Within a similar vein, what must it be like to grow up as a young man within this culture who happens to be gay as well as a devout Christian. To be more specific, a Christian who's motivated to remain faithful to all Scripture as well as his role as an adopted son of God, taking his faith seriously indeed, and therefore looking to eventually marry (a female) and have children, giving himself the privilege of leading as husband / father.
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My local McDonald's was once (& may still be) managed by a black man named Charles. Charles was close to my age (46), though a few years younger. We'd chat on occasion when I was in the restaurant sipping an iced tea or mocha frappe. I'd sometimes attempt to steer the conversation towards his faith by asking personal questions relative to church, and I recall specifically him citing his disdain for his local black congregation due to their propensity to embrace adulterous behaviors as part of the norm. That was sad to hear but intriguing from the standpoint of him reneging on his people group. Which leads me to...
sorta my own lot in life as a Christian man who's also one who struggles with homosexual desires yet chooses to see my fellow gay behaving brothers as headed in the wrong direction morally.
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I grew up in the '80s at First Baptist Church Jackson. At that time, the Senior Pastor was Dr. Frank Pollard. In terms of articulation and humility plus intelligence, there's was none moreso than Dr. Pollard. Considering FBC was a Southern Baptist church, this made his tenure there all the more special. Frank Pollard was born and raised in west Texas, therefore in terms of minorities, it would have been Hispanics more than blacks that provided local color during his growing up years.
One Sunday morning during one of the three sermons he was slated to preach, Dr. Pollard made a statement that drew ire of the one singular black choir member up in the loft. The comment amounted to him citing his pity towards blacks relative to their people group as whole, and from there, the black choir member took it upon herself to exit stage left. As you can imagine, it was akin to other publicity stunts that people feel so moved to enact. But, I must say, it got her point across. And that is, no one, no one, no one needs to expose hard, unspoken truths. That is, unless you're able to codify that truth with real world experience.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
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