Jesus explains that the church is like a hospital. But this hospital doesn't want to let any sick people in. I feel like people like that have had to lead these secret lives because they're so afraid of how people will react. I think we have to get to the point where we're restoring people and caring for them, and when they fall, we pick them up. My thing is that we need to love this guy and pray for him and his family and open our homes to him if need be. I don't know if he wants to come sleep on my futon here in Brooklyn, but he's welcome to if he'd like.
Jay BakkerI try to love my neighbor as myself but I'm not trying to be a people pleaser. Sometimes that's hard, because my human nature is to want people to be happy with me. But sometimes I feel my convictions are so great that it would be compromising the truth if I didn't do that. So sometimes it's a struggle to say, "This is what I think; this is what I believe, and if you don't agree with me, oh well." The hardest thing for people to accept is the gay-affirming issue. It's hard for people to agree to disagree on that one.
Jay BakkerThe more I follow grace, the more I'm drawn to him (God), the more I'm willing to stand up for people being persecuted. .. This sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said '(homosexuality) is not a sin'.
Jay BakkerI always thought I had to earn God's love and approval. I kept trying, but it never seemed like I could do it, and I thought, "Man, what's wrong with me?" A friend of mine was like, "Man, you're full of it. You're trying to do what Christ has already done: You're trying to earn your salvation and you can't - it's a free gift." It sounded too good to be true. He said, "You need to start reading the Bible for yourself and stop taking everyone else's word for it." When I really started to do this, I realized God loved me no matter what.
Jay Bakker