{"id":7235,"date":"2016-06-14T04:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/?p=7235"},"modified":"2017-06-11T18:13:40","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T00:13:40","slug":"dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This guest post was written by Emma Higgs<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dear-Non-LGBT-Affirming-Christians-Please-Search-Your-Hearts\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just\u00a0seen a\u00a0news article<\/a>\u00a0showing the faces of those killed in Orlando\u2019s Pulse nightclub on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Face after face; beautiful, young, LGBT+ people, their eyes full of light and life.<\/p>\n

Lives so precious, unique,\u00a0fragile, sacred.<\/p>\n

Each one reflecting the image of their Creator.<\/p>\n

Each one a beloved son or daughter. Their loss is a gaping wound, a searing pain, an everlasting ache.<\/p>\n

LGBT+ people around the world are feeling the impact of the Orlando shooting\u00a0deeply.<\/strong>\u00a0They are mourning\u00a0the deaths of these people as if they were family, connected somehow by invisible but unbreakable\u00a0strands.<\/p>\n

This is because they\u00a0know.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

They know what it\u2019s like to be despised for who they\u00a0are.<\/p>\n

They have felt the hatred in the cold glances and suspicious stares.<\/p>\n

They know how it feels to\u00a0have disapproval and disgust pushed down upon them like a suffocating pillow.<\/p>\n

They have felt the fear of physical attack.<\/p>\n

Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, I\u00a0know<\/em>\u00a0you know this.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know you are outraged by\u00a0this shooting. I know you feel the\u00a0anguish and pain of the friends and families and are praying for them.<\/p>\n

But when you say that you \u201clove the sinner, hate the sin,\u201d or offer condolences with the qualification that you \u201cdon\u2019t agree with homosexuality,\u201d do you\u00a0realize what you are doing?<\/p>\n

You are preventing people from being fully alive.<\/p>\n

In trying to save people from their sin, you are oppressing them.<\/p>\n

You are marring the image of God.<\/p>\n

Sexuality or gender is not something we\u00a0can separate ourselves\u00a0from. As human beings, it\u00a0is a vital, intentional, beautiful part of who we\u00a0are. And it comes in many, many glorious colors.<\/p>\n

Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because the Bible teaches\u00a0far more clearly\u00a0on divorce and remarriage than it does\u00a0on homosexuality.<\/p>\n

If you accept one, what is stopping you from accepting the other?<\/p>\n

I will freely admit, I am still prejudiced. When I see two men kissing, it makes me uncomfortable. This is because it is something I am not used to\u2013I am naturally prejudiced against those who are fundamentally different from me in some way.<\/p>\n

I am aware of my prejudice. It is an unsightly smudge on my worldview that I am in the process of scrubbing off.<\/p>\n

Just because something makes\u00a0me feel uncomfortable, doesn\u2019t make it wrong. It makes it different.<\/p>\n

We human beings are such wonderfully complex creatures,\u00a0displaying such an array of colors and intricate patterns reflecting the glory of the divine.<\/p>\n

We are made to love one another, forging\u00a0relationships and\u00a0journeying onwards together in peace and joy, reflecting the sacred communal dance of the divine.<\/p>\n

We were not made to\u00a0be forced into boxes.<\/p>\n

We were never meant to all be the same.<\/p>\n

Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, I know you genuinely believe that being non-affirming is the most loving thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But I ask you please to spend some time thinking about the effect your views may be\u00a0having on people\u2013maybe even people you know and see regularly.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you could take time to read some stories of Christians\u00a0who have attempted to change their sexuality, like\u00a0Vicky Beeching<\/a>,\u00a0Kevin Garcia<\/a>, Justin Lee<\/a>, or many others Google will happily share with you. These are the survivors, the lucky ones whose stories didn\u2019t end in suicide or even murder.<\/p>\n

In the wake of this horrifying tragedy, let us search our hearts and seek to make a better world, for\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0people.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo via Pixabay.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"emma-higgs\"About Emma Higgs<\/strong>
\nEmma Higgs lives with her husband and two toddlers in Plymouth, England. When she finds a minute, she blogs about progressive theology and mental health, amongst other things, at\u00a0www.emmahiggs.com<\/a>. Find her on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[642,386,385],"class_list":["post-7235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lgbt","tag-2016-orlando-nightclub-shooting","tag-emma-higgs","tag-orlando"],"yoast_head":"\nDear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unfundamentalist Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-14T10:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-12T00:13:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/361\/2016\/06\/Dear-Non-LGBT-Affirming-Christians-Please-Search-Your-Hearts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/\",\"name\":\"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-14T10:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-12T00:13:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/\",\"name\":\"Unfundamentalist Christians\",\"description\":\"Above all, love\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts","description":"Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts","og_description":"Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/","og_site_name":"Unfundamentalist Christians","article_published_time":"2016-06-14T10:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-06-12T00:13:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/361\/2016\/06\/Dear-Non-LGBT-Affirming-Christians-Please-Search-Your-Hearts.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/","name":"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-14T10:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-12T00:13:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, can\u00a0you be absolutely sure that your\u00a0views are not shaped by a watered-down, far less extreme version of the same prejudice that murdered those forty-nine people?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2016\/06\/dear-non-lgbt-affirming-christians-please-search-your-hearts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/","name":"Unfundamentalist Christians","description":"Above all, love","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}