Thanks to Nancy for responding to my interest in dialog.  She writes as follows:

Here's why I don't discuss politics, generally: People believe what they believe, and this understanding/world view comes from a lifetime of experiences and decisions that has led them to this point.

This may sound self-deprecating or like a cop-out, which is not my intention. I believe what I believe for reasons that are hard to defend. Asking me to defend my beliefs is uncomfortable for me, because I'm not asking others to believe the same thing. So, in a way, I'm saying "this works for me."

I agree that there are limits and lines, and that there is right and wrong, black and white on certain issues. I also believe that Jesus asks us to love each other, above all else.

My pastor says that "We see God where need meets love, where longing meets acceptance, where fear meets hope." Church is about loving God, loving others, and serving the world.

When I worship, I don't want the ugliness and decisiveness of these hot-button issues. In my community of believers, I want to know that we have a common purpose----loving those that need it, and leaving the judgment to God.

I imagine the holes in this argument are immense, and I know that I perhaps am putting my head in the sand. So be it.

The world is ugly enough; let's leave the decisive issues out of the most sacred of places, and trust that God will be just.


I trust that you don't mind me reprinting this here rather than leaving it in the comments section, Nancy. 

If I'm hearing you correctly here, you're writing about truth being somehow separate from - if not in opposition to - love.  Love, you state, is a command of Jesus.  But you imply that truth - which is objective ("right and wrong, black and white") - is not conducive to love, certainly not synonymous with it. 

However, Biblical Christianity fuses truth and love together.  You can't have one without the other, it asserts.  If you love without truth, you are deceived, or at risk of being deceived.  If you demand truth without love, you become a tyrant, usurping God's position with your own demand to be right.  The two must go together for either of them to have meaning, for either of them to have the ability to penetrate the web of experiences that form a person's world view. 

I agree wholeheartedly that truth is uncomfortable.  If you had asked Paul of Tarsus about his conversion, I'm sure he would have immediately admitted that it was horribly uncomfortable.  For that matter, love is very uncomfortable, when we're actually engaged in it.  It demands that we expose ourselves to all manner of possible hurts and harms, from initial rejection to betrayal to having the object of our love taken away from us.  Love is immensely uncomfortable, and yet you and I would readily agree that it is imminently desirable as well, and that the risks we assume are far outweighed by the benefits we receive. 

I have no doubt that God will be just.  It's our calling, our privilege to share that promise with people in truth and in love.  Not one without the other.  Not law without Gospel.  Not out of anger or hatred or insensitivity or a sense of smug moral superiority.  But out of a firm belief that there is Truth, and that this Truth can change a person not only for today or this lifetime, but for eternity. 

I hope to hear more, and welcome your clarification or correction if I'm misreading you!