Your race, gender and sexuality are irrelevant to God.
True or False?



In my opinion, true.


God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.
Genesis 1,31
God knew what He was doing when life evolved in the way He’d planned.


[Jesus said] "Not one sparrow is forgotten by God."
Luke 12,6


So God created mankind in his own image, in the
image of God he created them; male and female
he created them.
Genesis 1,27
Unlike animals, which show no religious awareness, all
human cultures, ancient and modern, have religion.
The awareness of a higher power in the cosmos is a
uniquely human capability. Being in God’s image
meant that a meaningful relationship between God
and mankind was now possible.

Note how male and female start equal.


[God said,] “People judge others by what they look like,
but I judge people by what is in their hearts.”
1 Samuel 16,7
People have a tendency to dislike, mistrust and be hurtful
to anyone who is different. In contrast, God loves us for
who we are. If we’re different from the others, so what?


Do you think we would ever be judged on things we can’t control? Race, gender and sexuality come into those categories. We will be judged for sure, but it’ll be on the decisions we made in life - on how we reacted to tests that were put our way, not on things we could do nothing about!

[God said,] “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart.”
Jeremiah 1,5
Right from our conception God takes a keen interest in us.
Whatever life throws at us, He is there to give us help if
we ask for it. God is never more than a prayer away.

God sets us apart because He has a plan for each one of us.
This is a dangerous, random world. Where we happen to be
born and what our circumstances are just follow the laws of
chance. But sometimes things happen to us for a reason.
God watches to see how we react to both the challenges
and the opportunities that He puts our way. We are each
given free will, our own particular talent and a
conscience to help us through life’s journey.


[God said,] “I alone know the plans I have for you.”
Jeremiah 29,11


The colour of a person’s skin is not considered to be important in the Bible. The treasurer of Ethiopia was one of the first people to be baptized into the new faith which was soon to be called Christianity (it’s not necessary to be baptized to be a Christian, but some people do it as a gesture). The fact that he was African didn’t get a mention.


Rembrandt’s painting of the baptism

In Jesus’ day women were treated as inferior to men, but Jesus Himself regarded them with great respect. To the surprise of His twelve male disciples, they often found Him in deep conversation with different women from various walks of life. Some of the women then became disciples themselves, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of King Herod’s steward, and Susanna.


Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of
Mary Magdalene


When Jesus returned to life on the Easter Sunday after his crucifixion and burial on Good Friday, the first person He sought to meet was Mary Magdalene. She was overjoyed to see Him.

Some people in the Church are hostile to gay people and personally I think this is a tragedy. Not surprisingly, people who perceive themselves as not being welcome are likely to turn their backs on Christianity. This must make God extremely sad because they don’t know how much God loves them.

This unhappy situation arose because over 3,000 years ago the Israelites were given 613 commandments to live by. Many of them specified which foods were permitted (the kosher food). There were also other commandments about certain religious rituals. Amongst all these rules was one forbidding gay sexual acts. This is tucked away in the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, most of which is not applicable to Christians, but only to people of the Jewish faith.

Only ten of the commandments in the Old Testament are of particular importance to Christians. These are, of course, the Ten Commandments. The first 4 are about respect for the Lord God and the other 6 are about treating our fellow human beings with decency.

In contemporary English:
  1. Make God important in your life.

  2. Don't worship man-made objects by letting them rule your life.

  3. Always use Jesus’ or God’s name respectfully.

  4. Remember that Sunday is special. Enjoy it, but don’t spoil it.

  5. Respect your parents.

  6. Don’t commit murder.

  7. Don’t be unfaithful.

  8. Don’t steal.

  9. Don’t tell lies.

  10. Don’t envy other people’s possessions.

With the arrival of Christianity the 613 rules, otherwise known as the Jewish Law, were replaced by just 2. According to Jesus, what we need to do is this:

Notice the how prominent the word “love” is. Notice too that in Christ’s two commandments the ruling against gay people is missing.

In the four Gospels Jesus appears to have no quarrel with gay people. He says that anyone who believes in Him will be welcome in Heaven. If you welcome Jesus into your home, He will welcome you into His home (Heaven), when the time is right.

There is hope too for those who aren’t Christians, for whatever reason. St.Paul said that people who never had the opportunity to choose to be Christians and who hadn't learnt the laws of Christian behaviour were "a law unto themselves".

For when the unbelievers, who do not have the law, do by nature
the things contained in the law, these, not having the law, are a
law unto themselves.
Romans 2,14

Jesus will judge each person individually, based on what they did with their life, taking into account their individual circumstances. Being the “Good Shepherd” He will separate the “sheep” from the “goats”. People who have never even heard of Jesus, but who spent their lives as kind, caring, forgiving and charitable people will find themseves welcomed into heaven when their time on earth is up. This of course assumes that they are not using their charitable deeds to conceal a variety of nasty criminal activities for which they show a total lack of remorse. They would be in danger of being put among the “goats”.

[Jesus said, referring to Himself ] He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?”
The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”
Matthew 25,32-40
Jesus treats acts of charity to fellow human beings as if they had been done to Him.

Jesus also said
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Matthew 5,7

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5,8
You have to be in Heaven to see God

To sum up, I think anyone who is gay needn’t feel that Jesus won’t welcome them. Thanks to Jesus, the old Israelite commandment against gay people has been swept aside.