Church Signs

This isn't the first time I've seen this particular quote on a church sign. That the deep truth of it escapes the people of this particular church (and much of the Church in general) is beyond my comprehension. To many people, both followers of Christ and non, the church has become the one place to go to feel worse if you're already feeling bad. Beyond the humor of this sign lies a tragedy that I'm sure breaks the heart of God. How many people have left the Church feeling defeated, used, betrayed, and worthless? How many could have encountered the fathomless grace of the Father instead of rules and regulations leading to spiritual, and sometimes physical, death?

I am reminded of the statistics I've seen of gay men and women who are so guilt-ridden by the institutional church's teaching on homosexuality that they consider suicide the best alternative. Considering that: homophobia is for the most part based on 6 quotations from the Bible; most Christian churches have actively preached hatred of homosexuality (and homosexuals) for decades; many conservative Christian churches are presently leading the crusade to prevent equal rights for gays and lesbians, prohibit same-sex marriages, and prevent accurate information on sexual orientation from entering the public schools, it is believed that Christian churches are responsible for no less than 40% of the homophobia in the United States. More to the point, a conservative estimate is that churches are directly or indirectly responsible for no fewer than 496 youth gay/lesbian suicides per year.

Evidence of the church's guilt in this regard is clearly voiced by John Smid, program director of Love in Action, concerning homosexuality: "I would rather you commit suicide than have you leave Love In Action wanting to return to the gay lifestyle. In a physical death you could still have a spiritual resurrection; whereas, returning to homosexuality you are yielding yourself to a spiritual death from which there is no recovery." (http://www.whosoever.org/issue4/issue4_LIA.html)

Anyone who asks if Jesus would ever say anything like this, and answers in the affirmative, needs to re-read the words of Christ, "I have come that they may have life ever more abundant." Life is what the church is called to offer - not death. Peace & blessings.