In the hustle and bustle of stereotypes in West Texas, the question of whether or not a homosexual can be identified as Christian has not been a topic of debate. Rather, these Bible-thumpers have jumped on a bandwagon of conclusion, and their answer is not just “no,” but “hell no.”

Well, I have other thoughts on that. Having quite a few very close friends in the homosexual community has led me to examine the Bible more thoroughly, in order to come up with an answer to this perplexing question.

I didn’t come up with much, Biblically speaking, but I did meditate on the matter and I came up with this:

The Bible says that there is no greater sin, except the one unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy. Which means that sin is greater/worse than any other. The unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which is stated in Matthew 12:22-32 when the Pharisees denied that Jesus was the Son of God after He performed miracles. However, since Christ is no longer walking the earth, there is no “unpardonable” sin.

If “no greater sin” is the case, and what I’ve been taught all my life, that God hates the sin and not the sinner is true, then I would venture to say that being gay is no different than being a liar or a thief.

Also, the Bible says, “God is love.” Twice, in the book of first John, the author, John, wrote, “He that does not know love, does not know God; for God is love.”

Again, in I John 4:16, he writes, “And we have known and believed the love that god has for us. God is love; and he that dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him.”

A youth pastor once explained that passage to me. “God is love,” does not mean that God just loves; rather, it means that God is everything that love is. He is the epitome of love.

In my heart, I can’t fathom a god who would love and accept a child molester as a Christian and not accept a gay or lesbian as a Christian.

I hear many people pushing others away by telling them that because they like to butter their toast on the other side, they will not see the Kingdom of God, and that is wrong.

I am a sinner and God still loves me. The Bible reads, in Romans 3:22-23, “Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Now, I believe that if Jesus still loved and offered salvation to the murderer and the thief who hung beside him on the crosses, he will love a homosexual just the same.

Ever since I was a little girl, I was told that God knew all about me 2000 years before I was born. He knew that I would have tattoos and only he would know my natural hair color. And if this is true, and God knew us before our conception even crossed our parents’ minds, then he knew that certain people would be gay. Knowing this so many years before, and still loving them enough to send his Son to die for them, why would he hate them now?

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I was vicariously led to a website that I now abhor.  Yes, with one simple misclick of the mouse, I was led to a hideous website called www.godhatesfags.com, which is led by a preacher. This man has gone to great lengths to twist the Bible to fit his own warped perception of God.

The name of the site itself is quite misleading, because God does not hate his people, he loves us, sinners or not. This man was a coward. He hid behind his website with a posted message that gave instructions not to email him with words of his fallacy. The sad part is that if this man would just read the Bible, in context, he would see the truth. And that is that God loves all.

You see, we are all supposed to be walking examples of the Truth and love that is Christ, but we all falter; we are human and God knows this and understands this. As humans, we are incapable of loving completely, nor can we hate without malice—God can do this. Yes, God is a wrathful god when the time is right, but he is also a loving and understanding God.

While we are supposed to act according to the Word of God, it isn’t just our actions that get us into Heaven, as many people think.

In fact, I believe that when it comes down to it, our greater reward lies not with what we’ve done, because we all know that actions can often times be deceiving, as humans have ulterior motives, but with what lies in our hearts.

I think that that one major misconception of “giving” and “doing” is going to get a lot of people in trouble with the man upstairs. Just because one gives tithes and offerings, doesn’t mean its being done for the right reasons. There was a story in the Bible with the rich man who gave a lot of money to the church so that he could look good, and the poor woman who gave her last few cents. In the end, God saw right through to the heart of them and he treasured the poor woman’s gift so much more.

We can all talk the talk about being a Christian, but it comes down to walking the walk.

It is believing in one’s heart that Jesus is Lord and savior that one will inherit the Kingdom of God that the Bible promises.

Romans 10:9-10 states, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

So all this judgmental crap with someone telling someone else that he or she can’t be a Christian is ludicrous. Sure, it’s easy to see the flaws and sins of others but what you can’t see is what counts the most. God isn’t looking at the way we look or whether or not we’re gay, lesbian or straight; he looks through to the innermost part of our being—our hearts.

When we go around judging people for who they are and making them feel inadequate and unworthy of God’s love, we become more a sinner than them. I don’t think that it is anyone’s job on this earth (pastor or avid church-goer) to judge anyone and tell them that God doesn’t love them and that because they express themselves as who they are, they will never see the Kingdom of God.  By doing this, we are pushing people away from the love that God is waiting to extend to each one of us.

“Jesus said in the New Testament. “The only way to Father is through me.” If we as Christians want people to wholly believe that they cannot be redeemed of their sins unless they first believe that Jesus died for their sins, we cannot make them feel that they are unworthy of God’s love.

So, I have come to a conclusion on the question of whether or not God hates “fags.” And the answer is NO. I’m not just saying that because I have a lot of friends in the gay community. I’m saying that because if I thought for one second that my God wasn’t a loving God and would send someone to hell just for being who they are—I wouldn’t worship him.

Isaiah 59:1 says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” This says to me, that God is always within arms length or hearing distance. One must only call to him or reach for him, whether or not they are gay or straight.

But when we as Christians go messing around with the Word of God  and we begin to push someone away from Him, we are the ones who will pay. I think Tupac said it best when he said, “Only God can judge me.”

The moral of this story is that God loves you—Gay or Straight, black or white, sinner or not. If you have a problem with someone’s way of life, you should talk to them or God about it, but don’t go telling people they are unloved by the man who loves us all so much that He sent his only son to die for us—while we were ALL sinners.