Post Secret Fridays - Issue 117

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My Christian Thoughts - Issue #2 - The Subway Preacher

In today's My Christian Thoughts I'd like to talk about a video I saw last week.  The issue hits close to home, because I remember portraying the pastor or preacher in this video.  The debauchery that takes place really upsets me and it does so, because who are we to judge other people?  Who are we to tell other people what to do?  I understand teaching or sharing The Word, but I don't agree with forcing it down a person's throat.  In the end, we will be judged individually by a higher Being if this is what we choose to believe, and for those who don't - more power to you.

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. 

[Excerpts from the video]
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. 

"Ain't No Homos Gonna Make It To Heaven"

C'mon, join me now... "I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong...ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven."  A little louder... "I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong...ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven." 

Yep, those are the words sung by a mere child in front of a congregation in Greensberg, Indiana.  


Isn't that just lovely?  And to think that all along I thought our preachers and pastors were men of God and all they cared about was love. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing that everyone is not like that, but as more and more churches are declaring death to us gays, and spewing hatred month after month, what else are we to believe?

I believe in a loving God.  A building is not a church.  What makes up a church are its people, and if there is but more than 1 that condones this hatred and death towards myself and my partner, then you are part of a bigger problem.  You are, in part, congregating with them, singing and worshiping with them.  The bible states where two are more are gathered in his name, He is there with them.

You don't have to go to a building to worship with people who hate your son or your daughter.  Get together with those you love and worship together, at a park, in your home, at a school - worship with them - they are your church.