Christianity Today: Where's The Love? By: K. Godfrey Easter

According to the same religious law that many of them utilize when spiritually citing the gay and lesbian community, countless, reputable Christian leaders today, especially within African America, are in a word -- adulterers.

(PRWEB) February 15, 2004 --Although in America divorce is a legal alternative to remaining married, there exists established Christian law, which forbids the act even to this day. Consequently, according to the same religious law that many of them utilize when spiritually citing the gay and lesbian community, countless, reputable Christian leaders today, especially within African America, are in a word -- adulterers. But you wont readily read of religious leaders (innocent of this one particular infraction) publicly denouncing the social and spiritual validity of their fellow, divorced clergy who have married more than once, like you will their 'cry loud and spare not' public decrees relating to gay and lesbians desiring the equal choice and right to marry only once.

There exists no evidence that suggests Jesus ever discussed same-sex anything, publicly or privately, during his ministry. However, Christ, the bedrock of modern-day Christianity, did publicly condemn religious leaders of his age for granting bills of divorcement. But wading through all the hype in the media these days one might just conclude the opposite.

Ive never witnessed a broadcast describing someone being dragged out into the middle of nowhere, hog-tied to a fence, and then beaten to a bloody pulp just because he or she once divorced and then remarried. Nor have I ever read an article in which Americas religious community demanded a legislative amendment to the United States Constitution to halt divorced people from having the right to ever remarry. Nor have I heard of any type of social reprisal aimed at halting their equal access to benefits already afforded married couples with no reason to locate a divorce attorney.

Granted, in many Christian churches today divorce is heavily frowned upon. Yet, its leadership instructs that heterosexual individuals that do divorce (for reasons other than fornication) and then remarry can receive unconditional forgiveness, grace, mercy, love and acceptance from God and also from their congregations. Moreover, most divorced believers are permitted to take on active pastoral and other leadership roles in mainstream Christian churches. Relaxed, attractive atmospheres are even created that foster new, 'Christ-centered relationships between divorced individuals and other church members, not being the divorce persons initial spouse. They bless and spiritually consecrate these new unions in the eyes of God - although one or both of the newlyweds former spouses still live, and are at times active members in the same congregation.

But this is categorically contrary to the teachings of Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus was quoted as teaching, It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I [Jesus] tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery."

Furthermore, the penalty connected to the act of adultery is synonymous with the penalty attached to the supposed sin of homosexuality." The Old Testament reads, If a man commits adultery with another mans wife - with the wife of his neighbor - both the adulterer and the adulteress [like those who commit same-sex acts] must be put to death."

Could it be that since so many spirit-filled" pastors and other Christian leaders are themselves the continual perpetrators of repetitious unions, this blatant infraction of Gods law and Christs teachings is so ardently disregarded nowadays? Or could it be that many of todays clergy have manipulated Gods law to make it conform to their social traditions, and in effect, nullifying Gods law by changing it? Does this sound familiar? Any well-versed Christian will confess that Jesus, himself, accused the ancient church of similar acts of aggression against Gods established predicts.

One writer of the New Testament, Apostle Paul, commented on similar types of gatekeepers of religious law on this wise: Now you...If you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark... - you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: 'Gods name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
The infamous apostle should have also prophesied that on the account of the Christians alive in the year 2004, Gods name will be held in contempt among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals, and others who have not come to know God as God.

Finally, is it considered an act of unconditional grace to say that the immeasurable, unmerited grace available from God stops only at the sin of adultery? Does Gods amazing grace cover only those sins of Old Testament law that are socially comfortable by todays standards? Let me put it another way: Is divorce (absent of unfaithfulness) a sin? Many Christians might respond, Yes, of course, and theres plenty of scripture to back that up." Then will God consider the bed of that remarried person defiled? Most would probably respond, No, absolutely not, because of the New Testament law of grace, and theres plenty of scripture to support this."

Then, should not the same amazing grace, religious acceptance and social approval available to divorced people who remain remarried be extended to gays and lesbians who remain gay and lesbian?

These are but a few of the more puzzling questions that remain avoided in arrogant-laced pulpits, as mainstream Christian leadership continues its one-sided, seemingly hypocritical onslaught against the social and spiritual validity of same-gender-attracted humanity.

K. Godfrey Easter is a social and spiritual activist, an engaging public speaker, and the author of "LOVE LIFTED ME: In Spite Of The Church." More info about this author can be found at www.loveliftedmenetwork.com .