The Bible is a difficult rule book. It has all these laws we’re supposed to follow, and some of them are easy, some of them are outdated (am I really going to cloister myself in a room each time I get a pimple just in case it might be leprosy?), and some of them make society very angry.

In today’s world, one of those laws that makes society very angry regards homosexuality.

What follows is a thought process trying to make sense of the Bible, society, Jesus, and the basic rights of humanity.

To be clear, the Bible does say that a man lying with a man (or a woman with a woman) is an “abomination.” It also calls for the death of any practicing homosexual.

Practicing. As in being homosexual isn’t enough, a person actually has to be acting on it. Otherwise, they’re just a normal person. The sin, if sin there is, isn’t in the fact that they are homosexual, but that they are “lying with another” of the same gender.

You know what else is a sin? Fornication. A man lying with a woman when neither are wed. If one or both are wed, then it is adultery — a sin that according to the Bible also calls for the death of its sinners. So adultery is on par with practicing homosexuality, yet do we see people waving signs saying “God hates adulterers!”? No, we don’t.

One way to look at homosexuality is through the lens of heterosexuality. If two heterosexuals have sex, it is a sin unless they are married to each other. Same thing with homosexuals. If two homosexuals have sex, it is a sin unless they are married to each other. The Bible doesn’t allow for homosexual marriage. Society does, but that’s another issue.

Essentially, my point is that the two are the same. What is a sin for one is a sin for the other. And the classification of “sin” only applies to the act, not the preference.

Why do I bring this up? Because I am tired of hearing “God hates gays” and “Being gay is not a sin.” I don’t care if it is or not — it’s not for me to judge. It’s for God, and only He knows what the real criteria is. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, it’s all the same. So is lying, cheating, and murdering. And when was the last time you convinced two people to “stop living in sin”?

In the end, a person must decide on their own whether or not their actions are a sin, and live their life accordingly. In the end, only God will have the final say. We are not to judge.

Yet for all the Bible’s rules — the easy, the outdated, the hard — there is one that shines bright and golden: Love your neighbor as yourself. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Love one another. Love. LOVE. LOVE!

We are not called to hate. We are not called to judge. We are called to love. Only love matters. The rest is between an individual and God.

This post was inspired by this article: A Teen’s Brave Response to I’m Christian Unless You’re Gay