There is a major celebration presently going on among the LGBTQ, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer or Questioning persons or the community regarding the declaration made by the Vatican on Monday December 18, 2023 in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic Priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies.
This is in no way a thing of surprise to me. I saw this coming years back and I remember telling some people closer to me then that someday shortly, the church is going to embrace the LGBTQ on the basis that the individuals involved in LGBTQ are creations of God as it was said in Gen 1:26-27 that, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Every human on earth is created by God, not the Devil and we all have the right to love and be loved as it was said in Lev 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
The children of your people in this context are not talking about a person of the same faith as you as we were made to believe, but anyone and everyone that is of the same tribe and nationality as you. A person of the same clan as you are; must not hold or bear any grudge against such a person. Yes, this can also be extended to someone who is of the same faith, religion, and mindset or the same locality or community as you are.
In Matt 5:43-48, Jesus Christ said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
I have no idea why so many people became LGBTQ; but in my Ministry path as a Pastor and Marriage Counselor, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a couple whose Wife later opened up to me on why she’s not enjoying the marriage and why she prefer to be with a person of same Gender with her than to be with the husband.
She lamented how her father abused and molested her sexually, how all the Men in her life had taken advantage of her and how her husband made her feel like a nobody. To worsen the case, the husband abandoned her in the house for weeks, sometimes months with two children to cater for with money and the only person who came to her rescue was a Female Girlfriend who later became her lover.
In her case that was her reason for looking at life and seeking acceptance from the other side of life. We have no idea of what led others to being an LGBTQ person and I don’t think that it is appropriate to judge anyone or condemn for being an LGBTQ person because in Rom 13:8-10 Apostle Paul said, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
People find habitation where they are accepted, appreciated and valued. No one buds in an environment of hatred and evil intentions towards their persons. Even plants, flowers in particular grow to be more beautiful to the eyes when you speak the right words to them, water it and remove the dead leaf on it every time, all the time. I know this when I was working with an Indian Man as a houseboy.
Now, if just an ordinary plant can come out so beautiful by being tender and caring for it, how much more Human Beings? A person with flesh and blood flowing in his or her Veins. A person who is wired up with emotions and intellectuality to dissect any information and decide what is best for himself or herself.
The act of wickedness and self-centeredness among us humans led to what we have today as LGBTQ and the majority of us are still blind to the fact that acceptability is the first step to emotional healing. We cannot continue to judge people, condemn people and give wrong narratives about people when we have no idea about the genesis of their decisions.
It’s so pathetic to see that the majority of us humans judged and condemned other people’s actions, decisions and choices based on the fact that they are not doing what we are doing or believe in what we believed in. forgetting that there are no laws that say every human being on earth must reason same way and act the same way. If that happens, then we’re no longer humans but zombies.
Nothing stops us from accepting and showing love and respect for the LGBTQ. They are humans like you and me, created by God, not the Devil or Satan and the fact that we think that we know better doesn’t necessarily mean that we are acting better and in most cases, actions towards people are the very reasons people repel against us and our actions towards them, and Apostle Paul warned against this in Gal 5:13-15 saying; “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!”
Enough is enough to point hands against each other. Enough is enough of trying to control people for our selfish reasons. Enough is enough to judge people. Enough is enough to condemn people. Enough is enough to try to decide for people. The reason why God gave our brain to us Humans is so that we can decide what is best for us; and this Prophet Moses made clear in Deut 30:19-20 saying; “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Sometimes, if not all the time, the best way to bring out the best in people is to allow them to make their own decisions, make their own mistakes and learn from their own mistakes. Trying to prevent a Toddler from falling while trying to learn to walk might be preventing the child from walking at all. It’s a question of time before we transfer the fear in us into the child and rather than the child making efforts of his or her own to walk, the child will just be sitting in one place because of the fear of falling. Falling and failing are part of life and whoever will not fail can never succeed.
In Prov 24:16 King Solomon said, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again”. A righteous man in this context is a person that is doing something from the sincerity and the integrity of his heart. Even If what the person is doing is wrong we have the perfect example of that in Gen 20:1-7 where it was stated; “And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Take this or leave it, so many people all across the world are doing whatever they are doing because they have limited or no knowledge, information or understanding of what they are doing. Yes, in law, there is no ignorance. But in reality, you know only what you know, what you don’t know, you don’t know. And there is no way we can make better decisions when the information at our disposal is minimal or we don’t even have any at all.
But because most of us Human Beings are too judgmental and self-centred; rather than looking at issues from all angles and making better decisions, we allow our religion and selfish habits to becloud our reasoning and as a result, we lose good people for our bad attitudes. And Apostle James warned against this in James 2:8-13 saying; “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
I love three other translations of this scripture aside from the NKJV.
TMB
You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period. Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.
GNT
You will be doing the right thing if you obey the law of the Kingdom, which is found in the scripture, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” But if you treat people according to their outward appearance, you are guilty of sin, and the Law condemns you as a lawbreaker. Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all. For the same one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Even if you do not commit adultery, you have become a lawbreaker if you commit murder. Speak and act as people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. For God will not show mercy when he judges the person who has not been merciful; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
NLT
Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.
This made me remember the stand warning of Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 10:12 saying; “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
That we’re on a path of life doesn’t mean that we’re better off than the others. God did not love a particular set of people and hate others, no. In John 3:16-17 Jesus Christ said; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” To my understanding, God so loved the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Sikhism, Chinese folk religion, Buddism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Animists, Satanism, LGBTQ etc. that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
The word here Is “whoever believes in Him” not whoever is a Christian or whoever is Born Again. Jesus Christ confirmed the same again in John 12:46-50 saying; “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Now, this is the reality the majority of us Christians don’t like to accept and it’s a fact. One can be a Muslim and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Hindu and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Judaism and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Protestantist and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Sikhism and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Chinese folk religion and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Buddha and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Jainist and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Zoroastrianist and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be an Animist and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be a Satanist and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be an Idol worshiper and believe in Jesus Christ. One can be an LGBTQ and believe in Jesus Christ.
One can be a Christian, Catholicism, or even a Pentecostal person and still not believe in Jesus Christ but pretend to be and this we have everywhere which Jesus Christ also confirmed in John 8:31-36; “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever sins is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
He did not stop there, In Matt 7:21-23 Jesus Christ said; “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
To do the will of God is to understand the nature of God and the nature of God is love. This Apostle John made us understand in 1 John 4:7-16 saying, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this, we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
When I posted on Social Media that “Catholic Church authorizes Priests to officiate Same-Sex” a friend responded to that saying; “My question is why can’t Gay people write their own Bible and start their religion? And open branches all over the world?
Why is the church their target?
They can use the same legislative act to start their religion and write their bible
Buddhists did it
Harri Krishna did it
Why aren’t the legislative laws also asking the Mosques to perform Gay Weddings?
Are we saying Gays are in churches only?
No Buddhist Gay?
No Muslim Gay?
And other sects and religions?
Most Gay people say they were born as Gay and it is biological. So why are they not seeking a religious identity?
If being Gay is merely biological it also means they exist in all religions
Abi na only church dey born Gay biologically?
Why is the church targeted?
In response to his many questions, I said, “The church is not the target, the church made themselves the target. This whole thing started in Genesis 19:1-5 where it was said that “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”
If the church is wise, and if King James of England who compiled the Bible meant well, they should have removed this part from the contexts, just as they removed several other books, texts and messages from the original Bible.
There are some things I dare not talk about for the sanity of young believers, but the truth is, that ignorance and religious brainwashing have destroyed so many lives across the world and it’s a pity.
While Christianity destroys people mentally, physiologically, emotionally and morally some people of other faith who are fanatic destroy people physically. Either way, religion is a killer.