Homosexuality: A struggle of the faith

It’s a beautiful day people. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, the waves are crashing. Ok, you can scratch out that last part lest you think that I am in coast but I am pretty sure that the waves are crashing. Beach crashing. Talking about crashing, why is it called gatecrashers or is it crushers? I know it means guys coming to a place uninvited but crashing. Ooooh. Now I get it. Gatecrashers,  as in they crash. No? You are not getting it? Smh. Okay let me lighten your load. Lemme break it down. You see, a crash is something unwanted, it happens without expecting so when you gatecrash, you surprise the gate. You get it offguard and get in. Ideally, the gate should be closed. I know. That is the silliest explanation of gatecrashing ever given but do not blame me. I shall refer you to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. The meaning of gatecrashing is expressed there. The etymology of the word however, is not explained. My bad, I lost you at etymology? Etymology basically means the origin. Keep up with the language will you?

Anyway, where was I? This habit of mine of digressing is becoming quite concerning. Well, I heard it happens to really bright people so I guess I am blessed. An active mind I tell you. Could be a burden at times. So many thoughts, so many wonderful ideas. See? I digressed again. It’s a struggle. Hehe. How fitting, considering the title of this post.

Ah! Finally I have led myself to what I am supposed to talk about, or is it write or is it speak? Anyway, the message. Well, I am just from watching a movie called Reconciliation. Very good movie. It’s a Christian movie. I highly recommend it to you. By the way, before I continue. Christian movies have a way of bringing tears to your eyes. I don’t know if it’s just me but I think in all the Christian movies I have watched, at one point I have had balancing tears in my eyes. I so hope I will not regret confiding in you. My manhood is at stake here. Or as my good friend Newnex once put it, my manhood is at steak! I still laugh about that to this very day. That one should come under the title “The struggle of our language.”  Before I redigress, yes. I do have those moments of balancing tears when I watch a movie and there is a sad part. Don’t you dare judge me. It is not my fault that you have a hardened heart. God will soften your heart someday.

I know you are expecting me to go ahead and tell you the plot of the movie but that is too mainstream. I am not telling you! However, watching the movie made me wonder. Okay, I may have to tell you some part of the movie. The movie is about this guy who had a wife. Now, the wife was pregnant and about to give birth (what else would she give). However, during the pregnancy, the guy started getting distant with his wife. He wouldn’t attend the birth classes (never understood the need for those), he only went for one doctor’s appointment with the wife, he suddenly got too busy with work to the extent of having to go sign a deal on their wedding anniversary. As usual, the wife felt bad. She caught (pardon my translation, it is for the sake of my international audience). So during the day when the guy was signing the deal on a Sunday after church, the wife got a call from a hospital asking for the husband. She said he wasn’t there but they could leave a message. She was told that her father-in-law wanted to see the son that he only had a few days to live. This was weird because her husband’s father had passed away years ago. Anyway, when the guy arrived home, he found the house decorated, candle-lit dinner, romantic dinner tables…look at all the ladies going “Awwwww.”  The guy trying to be enthusiastic, he’d brought a bouquet of flowers. However, he noticed that his wife wasn’t happy. He inquired why and that’s when he was told about the call. Of course the shock, trying to settle down and explain himself. To cut a long story short, the guy had cut off all links with his dad because the dad was gay. He wanted nothing to do with his father and changed his name to his mother’s maiden name when he was 18 and that was the reason he got distant when the wife got pregnant because he feared having a bad relationship with his son as he had had with his father.

Anyway, that is just a preview of the movie. What caught my eye with the movie was how they handled that issue of gays or rather, the issue of homosexuality. Well, one thing is that, homosexuality is regarded as a really bad evil. Like, it is really bad. Gays are usually stigmatized, guys talk bad about them. I do know that it is wrong. It is very very wrong as a matter of fact. However, this is the thing I found interesting with regards to the movie is how it was handled. It gave me a new kind of approach. Let’s look at 1^st Corinthians 6:9-10

                “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (ESV)”

From the verse, homosexuality has clearly been mentioned. But so has sexual immorality, so has adulterers been mentioned. Now, let us put our thinking hats shall we? Which is the greater sin? Which one is considered more wrong when you put adultery on one hand and homosexuality on the other hand? I know my answer. Homosexuality is the worse one. I mean, how does one man sleep with another man? And not like sharing a bed but like having sexual intercourse. However, let’s go back to the Bible. Adulterers and homosexuals both suffer the same fate. Now here is the thing. I am not here to pass judgement or any condemnation. I love John 3:17. Look at you all shocked. John 3 does not end in verse 16 my dear one (for guys just don’t read the dear part). It says

                “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Well that is the thing. Many of us, especially Christians, cannot come close to gays. You cannot greet them as normal people. That is where many Christians flee away from. Gays do have it rough. Here is the funny part. Christians will have hands and arms wide open for adulterers, fornicators, you know, guys who are struggling with sin but want nothing to do with gays while they are also God’s creation. One thing that I learnt from that movie is that, in as much as homosexuality is a choice, it is also a challenge that people face. The same way that we, as the youth of this generation, are faced with many challenges, challenges like masturbation, pornography, fornication, the older generation (our parents generation) are faced with adultery (Adultery is so rampant that ‘Mpango wa kando’ is a normal and accepted thing) is the same way that gays are struggling. Some of us who are blessed with good looks say that “I can’t help it that ladies flock me” and “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” and so you flirt and cheat because it is your weakness. The same way that time and time again you find yourself fornicating despite being a Christian. The same way that every time as a guy you find yourself lusting after a hot mama, or a hot chic. Guys accept it as a struggle and are willing to help each other through it. You know, counseling each other, reading scripture but when it comes to gays, theirs is a struggle of the faith just like the rest of us. It is a desire of the flesh also. It is weird, but it is true. It is a desire of the flesh. They are attracted to fellow men or fellow women. Therefore, my challenge is, as Christians, let us not take the high road of self-righteousness in a way where we look down at gays while ourselves we are struggling with other forms of immorality. Whether we like it or not, gays are in the same boat as the rest of us. It is for us to pray for wisdom on how we should deal with this problem. Because castigation is not the solution, stigmatization is not the solution. Disgust and hatred is not the solution. It is hard but James 1:5 says

                “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Gayism is part of the struggles our faith and it should be treated as such. Like all other challenges, people may not change but let us do our part. Have a blessed day and a blessed week.

In other news, witness 417 of the International Criminal Court just said that Kalenjins are “Tall, thin and black” I am bewildered. My identity is lost. I am definitely black but the other two…