Yes, Jerry, I have a heart for gay people that I did not used to have. A sinner comes to church, walks the aisle, and makes a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This man has a lot of money stacked up through years of hard work, business guile, and even some taking advantage of others.

Much of his money is filthy lucre and gotten by a sinful obsession to have more. He is in a business that wheels and deals and is designed for ultra-capitalism. This man is welcomed into the fellowship with no strings attached.

No one watches his bank account and no one examines his dealings. No one sees if he reliquished much of his time in business to spend time with Christ and his family. He still struggles with cursing and smoking, but no one puts him on a time frame for repentance and no one suggests he may niot be saved if he does not give up those habits.

Did I mention that he is married for one year to the woman for whom he left his ex-wife? But no one suggests that he jump through any hoops in order to be welcomed and considered “saved”. He doesn’t have to remain “celibate” in order to establish his repentance for the adultery and its ongoing fruits.

This man blends into this fellowship, never goes to Sunday School, loves the after church get togethers, and has an affection for the pastor. Did I mention that this man gives regularly to the church?

But let us not forget…this man is heterosexual. Saved!

One thing I would note (from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians) – Paul’s instructions on expelling a member (who was in a relationship w/ his mother/step-mother) was dealing with how the church ought to deal with members who are living in blatant, obvious, unrepentant sin.

Part of the issue of homosexuality is that many churches treat the same-sex attraction as “blatant, obvious, unrepentant sin”, when (as Campolo notes in his citation of celibate homosexuality) it is the acting on the attraction which is sinful, not the temptation itself.

Being drunk is a sin, and living in a constant state of drunkenness in sinful. However, those who are trying to escape alcoholism are (quite often) in a constant state of temptation toward drinking – but it is not the temptation that defines living in a state of sin, but we would not consider this sinful unless they fall to the temptation…

[I swiped this from a friends blog. (h/t Regan)]

Tony Campolo shares the following story about a gay classmate in the documentary Lord, Save Us From Your Followers.

When I was in high school there was this boy name Roger. He was outed – a gay kid and his homosexual orientation became known. West Philadelphia High was a huge and tough inner-city school. You can imagine what we did fifty years ago when ignorance prevailed on this issue. We humiliated this kid at every turn.

On Fridays, after phys-ed, when all of the other kids would go into the shower Roger wouldn’t go in with us; he was afraid to. When he took his turn we waited for him with our wet towels, and when he would come out, we would whip him and sting his little body.

I wasn’t there the day that they took Roger and dragged him into that shower room and shoved him into the corner. While he yelled and screamed for mercy, five guys urinated all over him. I wasn’t there when that happened.

He went home. He went to bed at about ten o’clock. They say it was about two o’clock in the morning when Roger went down into the basement of his house and he hung himself. I knew I wasn’t a Christian because if I was a Christian, I would have been Roger’s friend. You don’t have to legitimate somebody’s lifestyle in order to love that person, to be brother or sister to that person, and to stand up for that person.