To say you love Jesus while dissing his friends is nutty. Jesus was ‘a friend of sinners’ (Matthew 11:19). Friends are kind, trusting, and accepting. They don’t put you down or deliberately hurt your feelings. They don’t make you feel worse about yourself than you already do. They listen to you and seek to understand. Friends are loyal, protective and trustworthy. They like hanging out with you. They make you smile. They laugh when you laugh and cry when you cry. Friends are willing to tell you the truth, but they’re respectful, sensitive to your feelings, and slow to condemn.
What if the followers of Jesus were a little more like Jesus? A little less condemning…a little more like-able? Friends?
I fail to see how making light of those who struggle with their sexual identity makes us more like Jesus. Ridiculing gays and trans-genders (like Caitlyn Jenner) is hardly ‘the act of a friend’. It’s demeaning, disrespecting, and de-valuing. Not what friends do! It’s nutty to think that you can love Jesus and diss his friends.
Your thoughts have me thinking of the Samaritan woman at the well.