Why the Rainbow Is the Perfect Symbol For the Gay Community! (says this christian...)

I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with the Bible story of Noah and the ark, but I assume most people are.  It's a pretty common story for children to grow up hearing, at least it used to be.  God sent a worldwide flood to destroy the earth and every living creature except Noah and his family and the animals he brought with him by God's instruction (and presumably the all the fish survived the flood as well).   Anyway, when the flood was finally over and the water receded enough for Noah to leave the ark, God gave us a sign of his promise never to judge the whole earth by flood ever again-- rainbows.  You can read the Biblical account beginning in Genesis 6. 

Nowadays we still have rainbows in the sky after it rains, and many groups and organizations have adopted rainbows as a symbol, including the gay community.  You might see a rainbow bumper sticker or flag or t-shirt, probably even tattoos I"m guessing.  You can find all sorts of info online regarding the history of the use of the rainbow to represent gay pride, I found a couple including this short blurb.  I think perhaps some religious people might feel that the gay community has essentially hijacked God's special sign to us and are offended or upset, concerned about the precious promise  the rainbow represents is being denigrated somehow.  But I think God is very pleased to have his sign of the gospel being paraded all over the earth by the very people who seem to bear the brunt of so much judgement and condemnation!

Sign of the gospel?  How did I come to that conclusion?  Well, actually the whole story of the ark is a picture of Jesus and how he carried us safely through God's wrath and judgement for sin.  When we are in Christ, we are never judged by God, can never be judged or punished for our sin, in fact our sin is all swept away in the mighty flood of God's wrath poured out on Jesus at the Cross.  The rainbow comes after the storm of his wrath as a sign to all generations that his judgement is OVER, as in FINISHED!  Think I'm stretching this too far, reading too much into it? There is a small reference in 1 Peter to baptism being like the ark...but one of  the best passages ever is this one:


"To me this is like the days of Noah,



when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.


So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,


never to rebuke you again.




Though the mountains be shaken

and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

nor my covenant of peace be removed,"

says the LORD, who has compassion on you. " (Isaiah 54:9-10)

Is this not the main clause of the New Covenant???  He promises never to be angry with us or rebuke us, it's his promise of peace, NO JUDGEMENT!!!!  I can't think of  many  more groups of people in the world that need to hear this message more than the gay community, and especially from  true Christians who love and don't condemn.  God is not counting men's sins against them!  It's rainbow time!

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

Happy Easter! (Amazing Love, Lou Fellingham)

Well, we woke up this Easter morning to a beautiful sight! In some parts of the world people have to be content with daffodils and tulips, little girls in sun dresses, or maybe backyard barbeque...Well, not us! We have a real snow storm.



Of course, this brings a certain verse to mind...don't you think?

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

If we are willing and obedient we will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19)! God saw his people suffering, covered with sores, pathetic but still going through the motions of bringing sacrifices and obeying the law. He was not happy! He invites his people to come reason with him, in the whole book of Isaiah he goes back and forth between the Old Covenant and the coming New, showing the curse and pain that come through the Old, showing the glorious freedom and goodness that will come through the New. Let God reason with you! He will show you how much better is his New Way, Jesus! Then you will be willing and obedient, the obedience of faith in his Son, the kind of faith that turns joyfully away from the law, repenting of dead works to trust in Jesus' finished work. And together we will learn to live in the good of all he has accomplished for us.

Anyway, here's a song I found by one of my all-time favorite singers in the world, Amazing Love.