Table of Contents:
Judgemental to ban Gays
Isn’t it judgemental to say: “Gays can’t stay at Bed and Breakfasts or hotels”.
But that has happened.
How many people have been turned away from a Bed and Breakfast for being greedy?
Or denied entry because they are an angry person?
Yes someone can be turned away for shouting at the proprietor, but how about for living an angry life?
Are some sins ‘acceptable’ while others are not?
So, some Christians say that Gays can’t stay at B & B’s or hotels, but greedy people can, so can angry people.
Are these ‘things’ on the same level?
Does God really see any one of these as being worse than the rest?
Some people think that Gays can be banned – I’m thinking of two cases (2008 and 2010).
John Wadham, a director at the Human Rights Commission, said the hotel was a commercial enterprise and subject to community standards, rather than private ones.
But it has been said that you have a right to choose what happens under your roof.
Well yes within reason, if it is our own private house.
But as soon as it is a Bed and Breakfast or a hotel, that makes it a place of business and so it becomes subject to community standards – whether the proprietors agree with that or not.
My thoughts on this are: If anybody wants to ban a Gay couple from a B & B then why don’t they ban a greedy person or an angry person?
(I could also add an unmarried couple onto that list – but that broadens the topic too much.)
The answer may be that greed and anger are ‘not so bad‘ in some people’s eyes, well let’s quickly look at them:
Why not bash Greedy people?
By greed I mean a desire for wealth, status, and power.
The Bible is very direct on this:
and greed, which is idolatry.”
Colossians 3:5
Yes, the desire for wealth, status, and power is idolatry, to which the Bible says:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: … idolatry … selfish ambition…
Galatians 5:19-21
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
That sounds very severe. If Christians ban Gays shouldn’t they ban a greedy person?
Why not ban someone with an angry life?
In almost any congregation there will be an unwritten code of conduct where the ones that start to do ‘things’ in the ‘unacceptable’ areas will be shunned, ostracised or banned and they can include trivial social differences…
Church leaders are becoming managers of a business called ‘church’, is that right and how are the best leaders chosen?
For the average person on the street is church relevant, how do we meet the challenge?
There is good anger and bad anger – the former can be expressed in a good way when, for example, children were known to be in a situation where they were being abused by grown-ups and nothing was done to stop it.
Bad anger is the normal self centred reaction and Jesus puts this anger on the same level as murder!
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago,
Matthew 5:21-22
‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.“
Some Christians want to bash Gay people
Why do a few Christians want to point the finger at Gay people?
Are Gay people worse than greedy or angry people, or adulterers, etc, etc? See an article on the different views on what makes something a ‘sin’.
Is it right to say: “Gays can’t stay at B & B’s or hotels”?
I just don’t see Jesus excluding certain people, He was always in amongst the ordinary people, and spending time with those who didn’t attend the Temple.
He met people at where THEY were.
Jesus didn’t ‘bash’ prostitutes or swindling tax collectors, but unfortunately a few Christians seem to want to ‘bash’ Gay people.
The only time Jesus remotely went ‘bashing’ was towards the religious hypocrites, the people who promoted lots of laws but actually they themselves didn’t submit to God, nor honour Him.
On one occasion Jesus really laid into them and gave them a bashing:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
Matthew 23:13-15 and 23-28
You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.
You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are…
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.
But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.
You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former.
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
Wow, that is fierce stuff.
But Jesus was gentle, non-judgmental and compassionate when he met and dined with prostitutes, tax gatherers and people known as ‘sinners’.
How do we match up to Jesus’ attitudes?
More detailed articles:
Sometimes Christians behave in a worse way than non-Christians, so how does that make us feel?
Should a Minister of Religion wear a uniform so that they ‘stand out’ from ‘ordinary folk’, or is it irrelevant?
Reference:
[i] Image adapted from: Man Clutching Moneybags While Banks Collapse by Emmanuel Wyttenbach is in the Public Domain