Tag: pride

How can I give charitably? #Charity365

‘God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.’ Acts 10:30-31

Recently, I checked off a to-do I’ve been meaning to-actually-do for some time: I added two local organizations to my charitable giving to complement my regional and international charitable giving.

I say this with some trepidation because I don’t want to attract praise for doing so–“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”–but what I do want even more is to encourage everyone to consider starting to give charitably so that we can help out those who really need it on an even bigger scale. We are wildly, fantastically rich, in all ways, in first world countries, start giving now and you will begin to see all kinds of personal benefits.

Start anywhere. Really, don’t sweat it.

It’s so easy to start. I started giving $10/month to three charities – less than one percent of my income. As I continued, and realized I could give more, I started increasing my giving and expanding the scope of those I was donating to.

This time around I want to focus on the immediate how-to because it’s so easy and so convenient and is so rewarding to know that, yes, while you are incredibly blessed in your country, you do want to help others and you are trying and you have tangible actions that show your heart is in the right place.

Continue reading “How can I give charitably? #Charity365”

Pride Toronto – Why Christians can’t support it.

Pride Week Toronto is an annual event in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) celebrating the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community in the Greater Toronto Area. Over the past decade, this event has become huge. It is one of the largest such events in the world. More and more, it is becoming very accepted, very common-place, and has become an event which people of all groups, even if they don’t identify with the Pride groups, will go to celebrate at events. Such a celebration, however, can not be joined by a Christian for one very simple reason: When all is said and done, Pride Toronto is an event celebrating sin.

Pride Week Toronto is an annual event in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) celebrating the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community in the Greater Toronto Area. Over the past decade, this event has become huge. It is one of the largest such events in the world. More and more, it is becoming very accepted, very common-place, and has become an event which people of all groups, even if they don’t identify with the Pride groups, will go to celebrate at events. Such a celebration, however, can not be joined by a Christian for one very simple reason: When all is said and done, Pride Toronto is an event celebrating sin.

Speaking to a Christian about Pride Toronto, it would be just as absurd to ask him if he’ll be going down to the Stealing Parade or the Adultery Parade or the Murdering Parade or the Idolatry Parade. I get that this can sound insulting to a member of a group Pride represents but the comparison and analogy does help to help explain a Christian’s stance. It is not the severity of the action, instead it’s that the action is an affront to Holy (sacred) God. It would be completely contradictory and nonsensical for a Christian to support the celebration of sin.

Why can’t a Christian support it? The bible plainly and repeatedly calls it a sin. The bible verse many trot out first is “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Lev 18:22) This has been used so much, and admittedly is inflammatory in our culture, that many dismiss it because they believe the rest of the bible speaks to God’s love and grace as if that mooted the earlier command. God’s love and grace are indeed great! But they are balanced by His Holiness (separate, sacred) and His Justice. The bible speaks more on homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments (see Cross References on this page for more).

For some other reading on the topic, see the wikipedia article on “The Bible and homosexuality“. From a Christian perspective, see Answers in Genesis’ page on homosexuality and Creation.com’s articles on the topic.

The problem today is that the majority of people now accept the Pride Toronto event as not just “healthy” for that community but also as an event in which they can join in, celebrate and participate in. It is as if the event has lost all sense of immorality about the act,  which no doubt it has with non-Christians as they don’t have any absolute moral rule-set to to guide their behaviour.

I hope this post has helped shed some light on why Christians cannot support an event like Pride. While I know a post like this can cause hurt, I hope you can read this in the way I intended it: A sensitive explanation of the truth of Christian perspective on this particular issue.

Bottom line: The act of homosexuality is a sin and it would be illogical and contradictory for Christians to support a celebration of sin. All sin is the same before God, in terms of falling short of His Perfection, so a Pride celebration is the equivalent of celebration lying, stealing, etc.

For more in-depth reading, see Creation.com‘s Q&A on Morality and Ethics.