From Derek Webb’s Twitter page he says this:

“i’m not a vocational minister. i’m a musician. and passing such judgement about someone you don’t know isn’t ‘gospel-guidance’”

I responded with the following:

“You are a musician, and feel that the Gospel, is best in the hands of a minister. The Gospel is part of your life or it is not!”

I’ll restate the point I made earlier as well- Webb is not saying that the answer to homosexuality is feeding the hungry.

You really need to get better informed. Christians and christian organizations send more relief money to issues of disasters, world hunger, care for the sick (AIDS) than any other group. In fact, American Christians, and christian organizations send more money worldwide than ever other country other than the USA. Christian missionaries are teaching children all over the world, assisting with clean-water supplies, etc.

I feel like this post is the epitome of what he describes in these lyrics, ‘you love when people put words in your mouth, for what you believe and make you sound like a freak.’

He isn’t pitting homosexuality and world hunger against one another (i.e. he ISN’T saying that the answer to homosexuality is to focus on world hunger- a more charitable hermaneutic would be nice). Christians, by in large, act one way (hatefully) towards homosexuals and, by in large, passive or uncaring about other important issues, whether it be world hungers, AIDS, etc.

Woops!

It almost seems like you can’t find anything good in the song simply because you don’t want to. To be trite, I don’t know the intentions of your heart, but I would have to question how you would pull something like that from the song when it doesn’t ever mention such a thing.

What it is blatantly asking, however, is what matters more? Spending all of your energy on reminding sinners that they are sinning, or actually going to those who are without the Gospel.

You see, American Christians do a bang-up job of reaching their own people. We spend more time judging others than actually loving them. I understand that maybe you, specifically, tell homosexuals they are wrong, while hating the sin and not the sinner. However, many American Christians are guilty of hating homosexual for less-than Biblical reasons but justifying their hate with Christ.

I’ll give you an example. Growing up, I didn’t care if homosexuality was wrong or right by God’s standards; I thought it was gross. Why? Because that’s all I heard at church. I hated them and bought into this idea that they are just evil. My justification for such actions? Oh, well, the Bible says I’m right. But the Bible wasn’t my initial reason for feeling it was wrong.

Thankfully, by breaking away at the age of 14, I learned that we are all, as it turns out, evil and in need of salvation. If Jesus can save the life of and adulterer and allow a prostitute to wash His feet with perfume, I can certainly learn to love and share with Homosexuals.

Simply telling them they are wrong fixes and changes nothing. Let’s say they did, though. Let’s say they changed simply because you said it was wrong. What would they be left with? Nothing, ma’dear. Absolutely nothing. If you don’t love them and share what has been UNDESERVINGLY given to you, they will only have anger.

And so, this is what Derek speaks of. We spend more time justifying our hate with Scripture than actually sharing the Gospel. And not only with American homosexuals who have a church at every street corner. We’re talking the 10/40 window, where people are dying without the Gospel because we’re too busy being blue in the face.

I don’t know if you knew this, but, we can’t change people. Only God can. It’s obvious that a lot of homosexuals are not going to change? Doesn’t Paul say to shake from your feet and move on? Why do we continue to berate this topic when it’s obvious they already know how we feel? Why can’t we move on to someone who has never heard it before?

Also, by the way, Scripture says that we shouldn’t judge as we are all sinners. Romans 2:1-5.

So maybe, yeah, there is a solution in that song. The solution being that if we actually started to care about people and love them, these problems would find the solution – Jesus Christ.

Shoving the answer down someone’s throat doesn’t change the situation. But loving someone makes all the difference.