My LGBTQ+ Christian Agenda
Spoiler: it’s love
Hello. My name is Esther and I’m a queer Christian. These two sides of myself are sometimes not so easy to explain to others. LGBTQ+ people can, understandably, view Christians as the enemy since Christians are often some of the loudest voices of hate and homophobia. On the other side, Christians often view LGBTQ+ people as the enemy if they interpret the Bible to condemn us.
However, I believe that the gulf between us can and should be bridged.
Love is love
1 John 4:7-8 reads, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37–40, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Love is the core and heart of Christianity. Love is the foundation of Christianity. Without love, what is the point?
“Love is love” is one of the strongest rallying cries in my opinion. If we truly loved one another, the world would be a much better place.
Love is the greatest
Love is the greatest commandment and the greatest virtue. Love is greater than hope, greater than faith.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. — 1 Corinthians 13:4–8
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. — 1 Corinthians 13:13
God is love. Love created the world. Love died for us. Love is the greatest.
My queer Christian agenda is love.
I want to remind Christians that we are called and commanded to love. Yes, we are even commanded to love LGBTQ+ people. Jesus didn’t give us the option.
Many Christians give mere lip service to love, claiming they “love the sinner but hate the sin.” I want to show them that this is a fraudulent love. True love doesn’t hate part of the person.
If I claim to love you but hate your left-handedness, is that love?
If I claim to love you but hate your red hair, is that love?
If I claim to love you but hate your green eyes, is that love?
If I claim to love you but hate who you are, is that love?
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. — John 13:34
In order to love someone as Christ loved them, we have to be willing to lay down our lives for them. There’s no room to judge them.
Agape love
Growing up, my parents had Christian children’s programming called “Agapeland.” These were stories about a place where love was in the air, the water, the soil.
The Greek word agape (pronounced ‘uh GAWP ay’) means transcendent unconditional love. I was taught that this was the kind of love God has for us, and is the highest form of love.
You cannot have agape love for someone and also hate a part of them. “Love the sinner, hate the sin” is not unconditional love. That is not agape.
I want to bring this definition of love back.
That is my LGBTQ+ agenda.
This is a response to the Prism & Pen writing prompt My LGBTQ Agenda!
Esther learned to read when she was four years old, and began writing shortly thereafter. She is a queer Christian poet, crafting with words to create art and music.
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This story is a response the Prism & Pen writing prompt, “My LGBTQ Agenda!”
