Rachelle Cihonski urges the church to remember Jesus' command to take the plank out of our won eye before pointing out the speck in others'. She reminds us the church is called to extend the same grace it has received – not to condemn, but to preach the truth in love. | Courtesy of Creative Commons

“When evangelicals and non-evangelical born-again Christians are combined into an aggregate class of born-again adults, their divorce figure is statistically identical to that of non-born-again adults: 32% versus 33%, respectively,” confirmed a study done by The Barna Group back in 2008.

Of course, the figures have been heavily disputed. But regardless of statistics, the fact remains: Christians still get divorced.

Now, I do not want to promote divorce as a sin any worse than any other sin, because it isn’t. What I do want to recognize is we are all saved by grace. But we still sin — every day.

And somehow, we seem to forget that minor detail. We forget that just because we’ve accepted Jesus as our savior and we go to church every Sunday, we forget that God’s grace and mercies are new every day, because we need them every day.  

And here’s the kicker: The gay community needs God’s saving grace too.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: What do the so-called “Christian divorce rate” and the gay community have to do with one another?

We, myself included, tend to worry more about the sin of others and less about our own sin.

I was reading Anna Frost’s article a few weeks ago, and I was struck by how many of those who read and commented on her LGBT Pride Parade article missed her point entirely. Rather than recognize how hateful the slurs of the so-called “Christian” protesters were and resolve to change the public image of Christianity, most attacked Anna for her presence in the parade and for “supporting” the lifestyles represented by the parade — which she made clear she did not. You see, instead of taking the plank out of our own eye, we like to point at the specks in everyone else’s.  

While I agree that same-sex marriage is not biblical, and I do not support it, it took me far too long to realize an even greater issue lies within the church. We’re often too busy worrying about the legalization of same-sex marriage and not worrying enough about the divorce rate, alcoholism, physical and sexual abuse, drug addictions and adultery happening within our own four holy walls. Instead of examining our own sin, we focus on demolishing sinners. And in turn, we demolish our witness as followers of Jesus.

Whether or not the church has just as high of a divorce rate as the secular world, we still see Christian couples getting divorced, Christians doing drugs and Christians committing adultery, because we are still sinners who need Jesus.

Jesus spent time with the prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners. He ate with them, went into their homes and allowed them to wipe his feet with their hair. In fact, I’d like to think Jesus would’ve stood next to Anna in that parade before he’d even consider joining the crowd yelling hateful, twisted theology at them. We don’t stop needing grace because we’re “saved.” In fact, we need it more than ever, not only because we continue to sin, but because we are called to extend the same grace we’ve been shown to those who do not yet know God’s love and forgiveness.

So instead of obsessing over same-sex marriage, why don’t we start introspectively considering our own sinful issues and work on those first? Maybe then the church would find its ministry more effective in the gay community.