John Reid is a very brave man and an honorable poet. By addressing such a touchy subject he has put himself under a microscope and between the crosshairs of criticism. Every word no matter how sincere will be put on the operating table and be dissected by those who aren’t interested in what God wants but only their own hearts.
He does a great job of highlighting the fact that sin is sin and that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. God is a loving God but we are not able to bring everything we want with us in our pursuit of him. His message is clear that he is appalled that there are people out there who would call themselves Christians with one side of their mouths and spew such venom and hatred in the very same sentence out the next side. To claim to know God and to call a group of people derogatory and offensive names invalidates that very claim.
John’s intent is to bridge the gap between true Christians and people who Subjugate the message of the cross with hatred. I believe he successfully does this. However, there will be people who are so offended by the very notion that homosexuality could be viewed as a sin and not just an alternative lifestyle that their ears will be stopped. While it goes without saying that this poet has his own faults, (we all do) I love how John put his own sins out there making himself equal with the very same people who the Westborough church condemns. Yet, he is clear to say that Westborough church and the gospel of hatred and homophobia that they preach grieve the very heart of our Loving God. We may not all have the same weaknesses but we all have weaknesses And those weaknesses disqualify us from standing anywhere near the place of a true and righteous judge.
