ERICA DUNOMES

Every year, since 1969, the month of June brings with it a hot topic. This topic is centered around a group of people who we now, for the sake of not being banned on social media, have named them the alphabet community. Today, even though we are just a few days past the month of June, I’d like to share my thoughts on that. I’d like to share my thoughts on the LGBTQ+ community from a Christian parent’s perspective.

This is close to home for me.

Let me first start by saying that my personal experience with people of this community comes closer to home than you think. I am a mother whose son was recently delivered from that lifestyle. With that being said, I am not here to use my platform to voice my opinion in a way as to bash anyone or spew any kind of hate. However, I must be honest and say that when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community, I have a love and a hate concerning them. Here are three points to further explain what I mean:

• I love the people of the LGBTQ+ community, but I hate how they are blind to the truth. The Gospel Truth.
• I love the people of the LGBTQ+ community, but I hate the lifestyle that they have chosen to live.
• I love the people of the LGBTQ+ community, but I hate the labels by which they have come to falsely identify themselves.

We are living in a day and time where people are told to live their truth. And in their truth, they believe that they can love who they want to love and do what they want to do without thought that there are consequences to bear. Also, in this day and time people call right wrong and wrong right. It’s to the point now that to call wrong as wrong or to speak what is true is termed as hate.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! ~Isaiah 5:20

It’s sad to think that when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community, Christians are looked at as only wanting to push on to them judgment, hate, and rules. In reality, this is not the case at all. We truly just want them to come out of the darkness of sin into the light and love of Jesus. We know that if they could only just taste and see how good God really is, they will find that the love that they think they obtain in lying with a person of the same sex, compares nothing to the real true love that God has for them.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ~John 3:16-17

So, how do we point them in the direction of that love? I hope to shed some light from my experience with my own son.

You love them.

My son moved out not soon after he turned 18 years old. Shortly after he moved out, he came out to me. It was not a complete surprise. I had been a witness to his personal struggle with an attraction to the same sex. But as his mom, I had hoped that he would overcome it. He was in church, so he knew what the word of God said about same sex attractions. Yet, for him then, it was not enough.

Parents who love their children naturally want what’s best for them. I wanted that for my son. So, when he came out, I was left hurt and speechless. I did not know what to say in response to what he had just told me. I did not want to respond in my flesh. So, I asked God to give me the words to respond the way He wanted me to. This is what He told me to tell my son: He said,

“Tell him, that just as He is not separated from My love, he is not separated from yours.”

~God, Jesus, Holy Spirit

So, that is exactly what I did. Over the course of time, I held on to that truth from God, and I remained there for my son, showering him with my love. Because here’s the reality that God revealed: Our children have to grow up and live their own lives.

They are going to make mistakes. They’re going to rebel. They are going to do some of the exact things you don’t want them to. They are human. And apart from you, they have their own experiences they’re going to have to go through. What makes the difference is you, as their parent, being there to love them the way they need you to.

God is that way for us all. We can turn our backs on Him and walk completely away from any desire to ever know Him or live for Him. That will not stop Him from loving us. There is nothing we can ever do before God that will ever separate us from His love.

That is the love the people of the LGBTQ+ community needs to know. They need to know that regardless of what they do, God LOVES them. Even as they refuse to acknowledge Him, He loves them.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
~Romans 8:38-39

You tell them the truth.

Loving my son did not mean that I was supposed to be in agreement with his lifestyle and never tell him the truth of what God says in His word about it. As a Christian, God has given me a command concerning every human being on earth. He gave me the command to love them (John 15:17).

To love someone is to tell them the truth. By telling them the truth you show them that you actually care, and you want what’s best for them. As a Christian, that is what I am called to do. Even more so as a mom. God and His word are that truth.

The word of God is clear about the practice of homosexuality and its origin.

They knew God. But they did not give glory to God, and they did not thank Him. Their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. People were full of sin, wanting only to do evil. So, God left them to follow their evil desires, and they made one another's bodies impure by what they did. Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do. Women stopped having natural physical relations with men for what is unnatural. In the same way, men stopped having natural physical relations with women and began wanting each other. Men did shameful things with other men. And in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrongs.
 ~Romans 1:21,24,26-27 ICB

Men and women were never created to desire a person of the same sex in unnatural ways. God considers it to be evil and an abomination.

You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. ~Leviticus 18:22 NASB

Why does God consider this an abomination? Because it is a lifestyle of sin, and it goes against the natural design that God has established for mankind (Genesis 2). It is also a lifestyle that steals, kills, and destroys the lives of those who are bound by it.

The truth is that ALL human beings were born bound to a lifestyle of sin. It doesn’t matter if it is homosexuality, fornicating, lying, stealing, killing, adultery, gossiping, etc. Not one person on earth is exempt.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
 ~Romans 3:23

Frankly, this is a truth that leaves no room for me to stand in judgment against the LGBTQ+ community or anyone for that matter. However, this does not negate the fact that God wants us to choose Him and a lifestyle of righteousness. For that to happen, we must repent and be born again (Matthew 3:2; John 3:3,5).

My son needed to know that God had a better life for him. He needed to know that he was more than the sexual preference he was falsely identified as. He needed to know that his real identity was and could only be found in Jesus Christ. He needed to know that the path that he had chosen for himself in living that lifestyle was one that only led to death and destruction.

As his mom, it was my responsibility to tell him. It still is. Rightly so, I have that same responsibility of love to the LGBTQ+ community. I will not cease from telling the truth in love. God has a better life for them to live through accepting his Son Jesus. That is the ultimate truth.

You make room for God to move.

When it came to my son and wanting him to leave the lifestyle of homosexuality, I quickly had to realize that I was not his savior. I could tell him what the Bible said. I could tell him my thoughts and express my views all I wanted to. But I could not save him.

I continued to pray. With my prayers, I made room for God to move on my son’s behalf. I was always praying that God would deliver him. It was one of those situations where only He could. I held on to belief that if my son was ever going to come out of homosexuality, God would have to be the one to do it. At times my faith would waver, but I never lost hope in God or His faithfulness.

When it comes to the people of the LGBTQ+ community, you have to realize the same thing. You are not their savior. Jesus Christ is the only one who died for them. You must make room for Him to move.

If you or someone you know has a loved one living the homosexual lifestyle, I encourage you to keep praying for them. Let yourself not be discouraged by what things look like. Christians are called to walk by faith, not by sight. Trust in God. Get out of the way. Make room for Him and let Him do what only He can do.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. ~2 Corinthians 5:7

There is power in the name of Jesus.

Jesus has the only name that is above every other name. His name is the name above homosexuality. His name is the name above all of the names connected to that lifestyle of sin. It is his name that must be lifted up to those of the LGBTQ+ community. When that is done properly in love, He will draw them unto Himself.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 
~John 12:32

Are you one still hanging on to the promises of God for your loved one?