look. My particular church, Park Place Church of God, has ben very affirming for some time now, though it’s my understanding it hasn’t always been this way. On Thursday, as expected, one of the church leadership branches, Indiana Ministries, published a response. I will not link to it here; if you want to read it, google chogaffirm response, and brace yourself. For me reading the response felt like getting punched right in the gut. Between this and the loss of my dear friend earlier this week, my body is having some negative reactions to the trauma I’m feeling. I never expected anything like this response to come from the denomination I have chosen as my own, the first place that has really felt like a church home to me. The extremely contentious and (at least I think) hateful wording is so incongruous to anything I have seen in the past decade. I’m finding it extremely difficult to process.
As for my feelings on the subject at hand, here is how I see it. How anyone else chooses to live their lives has no impact on me whatsoever. And, if two people of the same sex love one another and want to join together in marriage, who am I to judge that? If anything, to my way of thinking, it strengthens the overall notion of commitment. The more committed couples there are, no matter how it might look, the better off the world will be. Historically the church has done so much damage to the LGBTQ community, between nonacceptance, ostracization, and in some extreme cases the absurd notion of “praying the gay away.” There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus would have been in full fellowship with the LGBTQ community, no restrictions, no caveats. Not only should the church do the same, but it also needs to answer, in any way possible, for the past wrongs it has done. I think the church I have come to know and love would have no problem at all doing this. Or at least that’s what I’ve always thought.
- Our Weekend Getaway - January 22, 2024
- So Long, Mom, And Thanks For All The Spaghetti - November 10, 2023
- Thoughts On The Chogaffirm Petition - June 3, 2023
- Rhonda - June 3, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 23 - April 4, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 21 - April 1, 2023
- State Of The Household - January 9, 2023
- Book Review and Miscellany Thoughts - November 18, 2022
- Initial Thoughts On My Writing - September 13, 2022
- Beyond Words Day 19 - September 11, 2022
