Enid pastor preaches love for LGBT community

by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer

Enid, Oklahoma’s Central Christian Church senior pastor Rev. Jarrett Banks has strong opinions about homosexuality. Not negative ones, mind you – but progressive ones, ones of compassion and inclusivity. He makes that clear to his congregation and in his sermons, preaching an LGBT-friendly message of peace. He has even performed two same-sex marriages, and happily so.

Originally a Baptist preacher from North Carolina, Banks, now a Disciples of Christ preacher, condemns North Carolina’s House Bill 2 as a “horrible, hateful bill.” He remarks that any time a marginalized group of people get a leg up – such as people of color after the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement – the “right wing, conservative folks do everything they can to bring discrimination back.”

He continues, “Whenever people are liberated, there are always people upset because they feel like they are losing something – privilege or power, political power. There’s always a push back.”

Serving as senior minister for only six months since his move to Enid, he has indeed moved a congregation of both Democrats and Republicans. But to Banks, it’s not about politics – it’s about the gospel.

“If any party goes against the love that Christ taught us, to love your neighbor as yourself, I’m going to criticize it. I will criticize Donald Trump,” he says, laughing. “I’m not endorsing him, but it’s just a criticism. It’s OK to disagree with someone’s lifestyle, but out of anything in the Bible, you have to love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to your neighbor.”

In regards to Bible readings, Banks says he does not believe the Bible was ever meant to be read and followed by picking certain verses out of context. The seven passages that some Christians use to condemn the LGBT community are verses he knows well. But he also knows the many more passages of the Bible that have been used to support slavery, Jim Crow laws, apartheid, the suppression of women and genocide. He calls reading and interpreting the Bible a “dangerous exercise” that should be done carefully while noting the overall message or lesson involved.

Further regarding the issue of homosexuality within the church, he says, “At home, many Christian parents avoid the ‘birds-and-the-bees’ conversation with their children until it is much too late; that is, if they do not avoid it all together. Even living in a world saturated with mass media inundated with sexual images, Viagra and Cialis commercials running 24/7, many Christians are more comfortable living in some puritanical state of suppression or denial than acknowledging that our sexuality is an innate part of who we are as human creatures.

“Consequently, sexual sins are widely regarded by people in the church as more heinous and more perverted than other sins, and the thought of same-gender sexual contact stirs up strong emotions of detest and disgust.”

In terms of Sodom and Gomorrah, the entire biblical basis of what is and is not an unnatural sexual act is an issue Banks confronts. He explains, “In an age that was centuries behind any psychological or scientific understanding of sexual orientation, I believe some of the passages against same-gender sex were written with the understanding that all people are born with a heterosexual orientation.

“Therefore, the homosexual actions that are being condemned are actions of heterosexual persons. Thus, all homosexual acts were considered ‘unnatural.’” He cites Romans 1. “Furthermore, such sexual acts were often committed to humiliate or dehumanize others.”

In other words, he believes some of the passages that are used to condemn homosexuality are actually condemning violent acts of degradation, not acts of love by two people of the same gender who are committed to loving one another.

To hear Rev. Banks preach in favor of homosexuality and the inclusion of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, you may visit him at Central Christian Church in Enid, Oklahoma. Their worship services are on Sundays, beginning with 8 a.m. Chapel, 9 a.m. Sunday School; then continuing with a 10:15 a.m. Sanctuary and Traditional Service, then onto the Fellowship Hall for a “Revive and Renew” Contemporary Service.

The Gayly – June 30, 2016 @ 12 p.m.