When I’m challenged to provide a biblical justification for the LGBTQIA+ reality, I say that there are basically two approaches.
One is when Bible scholars debate the meaning of the biblical text itself. Many argue that there are less condemning interpretations of these so-called “clobber passages”… passages weaponized to harm the LGBTQIA+ community.
The other is when we understand that these passages were written in a different culture, time, and place, and that like many other passages of scripture, we no longer need to allow them to have the same sway over us here and now. Just like many of us don’t heed the biblical warnings to abstain from shellfish and mixed fabric clothing.
Two people can look at one passage and come up with two opposing positions. If one reads the Bible with a hateful, discriminatory lens, they will come up with a hateful, discriminatory understanding of the text. But when the other reads the Bible with a loving and inclusive lens, then they will come up with a loving and inclusive understanding of that same text. It’s all about hermeneutics. It’s all about confirmation bias.
I say, “Love wins!”
But then I started noticing that people were changing what love means and how it looks. I’m often asked, “But, what is love?”
This reminds me of when Jesus said to love your neighbour as yourself, and the immediate defence was, “But who is my neighbour?” In other words, “How can I escape this demand?” “Can I change the definition so it doesn’t apply to me?”
We see this applied to marginalized groups. One of the first steps in allowing us to marginalize, persecute and even eliminate a group is to dehumanize them, to make them less than and “other”. It makes them not just our enemy, but also not our neighbour. This then excuses us from treating them with any dignity and respect. So we don’t have to love them. In fact, some insist that marginalizing them would be the loving thing to do since they’ve concluded that they have a poisonous effect on society.
What we’ve actually done is complicate love.
Squirming out from under the demands of love isn’t a new thing, but a longstanding human maneuver. It’s a misunderstanding of love that is fatal. I want to correct that. I use cartoons and words to do it.
I think we’ve taken our understanding of love from popular culture… movies, influencers, fashion, ads, etcetera. We think it is emotional, sentimental, romantic, based on taste and preference, desire, attraction, passion. I’m not saying it cannot include these things, but that’s not what love primarily or essentially is.
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that the sun rises on both the good and the wicked, and the rain falls on both the just and unjust alike. I think this is a good understanding of what love is… a radical impartiality. The sun shines on everyone indiscriminately. The rain falls on everyone indiscriminately. They didn’t know this back then, but gravity pulls everyone indiscriminately. I think this describes what love is like.
Look at the parable of the sower. Jesus points out to his disciples that the sower doesn’t take one seed and plant it in that one targeted spec of ground. Instead, in a seemingly wasteful manner, he casts the seed everywhere. Some fall on rock, some on the hard path, some in the weeds, and so on. But some seeds land on good, receptive soil where they grow and bear fruit. Now… I don’t think the main point of that parable is figuring out what kind of ground we are, but what kind of wild extravagance love is!
What this tells us is that saying “No love for you!” is no different than saying, “No rain for you! No sun for you! No gravity for you! No seeds for you!” It simply doesn’t make sense in the face of a radically impartial and extravagant love.
I think my water bomber cartoon “Every Bit of Love Helps” conveys the same idea… that true love is like a carpet-bombing over an entire area, not just a specific spot.
All kinds of philosophers, mystics, gurus, quantum physicists, etc., agree: we are united at a deep and fundamental level. As in everything in the universe, there’s an underlying connection between all things, inseparable, indivisible, one. I think the invisible glue holding it all together is love.
It’s all about love… without the fine print!
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