Gays living in delusion

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There is rise Christian Fundamentalist in Singapore has resulted in a push for the creationist story instead of evolution theory now throught at the schools. For many Gays in Singapore, anything to do with Christian Fundamentalism is a treat due to the unprovoked hostility shown by these groups to Gays. The story of creation is a result of the literal reading of the bible which means that it actually took place, and not a metaphoric creation. To many Gays, such reading apparently condemns them and therefore creationism should be opposed in the same light of reading the bible literally. Hence, many gays are perturbed by the idea that Gays can be creationist.

Firstly, by approaching the issue of creation (and in support of evolution) with a prejudice be it a religious reading as being literal, or an opposition of it based on reading the bible metaphorically because we are unable to accpet what the bible apaprently says in other areas is totally illogical as it does not address the issue at hand and our opinions have already been made up. Evolution despite claims by many scientist as being a theory is at best a hypothesis. It does not take a "rocket scientist" to see the folly of evolution. Evolution can be equated to having a hanger full of raw metals, and after many billion years or so, you miraculously have a Boeing 747 aeroplane. It takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe in creation. Without God, who then is the person who designed, manufacture, and tested the Boeing 747. Hence believing in evolution just for the sake of coming against a literal reading of the bible is a commitment to intellectual suicide.

Mankind is much more complex than a Boeing 747 and a much greater level of intelligence and power is required to create life. Hence, creation points to the existience of an almighty God. The bible starts with creation of earth, it ends with the creation of a new earth. It is a beautiful narrative of how God relate to His creation. The many species claimed by scientist as a path of evolution, reflects the beauty and majesty of God's creation. Without accepting God's creation, we could never able to accept that God created us as Gays. If one is unable to accept that God created them, how could one accept Jesus, the reality of God. If we are to follow the paths of evolution, where the fittess survived, there would not be Faith, love, and Justice, attritubes that we have because we are made in the image of God.

Many Gay Christians lived in their two selves, their Gay and their Christian idenitity. Both liberal and Convervative Chirstians tend to do so. The liberals attempts to "filter" or make the issues gray. Whereas the conservatives, attempts to limit or "de-Gay" their identity. Both attempts can cause great harm. Although one can assert that "it works for them", does it really work? or does it in fact cause them to go into depression. Both parties are deluded by their image of God as somehow against them being gays. This reminds me of the multitude of the sick that were gathered at the sheep gate. They sought healing but it was not given. They had great faith, with one of the lame awaiting for 38 years, a life time. Let's us go to the story..

In John 5:12, there is a pool called Bethesda with 5 porches at the sheep gate. The name Bethesda mentioned is actually two words in Aramaic: Bet Hasda, which means "house of kindness" or "house of grace." In John 5:14, when the waters are stirred, apparently the first person who enters the pool would receive their healing. Therefore, a mulitude were waiting for the moving water. This description is a reflection of what the Jews folklore rather than a statement of fact. It would be known to the readers of John that such pools were common and dedicated to various deities ("Angels"). Indeed, the Romans had built ritual baths in small caves east of the pools and dedicated them to a pagan healing deity. The stirring was actually fed by underground springs that would periodically surge and cause the water to move. The pools were a last resort for healing but was more a hope rather than reality.

In John 5:5, there was a lame man who had waited for 38 years. Jesus happened to be at the Sheep Gate and noticed him. The multitudes at the pools will come and go. They sought healing and will leave after they did the ritual in the hope that they will be healed. One might come over and over again. But to come to the pool for 38 years? a lifetime !.

(John 5:6 NKJV) When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

In John 5:6, delusion meets reality. There at the pool was God in the form of human flesh. The almighty God who could healed everyone of them. Yet, the multitudes looked to fiction, to believe in an Angel stirring the water rather than to have faith in a living God. Jesus, God incarnate was standing in their midst yet they saw Him not. But Jesus had great compassion for the man who had been there for 38 years. The man who tried everything but still did not get His healing. It was a life wasted believing in a lie that somehow healing can be obtained at the pool. Just like many Gays, they lived life in delusion believing wrongly that God is somehow against them. A lifetime is spent to be celibate or with evangelistic zeal to declare that the bible is only a good story and should not be seriously taken as literal. So much is many of our faith, that we abide by this or attempt "to make this work for us" for a lifetime. But try as we may, we will one day have to face the question that Jesus asked the lame man.

In John 5:6, when Jesus asked "Do you want to be made well?", it was not just an invitation to be made whole but to live no longer in delusion i.e. to see God as who He really is rather than to find God in the form of our own creation. It should have been a "Yes" or "No" answer, but the lame men reverted in John 5:7 that he had no man to put me in the pool. He was still trying to make His delusion work to the very end. Jesus could the have left the man still waiting for healing and still stubbornly refuses to budge and having faith but not having it where it matters. But the heart of God, the heart of comapassion, the heart of Grace stood out, and Jesus healed the man even though the man did not gave Him the permission.

The healing fell on Sabath day, a day that we celebrate each week because Jesus died and rose again for us. Through His death, He welcomed Gays into His church. (Isa 53), a declared freedom for the oppressed, freedom for the outcasts that they may be accepted once more. We celebrate by breaking bread and taking wine. We are celebrating the reality of Jesus's body broken for us, and His death that we may have ethernal life and forgiveness of sin. At that Sabath, Jesus could heal the lame by looking forward to the Cross of Calvary. It was the Cross, that gave the man healing. It was Jesus death at Sabbath.

The heart of God cries out for Gay Christians today not to live in delusion. What may seemingly "work for them" is not a solution nor even a bandaid. It just does not work because it will not give them true freedom out of bondage. That freedom could only be found believing that the Bible does not condemed them that Jesus through the cross accepts us as who we are. We may stubornly hold own to our faith in our own delusion for 38 years, but it will be a wasted life. Let Go and Let God have His own way.