Doesn't God love gay people just as much as straight people?

Of course He does.

God loves every one of His children -- every man, woman, hermaphrodite, gay, lesbian, transsexual, etc. ever born or conceived -- every single human just as much as every other. God did not love Moses more than Pharaoh. He does not love you less than David. He does not love you less than Jesus! He loves who you were, who were are, and who you will be. He loves you when you are masturbating over hard-core pornography and when you are raising your hands at a Skillet concert. He loves you because He made you, and still you surprise Him. He loves you because you are you.

So. Why all the rules? Why do straight people get to be straight and gay people have to change? Why are we different to begin with? Why do people go to hell?

Those are big questions, but there are bigger answers. The answers are too big for this site, too big for type, too big for the internet, too big for humanity. But here's the Readers Digest condensed version: Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's dream for them.

We are all equally broken. Does that surprise you? Can you truly believe that you are just as sinful and messed up as the guy who leads worship...or the chronic working the streets at night? Sin doesn't come in sizes. It doesn't pile up. It is. Sin is a terrible disease, and everyone has it. Everyone is just as sick as everyone else. Everyone should change. God's love is not dependant on your changing, but you will find that the more you know Him, the more you love Him, the more you will change. And it won't just be because you have to.

God will love you no more if you never change, if you never kick the habit, if you never even say one prayer. But God's love is not a ticket into the party by itself. If you love anyone, you make an effort, you compromise your wants in order to form a better relationship. That desire is even more intense when your friend is God and knows everything. His advice is pretty worthwhile.

A great writer once said that "God loves you just the way you are but too much to leave you that way."