People of devout Christian faith often have a different definition of the word 'Love' than the average person. Your average person would not consider it loving to tell someone that they are corrupt, evil, damned or an abomination for having a same-sex attraction. It is a loving, Christian thing to do to help make sure that people don't end up in Hell. In this example, that means making sure that LGBT+ people are reminded that they are unclean and unwelcome in the eyes of God as they are. But I'm just a sad, hate-filled, burned up former fundie, what do I know.
Except for the fact that we're all evil, damned, and an abomination in the eyes of the Lord without the saving grace and cleansing blood of Jesus, without exception, and thus are all unwelcome in the eyes of God without it. So to point your finger at that particular sin? Well, Jesus had something to say to the Pharisees about the woman they pointed the finger at and were about to stone for something as heinous as adultery. But, I'm just a miserable wretch of a sinner without Jesus, what do I know
I'm in the south and recently went on a "church tour" with my wife. We found our fair share of hellfire and brimstone evangelicals, but we were also pleased to find a strong counter culture of small and actually loving churches. In that tour, I really started to believe that the sin of man was in the fact that we only have half of what it takes to be gods. We ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but we don't have the immortality required to put good and evil into context. To me, that defines the center of Christian love - we all have our own beliefs, our own habits, and our own lives, and we all want to weigh the world on the scale of good and bad. The good Christians that I know can see the limitations of their judgement, put little stock in it, and can lean into being in a community with people who are different. This is the value of empathy to me. It's not the distanced condolences of sympathy, but an earnest desire to understand the feelings of a person whose life you haven't lived, but which rhymes very neatly with your own. Empathy is not the enemy, it's the belief that you wield god's judgement of a person's value.
Yeah. So true on twisted definitions of love. You know a boatload more about what works than any of the Christian fundamentals you describe. It sucks how we human beings can allow our fear of the unknown, or unfamiliar rationalize our actions as we jack up the lives of folks that would otherwise be doing fine. I’m a recovering Catholic myself. I’ve attended a local Methodist church with my wife and kids on occasion with good results. That is, until the Methodist Church leadership recently made it clear they had no interest in gay clergy members. Our local church, although located in a fairly conservative area, does not want any part of this policy. The pastor was very clear with his disagreement of the policy, yet no action has been taken yet. Turns out the Methodist Church leadership somehow owns all of the deeds to all Methodist Churches, and therefore appears to hold the trump card in this game