All over the news this morning was the story about a speech on bullying given by Dan Savage founder of the ‘It Gets Better Project’. The audience, for this speech, was the very people Savage says he is trying to reach, high school students. During the speech Savage went on a rant about the offensiveness of the Bible and how it is used for bigotry towards the gay community. He suggested, in his expletive laced rant, that the Bible should be ignored and pushed aside so to speak. Let me remind you all of this was spoken before a crowd of high school students some of who profess to be Christians and embrace the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Several of these same students got up and walked out of the auditorium where Savage was giving his speech.
The irony in all of this is that a man who is a self professed advocate for protecting students from bullying did the very thing he was speaking against. In the same speech aimed at curbing prejudice and bullying Savage himself used the opportunity as a ‘bully pulpit’ and showed his prejudice against Christians and anyone who holds the Bible as the Word of God. In so doing, the advocate against hypocrisy became the biggest hypocrite.
I do believe we as Christians have too many times justified our wrong actions with the Bible. While we may not agree with certain choices people make or the lifestyles they lead, we should always treat them with the same grace, love, kindness and generosity that have been showed to us through Jesus.
However, I have noticed with greater regularity an unsettling trend in our society; while there is an espoused tolerance and compassion shown to all religious groups and people who claim societal inequality, that same tolerance is not extended to Christians. It seems to be ‘open season’ towards those who embrace Jesus Christ as their heart’s treasure and believe the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant Word of God. When did this form of bigotry and intolerance become okay?
Not that any of this is a surprise. Jesus told us two thousand years ago that we should expect this kind of treatment (Matt. 5:10-11). Those faithful men and women of God who have gone before us faced far worse (Heb. 11:35b-39). Thankfully, we still live in a country where this current intolerance for all things Christian can be raised and discussed.
Share with me your thoughts…
