I humbly believe that there are many good-hearted people who are equating love for their brothers and sisters to mean acceptance of lifestyle or behaviour. I can love my brothers and sisters (as I am commanded to do), but that does not necessarily mean that I accept their actions and behaviours. They, like myself, have their free agency and are free to choose their path in life. You will not get any argument from me on that matter. Therefore, I refuse to hate, demean, belittle, degrade, or even condemn any of my brothers and sisters to hell as it was because of their life choices and decisions. I do not claim, nor will I purport to be their judge or jury. Regardless of the path that any of my brothers and sisters choose to follow, I echo the words of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said, "I choose to love because hate is too great a burden to bear."
I do not pretend to know the heart of another person. I have enough to do to make sure that my heart is in the right place. I do not pretend to understand the life of another person or the choices that he or she makes. I have enough to do to make sure that I keep my life in order, make the right choices, and stay on the right path.
Therefore, I cannot justify trying to clean out the corners in somebody's house, when there are cobwebs in my own that perhaps need cleaning out. Let us remember that we are all imperfect people in need of a perfect Savior. Let us not fall into the trap of judging other people because we feel that the size of their sin is perhaps greater than our own sin, or because we do not practice certain behaviours, we somehow feel that we are better or superior to others.
Now, there will be some who will argue, "By loving your brothers and sisters regardless of their lifestyle and choices in life, aren't you really condoning their behaviours and conforming to the world?" The short answer is a resounding NO! Love is compassion. It is not conforming to anything. I can have compassion for someone, help and support him or her as one of my brothers and sisters in any way I can without accepting those things which are contrary to my own personal beliefs and morals.
I guess what I am saying is that we are commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves. The truth of the matter is that all of our neighbours do not live by the same morals, standards, or believes that we do, but that does not give us a poetic license to shun them, hate them, or treat them as a societal outcast. Through our love and compassion, we are demonstrating how we can be in the world, but not of the world.
We need to stop always focusing on the negative aspects, and start focusing on the good in people. We need to try to build more bridges of hope and understanding, instead of adding mortar and brick to walls of division, contention, and strife.
Dear friends, all the bickering, arguing, and hatred needs to stop!
