Pursuing the Common Good

September 25, 2008

Joe,

Well, it’s about time I get blogging, right?  I received an email this afternoon that I thought was ‘blogworthy’.  Here’s the letter I received:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In May of this year, I was approached by a student who expressed interest in starting a Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered/Straight Student Alliance; the student asked if I would be interested in advising the group. I agreed, and, along with SAC counselor (name removed), have been working to make this a reality. At tomorrow night’s Board of Education meeting, we will formally request permission from the Board to establish this group.

This group would serve as a support system, social gathering point, service organization, and informational touchstone for students of all backgrounds, orientations, and affectional affiliations. The purpose here is dual: to create a safe, tolerant space for people in, around, and allied with the GLBT community, and to promote tolerance at (a High School). This will be a strictly extra-curricular activity — no one need participate if they do not want to. But the idea is to serve a group of kids who have traditionally been bullied, intimidated, hurt, or worse, ignored altogether.

If you do not support the existence of this group, thank you for taking the time and consideration to read this email. If you do support a GLBT/Straight Alliance, your support at tomorrow night’s Board meeting will be greatly appreciated. District Administration needs to know that teachers and support professionals are available to encourage kids, are eager to promote tolerance, and want to create a safe space for ALL who inhabit this building.

The meeting will take place Thursday, September 25, at 7:30 pm at the Administration Building. I hope you will join the effort.

Thanks for your time,

(Name Removed)

As I read it I thought to myself, ‘How ought a Christian respond to this?’  My initial thought was the same as the person who forwarded me the email: Maranatha!  Come, Lord Jesus!  In other words, I thought, ‘What a sad state this world is in, that the public schools would seek to establish organizations to defend and support those who have willfully rejected God and His Word.’  That was my immediate reaction, but shortly thereafter I was convicted, and am actually thinking this organization might be a good thing for a Christian to be a part of.

Now hear me out on this.  I am NOT suggesting that a person’s sexual orientation is purely a matter of personal preference and that we therefore should not judge the sexual conduct of others by our own standards of morality.  Clearly God’s Word communicates that homosexuality is sin, and we should not be afraid to humbly and lovingly say that, no matter what the legal or social consequences may be.

Nevertheless, I think a Christian could in good conscience be part of such an organization, and here’s why.  The stated purpose of this organization is not to make a verdict on whether homosexuality is right or wrong in God’s eyes.  It may have been organized on that premise, but that is not the purpose of the organization.  The purpose is, according to the letter, to create a safe, tolerant place for gays, lesbians etc, where they can escape the common responses to homosexuality of bullying, intimidation, physical and verbal abuse.

I may be wrong, but shouldn’t this be a Christian cause?  It is not purely a matter of sexual ethics; it is a matter of justice.  To physically or verbally abuse a person because of their sexual orientation is, I believe, unjust, and therefore is something that Christians ought to oppose.  In Jeremiah 29 God tells the Jewish exiles in Babylon to seek the welfare — the peace and prosperity — of that wicked, godless city.  In other words, they were to seek the good of those whose beliefs were opposed to their own.  Surely a school without (or with less) violence, intimidation, etc, is a good thing.  That’s why I am feeling like a Christian’s participation in such an organization could bear great fruit for the gospel.

Of course, any Christian would want to make clear that their support of justice and tolerance should not be mistaken for an affirmation that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality.  And making that qualification might get you kicked right out of the meeting, and with some aggression!  But that would only show that the organizers are not capable of doing themselves what they are calling others to do (that is, be tolerant toward those who don’t think like you).

Should a Christian be allowed to participate in such an organization, I think it could lead to wonderful opportunities to spread the Gospel.  For our model is One who came to earth and and gave His life for people whose practices were an abomination to Him.  As homosexuals (and their faculty advisors) see worshipers of Jesus seeking their physical good, they may become more receptive to hearing what we have to say about their deeper, spiritual needs.  And no matter how they respond, we will have displayed the glory of the God-man who came and got Himself dirty in this sin-stained world (without HImself ever sinning), and loved the outcasts and rejects of society.

It seems to me that my second response is more biblical than my first one, which essentially was, ‘Man is the dominant thinking of this world headed to hell!’  Actually, I suppose both responses are biblical aren’t they?  In fact I think holding both responses evenly would be an embodiment of what it means to be in the world, but not of the world.

Now someone has to have a comment about this (if you’ve made it this far in the post)!  So let me know what you think about all this.

Larry

Update: This post originally included names of a few faculty members of a particular school.  I realize that it was inappropriate for me to have posted those names, as it could have led to inappropriate attitudes/comments about the people in question.  Please forgive me for my lack of foresight in that area.

Posted by Larry | Filed Under Random Musings, Seeking Him 

Comments

2 Responses to “Pursuing the Common Good”

  1. Celess on September 26th, 2008 10:14 am

    Wow. Quite a thought there, Larry.

    I would suggest that participating in such a group might not lend itself to helping us avoid the appearance of evil. Furthermore, participating in a group like that, and then trying to voice truth could be potentially be viewed as an intentional “gay bashing” antic (even if that is not the intent).

  2. Larry on September 26th, 2008 11:43 am

    Celess,

    Good points. Particularly the idea of avoiding the appearance of evil is one that I had thought about as I wrote this post, and want to think more about.

    If a Christian was to involve themselves in such an organization, they probably would get slammed by both liberals and conservatives. The conservatives would get angry about the appearance of condoning or approving of evil, and the liberals would get angry at the ‘gay-bashing’.

    But maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be? Christianity does not fit neatly into a conservative box or a liberal box. We aren’t followers of the left or the right, but we are followers of Christ. And we know that the ‘conservatives’ often got angry at Jesus because of His association with the evil of society, to the point that He was called a drunkard and a glutton. In some sense, He did not avoid the appearance of evil, and that’s why they crucified Him.

    A passage that I think of in relation to this is 1 Corinthians 5:9ff, where Paul says not to associate with the sexually immoral, but then clarifies that he is not speaking about the sexually immoral of the world, but in the church. And that may well be the context in 1 Thessalonians 5 where Paul talks about avoiding the appearance of evil, because the surrounding context speaks of discerning between Spirits, not quenching the Spirit, not despising prophecies, etc.

    Am I making any sense? Just thinking aloud on this one; thanks for helping me to think it through!

    Larry

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