To Oak Hills Students in Anticipation of Protests

I wanted to remind you that just because someone has the ability to write something on a sign, it does not mean it is true.

I know you know this already, but there is a lot of false advertising out there. That is why cheeseburgers never look as good in the wrapper as they do on the billboard.

So, when you see signs that say "God Hates Fags," don't listen to it. Don't believe it.

You see, anyone can scribble some profane words on a piece of posterboard. Anyone can scream at people and act like they are doing it in the name of God. But when they spew hatred and division, they are not speaking the language of God.

It is sin that separates. The whole point of the Bible is that God is fighting that division, calling us back into a relationship with Him. Because His grace, his love for all can and will conquer all evil and hate.

God loves the people in the LGBTQ community.

So don't read the picket signs. Read the books that God gave us as a means of revealing himself to us. Read Romans, where Paul lists homosexuality among other sins and then goes on to tell about how God saves us in spite of our sin, through grace and mercy and justice. How God wants to sanctify us and make us more holy, more like him in every aspect of our life.

It is not as if God has created a fortress around his presence to keep out all of the unsavory people of the world. It is that we have broken our relationship with God through sin and He is reaching out to us. He's telling us he loves us and demonstrating that through the death of His Son. He is building a bridge across the gap. He's calling us daughters and sons.

So ignore the signs and the people who hold them. Listen to the book and amazing God who wrote it who loves you to death, literally.