Tuesday, April 25, 2006

T-shirt controversy

Here's a link to the news story about the kid who wore a t-shirt to school that said "Homosexuality is shameful".

As always, I'm going to speak to this controversy from my own perspective. No one else's. As I've said before, I'm only telling my/our story here. But, since Tdub and I are best friends and "in sync" on this particular issue, I'll go ahead and speak for him as well.

The wearing of that shirt is shameful. I'm thinking that the kid who wore it does not, like Tdub, struggle with unwanted same sex attraction (HOMOSEXUALITY....ah...the big BAD "H" word)
I can't help but think that Jesus would take that boy out to a big sandy spot and start writing all of his sins there in the sand. Maybe a modern day version of that would be a can of spray paint and graffiti on the school walls.

Here's the deal. There's just NO CONTEXT that makes wearing a shirt like that a good and right thing to do. There are MANY other sins that are of just as "dire" consequence to the body of Christ as this ONE. These sins don't need protests, parades, or lobbyists to exist freely in our country....they just DO. And many of them are MORE detrimental to the body of Christ than this ONE. I'm convinced that the Christian "right" has been taken in hook, line, and sinker by the lies of the evil one regarding this issue. We don't trust our own God enough to work His plan....we don't rely on the power within us through His Holy Spirit. We turn to tactics like this? We react and respond in kind to what is done to us? This is not scriptural. This is not truth in love. This is craziness.

grace


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6 comments:

Christine Bakke said...

Yeah, and for this the religous right has made him their poster boy...(he's the kid on the website and in the video)

Thanks for blogging your thoughts on this. I appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

Will God's people persist in turning a cold shoulder to the legitimate struggles of homosexually oriented people, sending them the message that they must change in order to become eligible for our love? Or will we love them first? Jesus didn't wait for us to acknowledge our sins before filling us up with his love (1 John 4:19).

Neither should we.

Excerpted from Chad Thompson's book intro.

http://www.lovinghomosexuals.com/

The time is coming...to be open and honest. I'm beginning to fear it less and less. Just today, traveling with the newly 15 yr old son #2, I made a mental note of how many times he spoke hatefully and disparagingly of "gays"--beyond his frequent use of the word "gay" (see Grace's old post about the rise of the word gay to equate "dumb / stupid / idiot"). I've talked to him before about "grace" and kindness but never from a personal standpoint.

That day is coming.

Be in prayer on our behalf about that. Son #1 took it well. Surely #s 2 and 3 will. #4--we're not there yet.

Anyway, I see speaking with them honestly about my story and my pathway to becoming what God intends for me as a prerequisite and a prelude to doing exactly...what God intends for me... Irony???

There is so much hate ... so many poor examples of Satan seeping thru folks' "witness" in the name of the "light" of Jesus. And it hurts. Until I think of how I'm guilty of doing the same thing toward others with different struggles. Then it hurts worse.

Dang. There's that ministry calling me again. I fight it as much as I fight the thorn. (Actually more. ha.)

OK...

I've responded enough.

Any more and Grace is gonna' say something about me getting my own blog again.


Sheesh.

grace said...

Christine: I'm feeling more and more led to speak my mind about these sorts of things. I appreciate your prayers.

Tdub: Wow. You're awesome.

grace

Otherside said...

Amen!! Thank you for posting this! Isn't it a shame that people like that give the rest of us a bad name?

God bless you!

Anonymous said...

Wild... I had not heard about any of this. Ultimately, I can't really ding the poor kid too much, because he's probably just ignorant. I mean, when I grew up, I thought it was good to condemn and criticize those who were in blatant sins... all the while, what I didn't realize is that I was no better off. Furthermore, I was missing the central piece of the Christian message to love God and love others as myself. whoops.

Thanks for sharing Grace (and TDub). Love you both.

Anonymous said...

That just makes me so, so sad.

Tdub... I love it when you chime in. And you can be certain that you and Grace are so loved and so prayed for... the kind of prayers that the Spirit just has to take over for me because I cannot find the words.

You both touch me in deep places, and I'm so thankful that you exist in this world.

(BTW, that book is my new favorite these days!)