Rev. Kelley Becker: Don't bring your judgment and try to disguise it as love
On Saturday, September 10, 2022, Oklahomans for Equality-Bartlesville (OKEQ-Bville) and other community sponsors are hosting Bartlesville Pride Lives Here 2022 at Unity Square. The event will be a fun, colorful, celebration and expression of diversity, inclusion, and love. The church I serve participates in the event each year and, as always, the church and I are being criticized for doing so.
So far, I’ve been called a heretic and an apostate. People, claiming to be Christians, have posted on social media that I am “leading my flock astray” and have proclaimed that I am a “false shepherd” and a “devil.” I am not the only target of the name-calling. The sponsors of Pride and board members of OKEQ-Bartlesville have also endured this hateful rhetoric by people who, again, claim to be Christians. Sadly, I have come to expect this behavior each year and, if it wasn’t such a poor reflection on the God these folks claim to worship, it wouldn’t even be noteworthy at this point. As an aside, if these Christians are wondering why people are fleeing the church and why the term “religious trauma” is commonplace, they need only to look in the mirror.
The interesting thing about these outbursts is that they happen during the weeks leading up to Pride and then die down until the next year. It seems clear to me that all the noise is not about concern for the people in my congregation or concern for the larger community and our children, but about stirring up division between neighbors. And the fact that they use their faith and their flawed interpretation of scripture as tools to hurt and exclude people is not in keeping with the ways of Jesus, who they claim to follow.
I don’t usually use my column as an opportunity to teach about the Bible because I recognize that not everyone who reads the newspaper is interested in what the Bible says about anything. However, this time I am going to make an exception because the way in which the people who are making a fuss are interpreting the Bible is more than hurtful, it is dangerous and extreme.
I am not going to talk about specific verses because I don’t have the space to do so, but I am going to talk about biblical interpretation. At the very least, it is important to understand that everyone who reads the Bible interprets it, even the people who claim it should be understood as the “literal, infallible word of God.” That, too, is an interpretation choice. If we want to truly understand the Bible, we must understand the context into which it was written. For example, the primary concern in the lives of the Ancient Israelites whose stories appear in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), was the survival of their people. Life expectancy was low, especially for women, who often died while giving birth. Making more people was crucial. Sex-related activities that were not about procreation were a threat to the whole community, not because they were morally wrong, but because those acts did not produce babies.
By the time the New Testament authors were writing, the early followers of Jesus were less concerned about increasing their numbers and more concerned with the Greek culture in which they were immersed. To draw a hard line between the early church and the surrounding culture, leaders like Paul criticized the rituals within Greek religions, including some that were sexual in nature, like the presence of temple prostitutes and fertility rituals. To be clear, the concern was not about consensual same-sex relationships between adults, but about pagan religious practices.
Of course, there is a lot more to say about interpretation, but the point is, when we understand the contexts into which the biblical texts were written, we can better understand the texts and consider what they mean for us today. In her academic document, “What the Bible Says and Doesn’t Say About Homosexuality,” Rev. Dr. Lisa Davison of Phillips Theological Seminary, writes, “The threats that existed for Ancient Israel and the early church are not what threatens today’s world and church. We face possible extinction not due to a lack of procreation but because of overpopulation. The Christian faith is no longer a minority voice, especially in the United States. Just as the biblical texts were written in certain historical contexts, so must we interpret them today, within our own contemporary world.”
In 21st century Bartlesville, Oklahoma, the LGBTQ+ community is not a threat to anyone. In fact, the opposite is true. Members of the LGBTQ+ community in our nation have often been on the receiving end of threats and violence. LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to be bullied and harassed than straight, cisgender youth. Research shows that people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, or gender non-confirming are nearly four times as likely to be victims of violent crime than those outside such communities. For Christians who have forgotten, our call is to stand with the ones who are vulnerable and to love other human beings as God loves them. It seems to me, the LGBTQ+ community is among the most vulnerable. They need our love, not our judgment based on faulty biblical interpretation. In addition, members of the LGBTQ+ community are business owners, schoolteachers, healthcare workers, emergency responders, and our next-door neighbors. They don’t threaten us, they make our lives richer.
This week, Bartlesville can show our neighbors in the LGBTQ+ community our love and support. But the Pride celebration is not a mandatory event. Anyone who chooses not to participate is free to skip it. Unity Square is used for all kinds of community events, and we have the freedom to decide whether to attend or not. If it’s not for you, that’s okay. But to be clear, everyone who seeks to love and affirm the LGBTQ+ community is welcome. And one more reminder: Love is only love if it is received as love by the recipient. So, don’t bring your judgment and try to disguise it as love. Our neighbors in the LGBTQ+ community have experienced that before. They know better. Don’t forget, we are better together.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Rev. Kelley Becker: Don't bring your judgment and try to disguise it as love
