Finding common ground with a reasonable, albeit bigoted, pastor
/Last week I wrote a post asking if it was so hard to imagine Jesus supporting same sex marriage. In response, a reader forwarded a piece by Nate Pyle, the Lead Pastor at Christ’s Community Church in Fishers, Indiana. Pyle is opposed to same sex marriage and views homosexuality as immoral, but he took a stand against Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act
I don't agree with Pyle when it comes to his position on same sex marriage and homosexuality. And though I am not a religious person, I remain quite certain that Jesus would agree with my position if he were here today.
Still, I like what Pyle has to say.
My friend, Kim, is fond of saying that reasonable people can disagree. Pyle is an excellent example of this. While I find his position on same sex marriage abhorrent and heterosexually convenient (I suspect that Pyle might feel differently if he were gay), he is a thoughtful, rationale person seeking a way to treat people decently and respectfully despite his bigoted opinions about my gay friends.
His words, posted below, echo my own from last week. Despite our differences, we share common ground in this regard.
Kim is right. Reasonable people can disagree. And sometimes, despite enormous differences of opinion, they can also agree.
“I cannot find a place in the gospels where Jesus refuses to serve someone who has a different worldview than he does. The Samaritan woman, the Roman Centurion, the Syrophoenician woman, tax collectors, and on and on. Jesus met everyone with an incredible amount of grace. In Jesus we find a relational God who is willing to go to extreme measures to love human beings. It’s why John says that we love because God first loved us. God gave us grace long before we wanted it. And so we give grace. Freely. Even to those we disagree with. Even to our enemies (I’m not saying LGBTQ are our enemies. I’m saying grace goes to those we think deserve it the least).”