Do we have courage?

Dear editor,

Re: Throw issue out (March letters). Throw it out, no; discuss it, yes. It is ironic that Peter Southward would choose Saint Paul, the most argumentative writer in the New Testament, to support a claim to "stop arguing."

As for "stand up for Christ," that is specifically the point. It would seem that Jesus made a great deal of what Mr. Southward would dismiss, the "tiny parts of his community: a few fishermen, a zealot, a prostitute, a tax collector, a leper and a crucified criminal.

The fact is that this issue, for many people, is not even about homosexuals--it is about heterosexuals who are claiming to be Christian. Are heterosexuals in this culture extending love to the outcasts and the shunned of God's creation as Jesus was in his culture? Or, are we like the Pharisees, hung up on rules that do not make sense, other than for culturally bred comfort at someone else's expense?

As for our leaders, let us demand nothing. Do we lead the Christian world by removing the logs from our eyes and the shackles from our hearts? Why not show that we as followers of Jesus are inclusive of all God's faithful creation--everywhere?

Do we have the courage to walk with the one who walks with us in the kingdom that we do not realize is among us?

Dale Sparkes

Thunder Bay, Ont.