TGIF?

As you can see in my ‘About me’ section, I work in mortgage. And I am not sure if you’ve seen the news, but times are getting a lil tough.

As such, many of my co-workers have more free-time on their hands during the course of the day. And, as is commonly the case, that means forwards.

I was recently forwarded a joke from a pretty darn good blog.

(Read the joke or this rant may make little sense.)

For the lazy who didn’t click the link: It’s a gay joke, basically a newly damned person is lamenting being sent to Hell and Satan is trying to improve his spirits. Satan notes that all of the stuff that was ‘bad’ in life was A-OK in Hell. With the punch line adding that Fridays are gonna be kinda tough.

While I laughed at the joke, it raised an interesting question for me.

Why is this joke equating being gay to being a sin?

When I raised this question to the person who forwarded it, they were surprised.

“How did you come to be so OK with the issue?”

Being a straight fella myself, I had the usual gay-phobia in my younger years. It gets to be a catch-22. You know little-to-nothing of gay men, yet you are unwilling to interact with them, so your phobia feeds on itself.

I prided myself on being very culturally sensitive and diverse, yet failed to include gay/lesbian people in my life. After much thought, I decided my stance was hypocritical and worked on changing my ways.

Then I started working in mortgage.

Not sure if this rings true for every mortgage company, but many of the places I have worked with have been pretty gay-friendly.

Any gay issues I may have had were tossed-out the window as I realized these guys were just that, guys…Who just so happened to like other guys.

(Luckily for me, gay men find me as attractive as straight women do, so there were no awkward situations/advances.)

Which brings me back to the joke.

Is being gay a sin?

Folks will say that the Bible clearly says being Gay is a sin.

While that may be true, I am not a fan of literal interpretations of the Bible.

If the Bible were meant to be interpreted literally, there would be no need for Pastors to sermonize. Church service would simply be a 1-hour weekly reading session.

The Bible is not the ‘Word of God.’ It is man’s (and woman’s) take on God’s word. It is full of stories and parables that are meant to fuel thought and nurture contemplation.

Eye for an eye, is a euphemism, not a rule.

So is being gay a sin?

I just don’t know. And since I don’t know, I cannot damn a person for being gay.

There are two big issues that arise when thinking about the issue.

Is being gay a nature or nurture thing?

I lean pretty heavily towards folks being born gay. It’s a natural thing. I have met too many folks who had terrible times growing-up or simply living, while trying to ‘fit the mold’ with regards to ‘normal’ sexuality for me to think it’s a lifestyle choice.

If someone is simply being who they were born as, how can they be damned?

Then there is the question of big sins versus little sins.

Is one sin worse than the next?

Is murdering someone worse than lying? Is adultery worse than stealing? Is being gay worse than being a drunk?

To be honest, I do think of some sins as being worse than others…If you are a murderer, I am gonna think far less of you than most folks, who I know have told a lie at some point.

Am I right? Probably not.

A sin is a sin. So why make gay men out to be the devil, when everyone else has a laundry list of sins to account for themselves?

Is being gay a sin?

I don’t think it is.

But the bigger point is that it simply doesn’t matter. Because we are all sinners.

Like Jesus said, “Let those who are without sin cast the first stone.”

So until someone can come to God with a clean slate this whole finger-pointing exercise is moot. More time should be spent tending to your own house before broadcasting the short-comings of your neighbor.

Wow, all that from a joke. I really need to lighten up.