For those who don't watch the show, last night's episode followed a doctor named Callie, a woman who is gay and who became estranged from her staunchly Catholic father when she came out to him. He returned last night, assumingly to make amends; but, he brought his priest with him intending to "pray away the gay," as Callie's character said. The scene that was most riveting had him condemning his daughter for her behavior, throwing scriptures in her face.
Ohhh but glory! Callie came right back with the words of Jesus and ended with a remarkable and true statement: "Jesus is my Savior, Daddy, not you."
Like my friend Joe, I try not to talk about homosexuality often, because I live in two worlds: the one where people I love are gay, and the Evangelical Christian one that's scared to broach the subject. These two worlds don't often collide, but when they do, it doesn't tend to go well, and I find that incredibly unfortunate.
As someone who grew up in the middle of hard-right Southern Baptist conservatism, I have had to wrestle with my own beliefs about homosexuality. But I don't want to make arguments here for whether or not homosexuality is biological or environmental or some combination of both. Honestly, I don't care which it is.
But I do care about people. I care that the Church has chosen to ostracize a group of people based on their sexual orientation rather than the position of their hearts. I care that there are individuals who feel rejected and hurt by the Church, instead of loved and cared for.
I applaud the writers of Grey's Anatomy for opening up dialogue, for taking on not only the subject of homosexuality, but homosexuality within the context of Christianity.
I hope those of you who make up "the Church," the body of Christ, will be challenged by this. I hope you'll take it personally. Because when we choose, as the human representatives of Christ, broken as we are, to reject any group of people, it is personal to them.
The Jesus I know, the one whose words I read and teachings I follow, he made everything personal. It was personal when he forgave the adulterous woman at the well. It was personal when he cast out demons from a man and put them into pigs. It was personal when he made the blind see and the crippled walk. And it was personal when he died for me, for you, and for every other person who has ever walked this earth.
And what he wants is a personal relationship with every single one of us. As the Church, are we introducing all people to that Jesus, or are we leaving it up to the culture to fill our silent void?
6 comments:
Your blog has some good information in it, and this isn't an attempt to start any type of debate because I too have grown up in a Christian family and society, but you're missing a couple of things:
1 - Grey's anatomy is a tv show and Hollywood is different from real life. You can't compare the two.
2 - The Jesus that both you and I know and the Bible speaks numerous times against homosexuality. So your comments in your blog and the religion you say you follow are contradicting each other.
3 - You're grouping all of Christianity into the same mould. I am against homosexuality because of my beliefs, but I have homosexual friends and care for them very much. Also, the Christian church that I attend welcomes everyone with open arms and they have for the 10 years it's been in existence, including homsexuals.
Granted, the Christian church as a whole has brought this assumed bias on themselves, however they follow what they are taught and what they believe - just like every other religion out there.
Bill,
I appreciate your comments and want to attempt to respond to them well.
1. I'm not trying to compare Hollywood to real life. I am well aware that they are incredibly divergent. However, television does serve as a relevant medium of communication in and about our culture. As such, I think the show has attempted to answer the exigence homosexuality's presence in our culture creates, while the Church on the whole shies away from this.
2. I think it is important to point out that Jesus speaks out against all sin, but always loves the person. For the Church to ostracize a group of people for one particular sin is wrong. I believe that Jesus was about LOVE above all. His focus was not on condemnation, but on forgiveness. To be really honest with you, I am trying to reconcile my beliefs about homosexuality with my biblical beliefs. They do contradict one another at many points.
For me, I have come to wonder if the more relevant questions is this: is the contradiction primarily between what the Church has taught me to believe and what the Bible actually teaches? Don't misunderstand me, I am not necessarily applying that line of thought to homosexuality, but I do question the way the Church as a whole has taught its own version of morality as biblical truth, when it is not always the same thing.
3. My attempts to simplify my point do seem to bulk Christianity into one mold. I agree that the ostracization I talked about is far from the case in many individual churches. I use the term "the Church" to represent the global Church, the totality of believers who serve as a representation of Jesus to all people. On the whole, that group condemns homosexuals as much as they do the act of homosexuality, which is what I have a huge problem with.
Your argument that Christians simply "follow what they are taught and what they believe- just like every other religion" is also problematic to me. Christianity is not the same as every other religion out there. The Christian Gospel does not require that we comply to particular laws or rules. These are given as parameters for living a better life, much the same way parents give parameters to their young children to protect them. The Gospel is Jesus, period. It is not Jesus AND you must be straight, or Jesus AND you must never cut your hair, or Jesus AND you shouldn't drink alcohol. The Gospel is Jesus plus nothing.
My biggest fear with this issue of homosexuality is really based in an overarching fear that the American Church has taken the Gospel of Jesus and perverted it, creating a Gospel that is binding rather than life-giving.
Well done... :-)
"You can't pray away the gay."
-Grey's Anatomy
I was weeping during the episode and now I'm weeping reading this.
"The Jesus I know, the one whose words I read and teachings I follow, he made everything personal."
Oh, WOW. Yes, He does. And thank goodness for it.
great post hope, - i love your blog
i agree with some of what you have said. -
i have to wrestle against my old roots as well. i also have to wrestle with how i love someone when they are clearly sinning against the creator. - Jesus loved as he confronted the sinners. while at the same time loving them in his heart -
lets pray for our churches to act as christ did - Love ppl, and hate sin.
Post a Comment