Letter from the Editor
Rainbows and Butterflies:
Moving Beyond a Black-and-White Christianity
Remember when you fell in love for the first time? You
couldn’t help but smile just thinking about them. You
would get butterflies in your stomach whenever you saw
them. You thought you’ve found what you’ve been looking
for and that it would be forever. Or at least you hoped it
would be. Maybe you were afraid it wouldn’t last, afraid
it would slip away. Finding love is all-consuming and
exhilarating, so of course it’s hard when you finally have to
come to terms with reality. Feelings fade, people change.
Over time, we grow and we learn what it means to let
go. In many ways, faith, too, is a lot like falling in love.
Oftentimes, it’s difficult to see the flaws and inconsistencies
in someone whom you’ve fallen head over heels for. You
tell yourself that they can do no wrong, romanticizing
them beyond realistic proportions in your mind. We can
blame Hollywood or Western culture for ingraining these
ideas in society, but the first step to reclaiming a healthy
and grounded love is to recognize our own shortcomings.
Likewise, we must always question and challenge beliefs that
stunt our growth in any way, beliefs that serve to maintain
our comfort with the status quo. We all believe in at least one
wrong thing that we would be better off not believing in. But
we must first acknowledge that our beliefs aren’t perfect,
just like our love interests aren’t without flaws, and do a
reality check. Only through years of struggling to reconcile
my church’s theology regarding same-sex relationships
and my understanding of God’s unconditional love have I
come to learn how incongruous and myopic faith can be.
You know the cliche, “Love the sinner, hate the sin”? This is
very common in Christian discourse, especially when talking
about the LGBTQ community. And while the words may seem
theologically sound, it is not biblical. In fact, I believe it is
unbiblical. There are some inherent yet subtle problems with
this saying. While it is true that we are all sinners and that we
are all called to love one another (even as sinners), by saying
we should “love the sinner,” we are distancing ourselves from
them. The “sinners” are the other whom we are called to love,
as if we are not capable of sinning, as if our sins are better
than theirs. The root of marginalizing communities within the
church lies in the toxic belief that we are better than them.
Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. He doesn’t
set up an us vs. them dichotomy but tells us to identify with
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each other collectively. Jesus is the o