Search This Blog

Monday, April 16, 2012

Why Christians Should Speak Up On The Day of Silence

 Just 4 days from now, On April 20th, thousands of schools across the U.S will participate in the annual "Day of Silence" event, in order to bring attention to and address anti-homosexual behavior and speech in the schools.

The official website of the DOS depicts the event as an "effort to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior by illustrating the silencing effect of bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT."

It seems there has been some debate among Christians, teens and adults, whether or not a Christian, given the opportunity, should support or participate in the event.

My answer is a strong no to both.

I believe that Christians cannot be so naive as to separate the DOS from the radical and furious movement in the West to normalize homosexual behavior.

Behind the sweet smiles and the loving veneer of groups like the "Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network" (the main sponsor of the DOS) is a disgust for anything that mirrors a biblical view of sexuality. 

What do you think they consider "harassment" of homosexual teens?

The Christian organization "Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays" (PFOX), alleges that GLSEN "spent thousands of dollars distributing a school booklet accusing ex-gays of 'harassment'" for seeking equal access to the schools that gay-affirming groups like GLSEN have.

The Church must recognize that in the mind of groups that promote tolerance and acceptance of homosexual behavior, there is no place for any view that is anything less than a ringing support of the gay lifestyle and all of its trappings.

Christian who feel like they are being sensitive or open-minded by flirting with these projects are, quite bluntly, useful idiots for those who wish to advance their own agendas.

The founder of GLSEN, Kevin Jennings, has stated that "ex-gay messages have no place in our nation's public schools." and "there is no 'other side' when you're talking about lesbian, gay and bisexual students."

 This grand display of tolerance by Jennings towards the scores of people who have left the gay lifestyle as a result of coming to Christ is simply breathtaking.

The Christian led "Focus on the Family" scheduled its "Day of Dialogue" on April 19th to promote "student-initiated conversations about the fact that God cares about our lives, our relationships and our sexuality"; stating furthermore that "[Jesus'] example calls us to stand up for those being harmed or bullied while offering the light of what God's word says." 

Reacting to this, one gay-affirming author, writing for LGBQTnation.com stated: 

"Allowing Focus on the Family to export their historical and counter-productive sacred discrimination of the LGBT community to Christian youth is a mistake."

This is the world's reaction to biblical sexual ethics. 

And don't think an isolated reaction; the Day of Dialogue is largely being condemned as being based on discrimination as well as hate, for apparently no other reason than espousing a biblical view of human sexuality.

The Far Left group "People for the American Way" construe the DOD as part of an agenda to "make schools safe for bullies and dangerous for gay kids".

How can Christians condone this type of vitriol directed at other believers for speaking the truth?

 I want to emphasize once again that the Day of Silence must be viewed in the larger context of the pro-gay movement, otherwise a Christians may unwittingly lend support to this campaign that actively undermine the Word of God.

 If the Day of Silence was really about anti-bullying then there would be no reason to oppose groups like PFOX and Focus on the Family for disseminating  messages which do not promote bullying of any kind, but instead condemn bullying and encourage support of youths who have chosen not to live the gay lifestyle despite their same-sex attractions
.

Besides, anti-bullying campaigns that do not recognize the root cause of bullying do very little to actually change the minds of bullies, since bullying is a sin problem that requires a salvific solution.

Namely, if you want kids to stop bullying then help them to know, love and obey Jesus. 

 That is where you and I come in: it is our jobs as Christians to stand up for the oppressed in our schools and in our lives and tell them about the Advocate who cares about them, loves them, and desires to save them.

When we glorify and exalt the name of Christ in our lives and, by the grace and power of God, oppose those who hurt and tear others down, we will be doing a far better service to our unbelieving friends, than by sending them harmful mixed messages.

In other words:
  
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Because the Day of Silence seems to be part of a larger goal of promoting the gay lifestyle and silencing any dissenting opinion, I would encourage Christians not to participate in the event, but instead take the opportunity to reach out to their classmates with the truth about homosexuality and most importantly the truth of the Gospel.



10 comments:

  1. Preaching and condoning hatred in the name of God? Bullying is NEVER ok, no matter who the victim. These young people need our support in order to have the self confidence and love that we all deserve. Shame on you for asking Christians to ignore their plight. Shame on you for not speaking out against bullying of any type. You need to repent your sins for the Lord teaches tolerance and love of all our brothers and sisters, not just the ones you deem fit!

    1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

    John 8:7 If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

    Shane on you for hiding behind God while promoting such intolerance. Matthew 5:11. Blessed are you when people revile you [people who are lgbtq...it is a biological phenomenon, not a choice] and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account

    Romans 14:1-4 as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions........Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

    I don't know about you, but no human being here on the Earth today is my master. My master is the Lord Jesus Christ. I must answer only to God, not false Christians like yourself.

    I leave you with this: and when thou pray, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou pray, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret. Matthew 6:5-6.

    May God have mercy on your soul.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for commenting Anonymous!

      Unfortunately, this is the "all or nothing" kind of attitude I referred to in my post. Either I accept the gay lifestyle unconditionally, or I'm hateful and intolerant regardless of what I say.

      I don't see that I passed any judgment in this post that the Scriptures, which you seem to admire, haven't already passed.

      All I can say is that I meant this post in love and I have no hatred in my heart towards anyone, including homosexuals. It is my love for people with same-sex attraction that keeps me from promoting something like this that may unwittingly deceive them.

      Thanks again, and I hope you will consider opening your heart a little towards opposing viewpoints.

      Delete
  2. Eric there are not many guys your age that have the insight and intelligence you show, even to me who barely knows you. The love you have for Jesus is so evident. I can see how much in love with Jesus you are just by responding to someone who calls you a false Christian and other hurtful things with such Love, it blows my mind! Oh the irony.. Thank you for sharing this post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for those kind sentiments! I really appreciate it.

      Delete
  3. Eric, does Jesus allow bullying? No matter whether the person has sinned or not, Jesus shows an unconditional love. The woman who was an adultress-- he stood up for her. With the attitude I see in this post, I assume that you would say that we shouldn't stand up for her because that would be like the Day of Silence-- accepting and tolerating her sin. When Jesus met the adultress, he stood up for her and showed her love, never allowing his disciples to even talk to her about her sin. He loved her, stood up for her, and left it at that. You'll notice if you read John 8 that JESUS is the only one who talks to her about leaving her sin. And in fact, Jesus does not allow the disciples to talk to her about her sin. As the hands and feet of Jesus it is our job not to judge, but to LOVE. Mark 12: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Perhaps you already do these two perfectly so that's why you can move on to seeing whether other people are sinning or not.. I just can't because I am definitely not perfect at loving God and loving my neighbor.

    There is a large difference between discernment and judgement. I believe Jesus calls us to use discernment but never judgement. Discernment is knowing what is right for ourselves through Jesus. For example, if all my friends are going out partying, I will use discernment to know that I probably shouldn't go to that party because I may be caught in a situation with peer-pressure, drugs, or alcohol. However, I am not passing a judgement that all my friends at the party are going to get drunk or do drugs or necessarily do anything wrong. I just know it's not right for me to be there. In the case of this post, you know (I assume) that it's not right for you to be homosexual, but that doesn't mean that you have the authority to tell every homosexual person what is right for them. Only Jesus has that authority as he showed with the adultress. That is considered a judgement once you step over the line from knowing what's right for yourself versus what's right for someone else.

    "The Day of Silence seems to be part of a larger goal of promoting the gay lifestyle and silencing any dissenting opinion" I'm going to be brave here and say, so what if it is? Every other commercial I see on TV is promoting an unhealthy lifestyle-- fast food commercials, sugary drinks, processed foods, juicy, fatty burgers, etc. How come you are not writing a similar post about how Christians should speak up against the fast food epidemic in our country? "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." Why are you so caught on how terrible it is that homosexuality might be advocated for. I guarantee you that fast food is advocated for much more than homosexuality and I have never heard Christians speak out against that advocation once! Fast food companies spend billions on advertising each year-- isn't that a much more pressing issue if we're worried about sins being accepted and tolerated?

    Thank you for the post, Eric, God bless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment!

      I hope I don't offend you by saying that you might want to read my post more carefully. I made it clear that I have no problem with the anti-bullying side of the DOS, but rather we need to combine it with the truth. The Day of Silence fails miserably to do so, and ought to be rejected.

      I have made no judgments that the Scripture hasn't already made, and, not only that, we are told to make certain judgments (John 7:23, Psalm 94:16). Also, the pattern of exposing sin to dissuade a person from their sinfulness is biblical (Ezekiel 33:8). So I respectfully reject what seems to be your monolithic rejection of all judgments.

      The Body of Christ is so that one person need not do everything, but everyone can do something. The DOS is fast approaching which is why I felt I should write this post. Others can write about other things if they wish. Also, we're not simply talking about an unhealthy lifestyle, but a sinful one. Have sex with a person of your own gender is always sinful, but eating fast food is not always sinful.

      Again, thank you very much!

      Delete
  4. Let met start by saying that while I'm about to in some ways agree with him/her. The first anonymous has no business calling you a "false Christian" for expressing your view point. In my mind...that is bullying.

    Now, while I understand what you are saying I must disagree. Like you I believe that homosexual *behavior* is a sin. However I think the christian culture in america has developed a vendetta for this sin. And I don't think that it's very Christ like.

    In the case of the day of silence if I understand correctly it's targeted to help kids who are being bullied over their sexual orientation. Now, whether you believe that these orientations are right or wrong The Bullying IS WRONG. Just plain WRONG. Now it's your conclusion on the proper action that I have to disagree with. How much more attracted to Christianity will a LGBT person be if they see a christian standing up for them against bullying.

    I agree with you that on stands like this Christians should be careful, and examine what they believe closely. Personally in this case I feel that standing up for these kids is the right thing. I don't feel that by standing up for them you're promoting or encouraging their behavior. You're coming by them and saying "Hey...I feel your pain. No one should be treated the way you are being treated." And that is something I think any christian should be able to do.

    Please write back...I'm interested to know how you feel about my comment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Anonymous, and thanks for stopping by!

      I think we agree more than you think. I too believe that Christians should stand against bullies and stand up for the oppressed, and I think I made that clear in my post. However, the key is to stand for justice without comprising truth. When the DOS is viewed in its larger context we that it is impossible to be involved in it and do both, in my estimation.

      Thanks again!

      Delete
  5. Dear Eric,
    While I personally do not agree with what you have written, I also cannot agree that you are a false Christian. Whatever side you look at it from we are all flawed creatures needing God's love and not one person on earth is all-knowing. While you ask others to try to see your point of view, I hope you extend the same courtesy. I encourage you to befriend people in the gay community and listen to their stories. If you do not support Day of Silence because of your beliefs, I hope you find another way to stand up against the horrific bullying that happens to homosexual people. Despite how lost you may think they are, bullying is never permissible for ANY reason. I will be praying for you as you continue to develop your understanding on this issue. May God bless you always.

    ReplyDelete