And this article...Pastor Ken Hutcherson Can't Even Shut the F--k Up for "Day of Silence"
In most Christian circles, including my own, homsexuality is viewed as sin, something that is outside of God's plan for humanity. This issue merits a post (or more likely a series of posts) to discuss the relevant perspectives, arguments, and viewpoints in a thorough way. Maybe we'll do that in the weeks to come!
But I am wrestling with another dilemma today. How do Christ-followers take a stand for their moral beliefs while at the same time standing for justice?
This is especially important in the homosexual debate. Christians take a defiant stand against homosexuality as a practice accepted by God. Perhaps they should. But they also take a stand against things like the day of silence because it is meant to promote the LGBT agenda. Perhaps they should do that as well.
What about justice? Is it okay for kids who are homosexual to be mistreated because of their sexual preference? Is it okay for kids to be mistreated for any reason? When I read the Bible I find it easy to see that God is a God of justice, and he calls his people to stand up for justice. And he gets on them when they fail to do so. Doesn't the church have an obligation under God to stand up for those who are being abused, oppressed, and mistreated? Doesn't that obligation remain even when the people being abused, oppressed, and mistreated are people the church disagrees with?
Christians have this great phrase that they throw around when confronting tough issues like homosexuality. They say, "Love the sinner and hate the sin." I think very few Christians know how to truly do that. Could it be that one way we carry that out is to stand up for the bullied and oppressed homosexual kids at our schools, while at the same time maintaining our theological position about the morality of homosexuality?
Hard to do. Yep. But who said living out faith and making the world different and better would be easy?
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I think you're absolutely right - Christians ought to fight for justice for anyone who is oppressed. The challenge is that homosexuals are being oppressed for identifying with their sin. They don't call themselves 'people who are tempted in homosexual ways' they call themselves 'homosexuals.'
ReplyDeleteIf a teenager who was frequently tempted to and/or often did steal identified himself as 'thief' the same way people identify themselves as 'homosexuals' - it would not fly. So, it creates quite a challenge for a Christian to take a stand for the individual while not validating this identification with sin that the individual has taken on.
Off the top of my head - I think Alcoholics Anonymous may be the best example of where Christians accept and advocate for the sinner and address the sin. AA helped us understand drunkenness to sin to disease (alcoholism). It has allowed us to love and embrace the alcoholic and still address the practice.
Of course the big hurdle approaching homosexuality the same way is 'where's the victim?' Alcoholism destroys in vivid ways - it's more difficult to make that case with homosexuality.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteRegardless of where a person stands in relation to God, we should stand up for them if they are being mistreated.
The Good Samaritan parable makes it clear where we should stand. That is by the side of any neighbor in need.
The day that the evangelical church says it is okay to bully and dehumanize/demonize/identify as an enemy the "Christian" who unrepentantly gossips or exaggerates (lies) or is gluttonous at the church picnic, is the day that they can be consistent in turning a blind eye or self-righteous shoulder to the treatment of homosexuals.
As for me, regardless of what the sin is, Jesus died for them. I should be willing to do the same or I can't very well call myself his follower.
Regardless of the sin a person may or may not be guilty of this one thing I know, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
ReplyDeleteIf I am not willing to stand up for and if necessary die for/in place of a homosexual or anyone else who is guilty of sin - including those in the church who are guilty of the sin of pride for dehumanizing and demonizing homosexuals - I can't very well call myself HIS follower, can I?
We are to fight FOR people, not against them. Our battle is not against "flesh and blood".
This is such an interesting issue. We are talking about teens as it relates to the day of silence, kids whose minds and bodies are still growing and developing. They are impressionable, curious, and at this age often experiment with things in the process of figuring themselves out. Who knows what kind of homes they come from or what kind of influences they have in their lives. Let's not forget these are kids, not grown adults and treat this issue with that in mind.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, let's treat sexual sin equally. Heterosexual, homosexual, bi-sexual...sexual sin is all the same and there can be a lot of it going on during the teen years. We are good at isolating certain sexual sins as the mother of all sin, but I don't think that is how God views it. Teens need to understand this but often the church is a whole lot more vocal in certain areas then others.
Thirdly, who is doing all this bullying? What are Christ followers in the form of students, teachers, mentors, parents, and in a larger sense-churches, doing to stop bullying of any kind? I think days like the day of silence offer us a couple of opportunities. One-an opportunity for conversation. This can happen in homes, in youth groups, etc. Secondly-an opportunity for Christ followers to exemplify Christ through an attitude of love and compassion. In saying this I don't mean that we check our personal convictions at the door, but we certainly don't come at this with an attitude of judgment and condemnation. Again, let's remember who we are talking about...kids. What impression will they be left with of those who call themselves "Christians" through our reaction to the day of silence.
The issue seems for me seems to center on this question: how does the church respond to those whose beliefs, morality, and lifestyles are different than those the church espouses?
ReplyDeletePerhaps a parable from Jesus sheds some light on the subject. It's found in Matthew 13 and is known as the parable of the weeds.
In this parable Jesus acknowledges that there are things (people, beliefs, perspectives) in this world that are contrary to his purpose and plan. These are the weeds planted by the enemy. He also acknowledges that the temptation that is to be resisted by his servants is that of going out to pull up the weeds. It would be nice to rid the world of its weeds, but if the servants go out and do that they risk damaging the wheat (the good stuff in the world). So the conclusion of the parable says that we should let the weeds and the wheat grow together, because the good is too good to risk damaging it by getting focused on eliminating the bad. The bad will be eliminated at the time of harvest.
Here's my application of this parable to today's world...the church runs the risk of getting so focused on eliminating the bad stuff of this world, that they become known for what they are against. This, in the end, hurts their cause, rather than helping it.
Not only that, but I think the weed pulling we get caught up in is ultimately behavior-based, not heart based. So that the church would consider it a victory if roe v. wade is overturned or marriage is protected by amendment to the constitution (I am not suggesting that we should not want these things or that they are bad things to stand for), not realizing that they may have changed behavior through law, but they did not change hearts through witness and God's Spirit. This is like trimming the weeds to make them look more presentable, but in the end the weeds are still weeds and they are still there.
God does not want a world that behaves well; he wants a world that loves him well. Both of these alternatives lead to better behavior, but only one has a pure, God-honoring motive.
I think the church has become good at fighting for issues and has lost its first love of impacting lives with love, grace, and truth. We might win on our issues if we are tenacious enough, but in winning these battles, we will have failed in our ultimate mission to see the world become what God intended it to be.