I lost countless of friends in high school and in college, because I was preaching to them - telling them they were going to hell, because they didn't belong to the true "Church of Christ". Imagine me going up to a Catholic, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist or a Mormon, telling them, "you, your mom, sister, brother and family are going to hell - all of you! And if you don't change your religion soon, you will feel the fire deep in those pits!"
Yep, that was me. Don't get me wrong, I believe in God - a loving and beautiful God who made me who I am. Who is there beside me every day, and will be, until the day I die. And this is what I choose to believe. It's not your or anyone else's job to tell me it's not gonna happen. My transformation took time, and I am so grateful to God that it happened, but that's another story - another issue of "My Christian Thoughts."
What is so remarkable about the video is the response the gay man receives after being chastised for over two minutes.
Instead of attempting to ignore a "preacher" spewing homophobic rants, a gay New York City subway rider decided to confront him.
On Saturday, a street preacher went on an anti-gay tirade on one of NYC's subway lines, according to New York Mag's Daily Intelligencer. The preacher yelled about society's poor influence on children, likened gay men to pedophiles and claimed "Michael Jackson died because he was gay" to a crowded subway car.
But one stranger wasn't having it.
"You teach hate," the man, wearing a khaki coat and a large fur hat, responded. "You are false. You are a false prophet. Do not listen to this man. He's scared. He's full of hatred."
The man continued to stand his ground and revealed that yes, he is gay, and yes, God still loves him. "I'm a man. And I'm a good man," he said. "And I'm a gay man and Jesus loves me! Jesus loves me!"
The gay man's eloquence moved his fellows riders so much that it was met by a rousing round of applause.
1 comment:
I understand that it is New York City, but it is nice to finally see this country coming around to being on the side of the loving gay man and not the hate filled preacher. That fire and brimstone, gay scapegoat sermon may still work in most undeveloped countries, as well in the most reddest parts of our country too, but times are changing, acceptance is growing, and no longer is it popular to hate someone solely for who they love. Jesus did teach us to love, not hate, and I could never understand why those who claimed to know his word best still could never get that.
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