Greg Atkinson

I had to say it at least once. I received some pretty mean email from gay Christians. Just as I have called out Steven Anderson several times for being mean, off-base and just plain wrong, I simply called out the billboards that were posted around Dallas for misrepresenting Scripture.

I thought I made it pretty clear that I’m not anti-homosexual and I’m not a person without unconditional love and grace and mercy. Is it not humanly and spiritually possible for me to love and welcome a gay person to my church without agreeing that their lifestyle is not a sin?

Do I really have to compromise my view and understanding of God and Scripture in order to not be called anti-homosexual or homophobic? I’m not anti-liar, anti-thief, anti-adulturer, anti-gossipper, anti-glutton, anti-pride – or any sin you want to pick. BUT, though I love, accept and see them with eyes and a heart of grace, I lovingly encourage them to, as Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” He didn’t preach, shame, ridicule or punish. He simply said “Go and sin no more” (to a woman caught in adultery).

Can I not look a gay man or woman in the eyes and say I love you even though I don’t agree with your lifestyle? Do I really have to condone what one is doing to be seen as loving? I have friends that struggle with pornography (most men, if not all, have looked at porn at some time in their life – women, too). Can I not hang out with, love, accept and be a good friend to my friends that struggle with porn and still encourage them to keep pure eyes and day by day give it over to God?

As to those that emailed me about the 2 billboards referencing the Roman Centurion and the Eunuch. Let’s make a HUGE leap of logic and historical understanding of those passages and say that both the Roman Centurion’s servant and the eunuch were gay – that’s a a big “IF”. But let’s say they were, all that implies is that Jesus healed a gay servant (I don’t think anyone Jesus healed was sinless or perfect) and that Philip baptized a gay man. We don’t have to clean ourselves up to come to Jesus, as we all know.

So, if we go along with their interpretation of Scripture, a gay servant got healed and a gay man got baptized. Neither case affirms their lifestyle. You can be gay and get healed and you can be gay and accept Christ and get baptized. That doesn’t mean that “Jesus affirmed” them as the billboard says.

However, when the Bible does speak up on the issue of homosexuality (not leaps of logic or guessing or assuming – really speaks) – it’s crystal clear on it’s view of homosexuality as a sin (in both the Old and New Testaments).

Hear me: if a gay person said “Let’s go hang out… watch a movie… go bowling… catch a Texas Rangers’ baseball game… watch the Cowboys” — you name it. If a gay person wanted to be my friend, they could with no problem whatsoever. They would know my view of Scripture and that I didn’t approve of this one area of their life and would love to see them live a pure and holy life before God – but, it wouldn’t keep me from hanging out with them and being their friend.

I am a person FULL of grace. I have been forgiven much in my life. I do NOT have it all together. I sin all the time. I screw up. I blow it. I need grace and mercy in my own life, therefore, I freely give it to others.

Ask me to be your friend, love you, pray for you, be there for you – whatever – just don’t draw a line in the sand and say if I don’t cast aside Scripture and believe that your lifestyle is okay before God, we can’t be friends or I’m anti-homosexual – that’s being intolerent and not respectful of my personal beliefs.

I want to hear from all of you, but especially the gay Christians that don’t agree with me. I  don’t delete comments on here unless they’re spam or vulgar. If you have something to say, say it. If you want to email me, email me. If you want to meet me in person (leaders from the 5 DFW churches), then meet me. Do you think of me as antiquated or mean because I hold to one understanding of Scripture? Have I not made myself very clear that I would love you and treat you with respect? Is that enough?

I go to a lot of Texas Rangers games. I also went to watch the Cowboys practice at their new stadium (which is across the street from Rangers Ballpark). On the interstate drive to the 2 major stadiums there have been put up highly controversial billboards by 5 churches in the DFW area. Below are the 2 billboards that I saw on my drive to the stadium.

These billboards caught my eye and I immediately pulled out my iPhone and looked up the Scripture references. Talk about twisting Scripture! Please hear my heart – I love ALL people. I know gay people. I treat them kindly and with respect. I know every week that I’m at my church that there are gay people in the congregation. They are welcome at our church and we believe in unconditional love and grace and mercy.

BUT to twist Scripture like these billboards do and take advantage of clueless people driving down the road that think their references are true and don’t have the ability or desire to actually look the verses up and read them for themselves is wrong.

Several times in the past I’ve started to blog about the issue of homosexuality and the Church. I’ve written drafts of blogs, but never posted them. You see, I usually err on the side of grace and think there are a lot of cruel and mean people in “the Church” that need to see gay people as Christ sees them.

However, I still believe that homosexuality is a sin (just as I sin all too often myself and have my own struggles). Where I disagree with my homosexual brothers and sisters is when they twist, remove or lie about Scripture. The Bible is very clear on this issue and that’s not going to change – even if it’s the 21st Century.

I would love to meet with these 5 DFW churches and their leadership (this is the website for the campaign). I would like to hear their reasoning and explain how they can take two very well known stories in Scripture and use them for their basis of their campaign. I’m extremely disappointed in their misuse of Scripture and what I believe is a type of deception.

Hear me people of DFW: the characters in the stories listed on the billboards were not gay – it’s simply not true. What are your thoughts?

Last Friday, with some friends in Oklahoma City, I saw The Soloist (with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx). Going into the movie, I knew I would love it because I’m a musician and it seemed the movie was about a man’s love of music (which is a big part of it). 

What I left blown away by was the spotlight it shined on the areas/issues of homelessness and mental illness. These are true realities that we all come across and many are working to minister to people in these situations. I loved the brilliance of the movie. It was beautiful and brilliant in its messiness. 

They showed places in LA that I have actually been to and walked – rough, scary, real places. They involved the homeless in the movie and told their story. I thank God that someone is now putting the rawness of poverty on the big screen (like I raved about Slumdog Millionaire) and am now thankful for The Soloist. 

I encourage you to go see the movie and get a healthy dose of reality. Homelessness is real. Mental illness is real. How music can encourage, bring hope, bond and transcend is a gift from God and a beautiful part of this true story. Have you seen it? What did you think?

My friend, Scott Williams, has been preaching this for a while now, but I really believe we must move past just tolerating other races, to embracing and enjoying them. When I posted my last post, I felt I hit a nerve and started to just leave it up for a while longer to see if/who would comment. I think many are complacent and don’t realize or don’t want to think about this issue that I’m raising.

If you look at it from a Biblical and heavenly perspective, it really is something that I believe is close to God’s heart. Jesus was not white. God is not either. The Bible speaks of every nation and every tribe. I can’t wait to experience what Heaven will be like. I’ve had a few (3 total) memorable experiences in my life where I thought I saw a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. It was amazing. 

My kids go to a public school and I smile everytime I visit and witness the diversity of their classmates – from black to white, to Asian, Hispanic and Indian – my kids are surrounded by a beautiful picture of God’s creation.

My best friend is black. His wife is white. Their child is the cutest child you’ve ever seen. I see beauty in the various people around my city and around the world. I started to show a picture of my son’s desk in his Kindergarten class with his deskmates and friends that are black and Hispanic, but my wife wouldn’t let me post a picture of someone else’s kids on the web. 

From the National Policy Institute – DID YOU KNOW?

As a percentage of world inhabitants, the white population will plummet to a single digit (9.76%) by 2060 from a high-water mark of 27.98% in 1950.

The big population story of the 21st Century is shaping up to be the status reversal of whites and blacks and the Indian baby boom. A side bar will be the single digit minority role that whites will assume. Of the 7 population groups studied, only whites are projected to sustain an absolute decline in numbers.

In 1950 whites and blacks were respectively 27.98% and 8.97% of world population. By 2060 these figures will almost reverse as blacks surge to 25.38% and whites shrink to 9.76%. From 2010 the white population will decline while blacks will add 1.2 billion to their numbers. In this time frame the the Indian subcontinent will gain 1.2 billion people.

* So – what comes to mind when you hear and read about “every nation and every tribe”. What do you think about the concept of embracing diversity, rather than simply tolerating it?

This is a blog that’s been a long time coming. I think about racial diversity often and last week I was reminded of how white my church is. I went to visit another local church that is also predominately white, but more diverse than my congregation and it jumped out at me (again).

I’ve said it countless times. I don’t understand why, but Sunday is the most segregated day of the week. I’ve had lengthy discussions with various friends (half of my friends are either African-American, Asian or Indian). I’ve discussed this with various Church leaders and friends/bloggers that have similar interests, passions and desires to see the Church embrace diversity – friends and bloggers such as DJ Chuang and Scott Williams.

Because I grew up in the South, I should be used to an all-white church service. I was brought up in an all-white church, even though I played several sports and had several black friends. When it came to Sunday, we went our separate ways and worshipped with “our own”. Now, 20 years later, I still see that going on.

I know great and gifted white pastors, but they have predominately white congregations. I know great and gifted black pastors (TJ Jakes and Tony Evans come to mind), but they lead predominately black churches. I know great and gifted Asian pastors (Dave Gibbons comes to mind), but they lead a predominately Asian congregation.

Soon I’ll blog about the concept of diversity and share some thoughts, but as for today, I’d just like to hear your thoughts, insights and reasons on why you think most churches experience this sort of segregation when it comes to worship. I think about this EVERY single week at my church. God help us!