Hatred runs rampant in our country, infiltrating the hearts and minds of the people; if not combated hate will most certainly consume you. If not for love where would we be? Our homeland would be a dark place with no joy, no hope, and no peace.
The scripture I want to share with you and with everyone comes from 1 John.
Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is Love.
1 John 4:7-8 new King James
My mission for pride was to spread the love of Jesus to a community that continues to feel judgement and hatred from the Christian community. I hand crafted these rainbows for the festival, attached, scriptures and handed them out all around Seattle yesterday. I talked to so many different people from various backgrounds and loved on my sister and her friends. The conversations I had were mostly pleasant and overall it was a very fun Sunday.
It breaks my heart that haters can spread their darkness and claim to be Christians. Jesus would be ashamed of this…
No No No NO NOOOO!!!!
A thousand times no.
Please stop this vileness.
God does not hate you! He loves every one of his children from the little innocent babies to the murderers and everyone in between. He despises sin… Which we all have. Including the men holding these signs.
During Jesus’ time there were thousands of religious laws that the leaders (not Jesus) enforced for fear of hell and damnation. But there is GOOD NEWS!!! God sent his beloved only child to this earth to form a new covenant… The past is left behind. Through His death and resurrection we are saved and made perfect in the Lord’s eyes so that when he looks at us he doesn’t see us or our sin but he sees his child on the cross.
When Jesus is asked, “So what laws should we follow?” His response was simple…
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind… Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37
This is so simple!
Love
Love
Love
It’s all you need.
I abandoned a few small art pieces that go along with this “God is Love” theme for others to find.
I’m sharing this experience of mine in hopes of inspiring other Christians to do the same. After walking the parade when we came to the Pacific Science Center they had booths set up like any other festival. There were some selling things and others giving things away for free… The scientologists had a booth as did the atheists, the satanists, the humanists, and others all had booths to spread their message… There was not a Christian booth… We were represented mainly by hatred filled people screaming and yelling, cursing the LGBTQ community to hell. This has got to change. Next year we should all go to show the love of Jesus.
Sure there are things that may or may not make you feel uncomfortable such as light drug use and heavy nudity… But should we let that stop us from ministering to this community and forming bonds with people who are not like ourselves in some ways? We are all the same in the end.
So I ask you this… Does it really matter who someone loves?
Personally I don’t condone casual sex because of my history and also other reasons. But there are seasons in everyone’s lives… Some people have seasons of casual sex, others have addictions and other afflictions. Everyone should feel comfortable going to Church, worshiping the Lord, and forming a personal relationship with Christ. Leave the rest up to God…
Gay people are people…
They have bodies
We all have hearts
Let’s try to use them
That would be a start
White, brown, black, blue
God loves you
No matter what you do
You cannot escape
The love of God
All encompassing
All inclusive
And gender neutral
Love is love
Is love
Is love
God is love
Another part of my mission was to share the brand, “if not for love.” This nonprofit started by Esther Little helps support refugees. For every t-shirt bought you also supply a shirt to a refugee. I passed out these stickers and a couple bags. If not for love.com
Thanks to everyone who helped make this Pride perfect! A special shout out to all the service men and women who made sure things stayed safe for everyone. We had so much fun. I look forward to doing more next year…Who knows maybe we can have a Christian based booth to help combat the enemy in the LGBTQ community?
-Dominique Barrentine
dominiquebarrentine 