Perceptions about Christians – Part III “Homophobic”

“Christians are homophobic, right wing, hypocrites.”  I’ve written a couple posts in an effort to share a Christian response to that statement.  So far I’ve addressed the accusation that Christians are “hypocrites” and “right wing”  With this post we’ll tackle the last one (actually the first in the list).

 

Why are Christians perceived as homophobic?

Well, let’s think about it.  I’m sure the accusation is unfairly leveled against many deeply committed Christ followers.  That’s the problem with being in a family, including the Christian family.  You often get blamed for the embarrassing stuff your siblings do.

However, sometimes the accusation is accurate.  In all honesty, I think many well intentioned Christians practice what might be called “sin-spotlighting?”  (Kind of like poachers who “spotlight” deer at night.)  Sin-spotlighting is when I single out one sin as somehow “worse” than another.  So right now, in some religious communities, the sin that seems to be in the spotlight is homosexual behavior.

I honestly think that’s a fairly objective statement.  I haven’t, for example, heard anyone accusing Christians of being “greed-phobic.”  Jesus (actually the Bible as a whole) says much more about the sin of greed than all the sexual sins put together.  But for some reason, greed doesn’t seem to grab our attention.  I wonder why. 

Do you see what I mean?  All I’m saying is I think we really should be honest enough to equalize all sin.  Let’s give it all equal exposure.  

If I may, let me anticipate an objection.  Some might say (some have said) that the reason we must shine a spot light on homosexuality is because the “consequences” of that sin are more devastating than others.  And to that objection I would respectfully ask why, then, didn’t Jesus spotlight it?  Homosexuality was certainly pervasive in the ancient Roman culture.  Why did Jesus seemingly ignore it? 

If we value the teachings of Jesus at all, wouldn’t we make the use of violence against our enemies a “spot light sin?”(Matthew 5:38-48)  Wouldn’t we say more about “fools” who store up more wealth than they need (Luke 12:13-21), and religious people who judge others instead of being honest about their own sin (Matthew 7:1-5)?  Aren’t those the things that Jesus repeatedly underscored in his sermons?

Let’s be really honest for a minute.  Maybe there is actually some truth to the “homophobic” accusation. 

I would argue that our obsession with homosexuality is fear driven.  I think, especially among evangelical Christians, there is an irrational fear of this particular sin.  (In fact, we have all kinds of irrational fears.  I guess we could speculate about why, but I won’t get into that now.)  The point is, maybe we should pay attention to what Jesus says about the insidious nature of fear.   

Jesus said, over and over again, “don’t fear.”  In fact, he repeated that phrase more often than any other.  Could it be that he knew his disciples would be more prone to fear, and more negatively impacted by fear, than any other tendency?  The Bible says, “There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1^st John 4:18)

Perhaps the first step to regaining some credibility with people who could, I believe, benefit greatly from the message of Jesus is to humble ourselves.  Maybe we could confess our inclination toward fear driven accusations and actions.  (Reference the Crusades, the Inquisitions, Salem witch trials etc.)  Maybe we could apologize for ranking one sin above another.  Maybe we could repent of our un-Christ-like behavior and resolve to “spotlight” only our own sins.

I’m happy to hear what you think.

Perceptions about Christians – Part II “Right Wing”

I’m using three separate posts to address a statement I’ve read in a couple different places.  It goes something like this.  “Christians are homophobic, right wing, hypocrites.”

Working from last to first, I began last week by addressing the perception that Christians are hypocrites.  (If you haven’t read it you may want to check it out at my blog.)

This week let’s think about the perception that Christians are “right wing.”  Of course the term has nothing to do with theology or biblical interpretation or even spirituality.  It’s a political term.  We all know that normally, when someone uses the term “right wing,” they are using it to refer to the most conservative members of the Republican Party.

Years ago one of the most publically visible figures in the evangelical church world, Jerry Falwell, led a group called the “Moral Majority” to endorse and campaign for political candidates who, he believed, would further the causes dear to the hearts of the “majority” of American citizens.  Because of his association with Ronald Regan and other well known Republicans, many non-Christians began assuming that all Christians were “right wing.”  That perception persists to this day and is perpetuated by other public religious figures including Pat Robertson.  (I think that’s a fairly unbiased historical overview.)

So to some extent, I think the perception that all Christians are “right wing” is at least understandable, even if it’s not accurate.  (Some Christians are actually “left wing” and some are “middle winged” and some have “no wings” at all.)

The problem, in my opinion, is bigger than Christians being associated with a political party, any political party.  The problem, again in my opinion, is what might be called religious nationalism.  Religious nationalism is the belief that religion, in our case Christianity, must manipulate the governments of the world in order to accomplish its mission in the world.   

So we hear statements like, “we must take our nation back for God,” or “we need to get our nation back to its Judeo/Christian heritage.” 

(By the way, we may need to examine what we would be “getting back” to.  Do we want to get back to a time when our nation enslaved another race of people and Southern preachers defended it from their pulpits?  Do we want to get back to a time when that same race of people were oppressed and persecuted by people who wore sheets on Saturday night and suits on Sunday morning?  Do we want to get back to segregation, discrimination and oppression of our brothers and sisters?  Could it be that we tend to romanticize the past?  Sorry for the rant.  I’ll stop now. )

The point I’m trying to make, the one I should have already made, is that historically the Church has been most powerful, not when she manipulated the political process but when she transcended it.  The first three centuries of the Jesus movement literally changed the world.  Christians were most influential, not when they controlled the Roman government but when they were persecuted by it. 

I would argue that Spirit of Christ, working in this world through the church, does not need the government’s help.  Maybe when we funnel our resources, including time, energy and money, into trying to get the government to support our cause, we actually show that our trust is misplaced.  How has hiring lobbyists, or soliciting petition signers or getting “God’s man” elected worked for us so far?

Could it be that our propensity to manipulate the political world actually grows out of a lack of faith?  Could it be that we just don’t really, fully trust the power of the resurrected Christ to change our world, so instead we trust our human ability to change Washington D.C.?  Could it be that we need to get back to what Jesus commanded us to do?  “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. [And] Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)  

I’m happy to hear what you think.   

Perceptions about Christians – Part I

"Christians are homophobic, right wing, hypocrites."

I read that statement somewhere recently (can’t remember exactly where).  Then I saw a similar statement in a facebook post. 

When I see statements like this I can dismiss them as anti-Christian slurs made by prejudiced people.  Or I can reflect on them as open-mindedly as possible.  What if some people honestly, without prejudice or animosity, think that Christians really are… homophobic, right wing, hypocrites? 

So in the spirit of open-minded reflection let’s think about these “accusations.”  We’ll start with the last and work our way to the first.  This week we’ll think about why we are sometimes accused of being hypocrites.  Next week “right wing” and the week after that “homophobic;” assuming I stay on track.

So how could an unbiased, intelligent, well-intentioned person get the impression that Christians are hypocrites?

You may know that the Greek word translated “hypocrite” comes from ancient Greek dramas in which the actors (Greek “hupokrites”) wore masks during the performance.  So we have traditionally thought about hypocrisy as sort of wearing a mask, playing a part.  We think of “hypocrites” in the church as those who act like they are good when they really know just how bad they are.

But Jesus wasn’t Greek, he was Jewish.  And it is unlikely that, when he called the religious leaders of his day “hypocrites,” he had the Greek actors in mind.  I don’t think he was saying, you act like you’re good when you really know that you are bad. 

Don’t you think that would make all of us hypocrites?  We all have masks that we wear.  I know I do.  If I revealed all the evil my heart produces it would be unbearable, for me and those to whom I revealed it.

Franklin Young, who was a professor at Princeton University, (he died in 2010) said that Jesus wasn’t critical of the religious leaders for “simulating goodness… On the contrary, it is because they are so self-righteously convinced of their goodness that he castigates them.”  (Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible vol. 2 page 669)

Stated another way, I may not be labeled “hypocrite” because I, like all people, tend to cover up my sin.  I may get the label because I really don’t think I have much sin to cover up… at least not as much as you do.  And that means, deep down, I think I’m better than you.  According to Jesus, that makes me a hypocrite. 

Stated yet another way, hypocrites are people who lack humility. 

Maybe some people call Christians hypocrites wrongly.  And maybe some Christians earn the label.  Maybe the Christian community (which includes me) needs to embrace humility more intentionally and confess our hypocrisy. 

What would it look like if we did that?  What if we put that on billboards beside the highways?  On behalf of all Christians everywhere, we’re sorry for our hypocrisy!  What would our non-Christian neighbors say about us then?  Some might slander us still.  But maybe we would win over some others.  Maybe it would be worth the effort.

I’m happy to hear what you think.  

The scene is still etched into my memory.  The room was huge, at least in the eyes of a five year old.  Chalkboards and colorful posters lined the walls.  The furnishings consisted mainly of kid sized chairs and tables, the only exception being the big teacher’s desk at the head of the classroom.  I distinctly remember a weird smell in the air that made me feel a little bit nauseous.  I discovered later that it was the teacher’s perfume.

I was one among many curtain climbers crowded into the big room for my first day of kindergarten.  Unlike some of the others, I had never seen the inside of a daycare building or a baby sitter’s house.  I’m not ashamed to say I missed my Mommy!

My Mother in 1963

You may call me a Mama’s boy, but I must tell you that I soon discovered the only way I could endure a day of kindergarten was to carry a photograph of my Mother with me to school.  I remember taking it out during lunch and looking at it for a long time.  I thought she was the prettiest lady in the whole world. She had dark hair and the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen; (and this was before colored contacts.)

This is just one of many childhood memories locked away for safe keeping.  I remember Mom canning vegetables in the hottest part of the summer so I could eat like a hog in the coldest part of the winter.

I remember watching her sew a cowboy outfit that I proudly wore to school.  Somewhere there is a class portrait that includes me sporting my brown tasseled suit and a big grin.  When I was in high school, she also sewed a tag in my gym shorts that read, “Hand made for Mommy’s little boy.”  (Took me a while to live that one down!)  I remember Mom taking me to get my driver’s license and comforting me when I failed the test.  

I remember being scolded, spanked and spoiled all in the same day!  For the spankings and the spoilings and the sewing and the canning and a million other things I don’t have room to include in this article, I would like to say Thanks Mom! I love you!

Not all people have happy memories of childhood.  Not all had a good relationship with their moms.  Frankly, not all people grew up with good moms.  If you don’t have good memories of your mother consider this text from scripture.  God is the speaker.   

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15)  Paraphrase; God is a good mother. 

Here’s another one.  “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.” (Psalm 27:10)  Paraphrase; God is a good father.  God is a good mother.

If you are like me and you have good childhood memories, consider yourself blessed and celebrate this Mother’s Day by saying “Thanks Mom!  I Love You!”  And perhaps it is appropriate to say the same thing to God.  “Thanks Mom!  I Love You!”

Trying to Cry

I’m a little bit tear deficient.  Actually, I remember the day I stopped crying.

On a hot summer day I was playing in our yard when I crossed paths with a yellow jacket.  (Perhaps you have personal yellow jacket knowledge.)  That day a little guy, probably four years old, experienced his inaugural sting.

My father was nearby (I call him Pop) and came to my rescue.  He took me in the house, sat me on the kitchen counter and administered some sophisticated emergency medical treatment.  He took a pinch of chewing tobacco out of his mouth and applied it to the injury.   He told me to hold the tobacco poultice in place and it would draw out the poison.  A fascinating piece of information!

I remember something else about that kitchen counter conversation.  After “doctoring” on me Pop said, “Now stop crying.  Big men don’t cry.”  And I did.  I stopped crying and, to be honest, I’m having trouble starting back.

As I write this I’m sitting in a hospital room with my father.  He looks up at me with childlike confusion as I try to explain why he can’t take the blood oxygen thingy (the technical term) off his finger.  I just paused writing long enough to explain to him that Medlen is not pitching now because the Braves are batting.  The man who educated me about stuff like bee stings and baseball gets confused easily these days.

A few minutes ago I lifted him out of the bed and helped him stand while he used the urinal.  As I held him upright I couldn’t help but notice that the man who was once an imposing six feet, one inch is now several inches shorter than me.

And still the tears won’t come.

Pop fell the other day.  I was mowing my parent’s lawn when my mother rushed out to get me.  When I walked in he was sitting in the floor.  Mom told me he wanted to watch me out the window but his legs were just too weak.  I lifted his way-too-light frame into his chair. 

Back on the mower, I tried to cry.

It was the perfect opportunity.  I could have had a good cry without fear of intrusion.  Yet, despite a willing, hurting heart, my eyes were dry.  Puzzling!

What’s even more puzzling is that the tears have started sneaking up on me.  When I would normally be in complete control, a paragon of composure, the tears intrude.  It happened a couple weeks ago when I was leading our congregation in prayer for a little guy, six years old, fighting for his life in an ICU.  I choked up!  That wasn’t supposed to happen!  Why did that happen?

So maybe I’m just messed up.  My tear ducts don’t know when to work.  I want them to get this right… because right now I could use a good cry.