by Kimberly Due-Vacco

Created on: August 31, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2009

I am a Christian. I was baptized when I was seven years old and grew up in the Christian church. I believe that the Bible is a holy book - the divine, inspired word of God. I have a wonderful, growing relationship with God and my savior, Jesus Christ. I also reject the church's stance on homosexuality.

I am somewhat trepidatious in changing my opinion on an issue that was taught to me as a child in such a black and white manner, but as I got older and started reading the Bible on my own, I could not understand the issue of homosexuality as simplistically as it was put to me growing up. As I began to study, the more I learned pointed me to a God who loved and created everyone for a reason. How could a group of people be such an abomination? It just didn't make sense.

That truth is that God = Love. That means God loves everyone from Mother Teresa to Adolph Hitler. We as humans cannot fathom a love so deep that it would be the same for these two individuals. Our minds reject such a notion because it just seems wrong. Some would argue, "Yes, but God did not approve of Hitler's life and actions, he can love without approving of his life". This is very true, and I agree, but I am just talking about love right now. The love of God is so deep and pure that it transcends any wrongdoing that we could comprehend. Even vile and offensive people are loved.

Most Christians would agree that it is not okay to hate anyone. They would say that it is acceptable to 'love the sinner and hate the sin'. I don't think that is at all what God's message is. It is not okay for a Christian to hate. The Bible does not call us to hate anything except evil. Some might say - "well, the Bible says homosexuality is an abomination, so that is evil". But is it really?

In Hebrew the word "toevah" means an act that is unclean or outside the ritualistic guidelines of Jewish law, not something that is innately evil, as the word abomination connotes in the English language. So, from this we can gather that the abomination of men lying with men that is spoken of is not evil, but rather unclean, so therefore is not subject to our hate. We are no longer living our lives as Jews did under the Levitical law. If we were, we would all be subject to death, for I fear that we have all broken some laws that in those days were punishable by death.

As for some passages from the New Testament that are often brought up in discussions about homosexuality, namely 1Corinthians 6:9 and Romans 1:26, it is unclear

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