Conservative Gayness and Liberal Living

Whenever I have the opportunity to get to know a new friend and our conversation turns to what I do, the new friend automatically assumes that I am extremely conservative and am Republican to the core. Even among many Evangelical Christians it is widely believed that you cannot be a Christian and a Democrat, or even worse, a liberal. Accordingly, the media and our culture at large feels that the Christian right is a demographic to be feared and an enemy to homosexuals, prostitutes, hard charging businessmen, as well as any form of art or pleasure. While this may characterize some of the Church, it does not encompass it all, and I would argue that we as Christians are the most prepared to live fully, gaily(in the old English sense), and liberally.

What does God require of us as Christians? Well, the prophet Micah sums it up very well: "he has told you O man what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (6:8). Justice and kindness are done by living fully under the Word of God. Instead of being a chain to bind His people down, God's Word is freeing, allowing His children to live liberally and to enjoy His creation. As Peter learned: "What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 10:15). God's creation is good; He called it good Himself. It is man, fallen and depraved, who has taken what God had created and used it for evil. But even this is not outside of God's will, and even now, creation is anticipating the redemption of God's garden.

And so, where does that leave us? Liberalism without wisdom and prudence is like "a city broken into and and left without walls" (Prov. 25:28). Likewise, Conservativism without wisdom and discretion is doomed to die a slow, grumpy death. We Christians are called to live a full, liberal life under the freeing realm of God's word. We are to care for the fatherless and the widow as well as love the unloveable and care for the needy. Yet at the same time we are to govern with wisdom, subdue the earth, and be fruitful and multiply. In other words, we are to wisely and humbly tend the garden in which we temporarily dwell.