Orlando Shootings, LGBT, Islamaphobia, Gun Control

          Omar Mateen carried an assault rifle and a pistol into the Pulse club, a gay night club in Orlando Florida.  He killed 49 people.  It was Sunday morning, June 12, 2AM.  I woke for church on Sunday around 6:30.  My son was watching the news around 8AM.  The weather was on.  After the weather, we turned off the TV and began getting ready for church.  I had no knowledge of the shooting. 

          At church, no one mentioned it to me and I did not look at any news outlets.  So, as the service began and then throughout the service, I had no knowledge that the worst mass shooting in U.S. history had happened a few short hours earlier.  During our prayer time, I did not know.  No one mentioned it to me.

          After the worship service, our family ate lunch at home, with no media on.  Then, my middle son and I got in the car for the 3-hour drive to my parents’ place in Roanoke.  We listened to a Hardy Boys mystery on CD the entire way.  Upon arrival, we hung out with my parents, played games, shot baskets on their backyard hoop, and ate.  Finally, around 8:30PM, I was flipping channels and stopped at CNN.  Over 16 hours after the shooting, I finally found out.  If I had known Sunday morning, we would have had a time of prayer in our worship service.

          For what would we pray?  Of course, we’d pray for the family members and friends of the victims. We would ask God to provide solace and comfort.  We would pray for the more than 50 people who were injured but not killed.  We would pray that God would heal their wounds and soothe their shattered psyches.  And we’d pray for the survivors.  They may be alive and uninjured, but they are not unscathed.  We would pray for them as they carry the burden of survivor’s guilt and the horrors of watching their friends die.  The images they see when they close their eyes to sleep will haunt them in their dreams for a long time. 

Yes, there is much to pray for and we carry all of it to God on behalf of these wounded people.  What else?

We must pray for the family of the shooter, Omar Mateen.  They will be ostracized.  American society as a whole feels the shock and the anger of such an event.  Unstable persons could escalate the violence if in a misguided attempt at justice they were to lash out at Mateen’s relatives.  These people will carry shame and will need God’s help to be free. 

What else?  What do else do we say when we pray?  An interesting thing about this story is the convergence of many different political hot potatoes.  There is homophobia, the hatred of the LGBT community.  There is Islamophobia, the hatred of all things Muslim.  That fact that the killer was Muslim and self-identified as an ISIS supporter arms Islamophobs with all they need to demonize the entire religion and all who practice it. 

Then, there is the issue of gun control.  Those who abhor the accessibility of military style assault weapons will have a field day attacking, ideologically, those who defend their 2^nd amendment right to “keep and bear” arms. 

This story has created strange bed fellows.  I read and posted an opinion from a conservative Christian who wants to damn all Muslims and to liken the religion to the circumstances in 1920’s Germany that set the table of the rise of fascism and Nazism.  The Orlando shootings show that if we don’t stop ISIS now, it will become another Hitler-led Nazi type of power that wreaks havoc and propagates genocide. Many of my Facebook friends pointed out several leaps of logic that in the article.  What I found fascinating in it is that the author, a conservative, linked arms with high profile atheists Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, and Ayn Hirsi Ali in order to brand Islam as violent and evil.  And he did this in defense of the victims, gay people.  Recall the last time you remember conservative Christians aligning with Atheists to defend gays from Muslims.  I bet you cannot think of time.  I can’t. 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

For the record, I know all Muslims are not violent because I spend a week in a community that is 70% Muslim.  While I am there, I talk about Jesus and try to convince people to follow him.  The Muslims react in violent ways. They sell me bread and fruit.  They welcome me into their homes and heap hospitality on me.  And at the hotel bar, they sell me beer and soda.  Smiling the entire time.  I have never felt safer anywhere.

For the record, I do not keep weapons in my home.  Yet, I am good friends with card-carrying NRA members.  I don’t think the issue is as simple as some of my dogmatic anti-gun friends.  But, I do believe it would be helpful to significantly reduce the number of assault weapons and automatic, high volume, rapid fire guns.  Nobody needs those.  You don’t need an arsenal that Rambo would envy to protect your home.  And having a gun doesn’t make you safer.  The guard at the Pulse night club was armed, but 50 people still died.

For the record, I love gay and lesbian people.  Not all of them.  I don’t know all of them.  But, I love the ones I know.  My neighbors.  Old friends who now take care of my nephews and nieces.  Dear friends who are still “in the closet.”  Based on my reading of Matthew 19:1-12 and Romans 1:18-32, I do not believe same sex marriage is God-honoring or sanctified by God.  I believe homosexuality is outside God’s plan for human sexuality.  But I want you to pay attention to something.  I wrote my theology after identifying how many gay and lesbian people I love. 

And please notice this.  I don’t count homosexual sex as an unforgivable sin.  Some Christians don’t think it is a sin at all.  If they and I are to discuss the divergence in our theology, I’d like to do it in an atmosphere of friendship and love.  And I do believe that someone can hold the opinion that same sex marriage is OK in God’s eyes and at the same time that person can be a disciple.  To put it simply, in theological terms, I oppose same sex marriage.  But I don’t think someone is disqualified from the title ‘Christian’ just because they disagree with me on this point. 

So where are we?  I think the way of Christ is the way of compassion.  His encounter with the rich young ruler is an example.  He was working to correct this man’s understanding by helping the man shift his priorities from a dependence on material wealth to a dependence on faith in God.  But, Jesus knew the man would not respond, not the way Jesus preferred.  Still, the Gospel say that when Jesus told him to part with his riches, before Jesus said a word, he looked at him and “loved him” (Mark 10:21).  That’s where we are.  We are to love people.

We – followers of Jesus – are to be peddlers of the Gospel.  When it comes to social issues, we start from the cross and resurrection and base ourselves there.  If we find ourselves in disagreement with someone on any of the issues I have raised, we enter the conversation compassionately seeking to love the other even in disagreement.  Most importantly, we do not settle for the prevailing narrative. We loudly but compassionately proclaim a counter narrative, one in which the love of Jesus rules the day.  That story must be told and lived, and we must be the ones to tell it and live it.

I close with a tweet from Russell Moore:

 Following

Russell MooreVerified account‏@drmoore

Christian, your gay or lesbian neighbor is probably really scared right now. Whatever our genuine disagreements, let's love and pray

A Pastor's Response to World Vision's Decision on Same Sex Marriage

Walk to the Light (John 9:1-41; 10:7-10, 19-21)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, March 30, 2014

4^th Sunday of Lent

            John 9:1-10:21

9 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been blind since birth. ² Jesus' disciples asked, “Teacher, why was this man born blind? Was it because he or his parents sinned?”

³ “No, it wasn’t!” Jesus answered. “But because of his blindness, you will see God work a miracle for him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do what the one who sent me wants me to do. When night comes, no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light for the world.”

⁶ After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground. He made some mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes.⁷ Then he said, “Go and wash off the mud in Siloam Pool.” The man went and washed in Siloam, which means “One Who Is Sent.” When he had washed off the mud, he could see.

⁸ The man’s neighbors and the people who had seen him begging wondered if he really could be the same man. ⁹ Some of them said he was the same beggar, while others said he only looked like him. But he told them, “I am that man.”

¹⁰ “Then how can you see?” they asked.

¹¹ He answered, “Someone named Jesus made some mud and smeared it on my eyes. He told me to go and wash it off in Siloam Pool. When I did, I could see.”

¹² “Where is he now?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

The Pharisees Try To Find Out What Happened

^13-14 The day when Jesus made the mud and healed the man was a Sabbath. So the people took the man to the Pharisees. ¹⁵ They asked him how he was able to see, and he answered, “Jesus made some mud and smeared it on my eyes. Then after I washed it off, I could see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus doesn’t come from God. If he did, he would not break the law of the Sabbath.”

Others asked, “How could someone who is a sinner work such a miracle?”^[a]

Since the Pharisees could not agree among themselves, ¹⁷ they asked the man, “What do you say about this one who healed your eyes?”

“He is a prophet!” the man told them.

¹⁸ But the Jewish leaders would not believe that the man had once been blind. They sent for his parents ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this the son that you said was born blind? How can he now see?”

²⁰ The man’s parents answered, “We are certain that he is our son, and we know that he was born blind. ²¹ But we don’t know how he got his sight or who gave it to him. Ask him! He is old enough to speak for himself.”

^22-23 The man’s parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. The leaders had already agreed that no one was to have anything to do with anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah.

²⁴ The leaders called the man back and said, “Swear by God to tell the truth! We know that Jesus is a sinner.”

²⁵ The man replied, “I don’t know if he is a sinner or not. All I know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see!”

²⁶ “What did he do to you?” the Jewish leaders asked. “How did he heal your eyes?”

²⁷ The man answered, “I have already told you once, and you refused to listen. Why do you want me to tell you again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

²⁸ The leaders insulted the man and said, “You are his follower! We are followers of Moses. ²⁹ We are sure that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where Jesus comes from.”

³⁰ “How strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from.³¹ We know that God listens only to people who love and obey him. God doesn’t listen to sinners.³² And this is the first time in history that anyone has ever given sight to someone born blind.³³ Jesus could not do anything unless he came from God.”

³⁴ The leaders told the man, “You have been a sinner since the day you were born! Do you think you can teach us anything?” Then they said, “You can never come back into any of our meeting places!”

³⁵ When Jesus heard what had happened, he went and found the man. Then Jesus asked, “Do you have faith in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ He replied, “Sir, if you will tell me who he is, I will put my faith in him.”

³⁷ “You have already seen him,” Jesus answered, “and right now he is talking with you.”

³⁸ The man said, “Lord, I put my faith in you!” Then he worshiped Jesus.

³⁹ Jesus told him, “I came to judge the people of this world. I am here to give sight to the blind and to make blind everyone who can see.”

⁴⁰ When the Pharisees heard Jesus say this, they asked, “Are we blind?”

⁴¹ Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty. But now that you claim to see, you will keep on being guilty.”

A Story about Sheep

10 Jesus said:

⁷ Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did not listen to any of them. ⁹ I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.

¹⁰ A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. 

¹⁹ The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is crazy! Why listen to him?”

²¹ But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”

            The Pharisees who confront Jesus are people thoroughly committed to God’s ways; however, their zeal for the law blinds them to the work of God among them.   They know how they think God is supposed to act.  When Jesus does not act that way, it does not matter that he healed a blind man.  In their understanding, blindness is a sign of punishment from God.  Only God can undo that punishment.  And God would not do so on a Sabbath day.  The sinner has been blind his entire life.  He can wait one more day for healing.

            Because blindness is a sign of sin and the Sabbath is for rest, not work, not even the work of healing, they miss the sign from God, the healing.  Some Pharisees do get a glimpse.  Like Nicodemus in chapter 3, there were Pharisees who saw Jesus in action and they knew he was from Gog.  Full understanding would not come until after the resurrection, but they were open.  Others, stubbornly stuck in their traditions, could not allow themselves to see.  Jesus called them blind.

            Where is the church in America blind today?  Where are we guilty of missing God’s healing because we are blinded by rules we have determined to be essential? 

Think of the issue of our time, same-sex marriage.  The conversation on homosexuality in Evangelical circles generates so much smoke and noise that followers of Jesus do not see where God is at work.  Failing to see, we fail to join in God’s work.

            World Vision is an international Christian organization that does child sponsorship.  They partner affluent Americans with extremely poor children, people who live on less than $.99 a day.  In sponsorship, someone signs up to pay $35 each month to sponsor a child.  Also the sponsor writes letters to the child and prays for the child.

            The funds make sure the child gets at least one meal each day, a uniform, supplies, and school fees paid.  In some places, sponsorship funds also contribute to clean water projects.  Without these things, someone goes hungry, drinks infested water which leads to disease, lacks basic education and is thus unemployable, and lacks healthcare.  Sponsorship saves lives, prolongs life, and increases the quality of life.  World Vision is an evangelical organization that shares eternal life by sharing the gospel in all their programs.

            World Vision recently announced same-sex couples in committed, monogamous marriages relationships would be allowed to be employed.  World Vision did not endorse same-sex relationships.  World Vision said that whether one is pro-homosexuality or anti-homosexuality is a decision to be made in concert with the leadership in the local church.  Some churches feel one way about the issue, others feel another.  World Vision works with Christians of many stripes.  World Vision’s mission is to carry the gospel to the poorest of the poor through witnessing and through sponsorship programs.  They work with churches that affirm homosexuality as a lifestyle choice and with churches that condemn it.

            Because of World Vision’s decision to employ people in same sex marriages, sponsors opposed to homosexuality have ended their partnership with World Vision declaring them are a non-Christian organization.   These sponsors know that $35/month is saving life, prolonging life, and enhancing the quality of life.  They know that children all over the world hear the gospel through World Vision. Their $35/month helps make that possible.  They know World Vision is not preaching a gospel of homosexuality.  World Vision preaches and teaches the same message of salvation from Jesus preached in evangelical churches.  The former sponsors know that.  But their opposition to same sex marriage is so vehement, they assume World Vision does not represent God.

            These ending their sponsorship and taking away money they’ve given to kids who desperately need it – these are the Pharisees who refused to believe God would heal on the Sabbath.  Enslaved by their own ideas, they missed seeing Jesus.  You’re blind, he told them.  People who cut off sponsorship to stand on principle are equally blind. 

In Ethiopia, I washed a girl’s feet, a girl from a Muslim family.  Then, she washed mine with the most tender care you can imagine.  I’ve never felt so loved quite like that.  Why?  God brought us together through sponsorship.  She and I have seen God.  People are missing this because they cannot imagine God working outside their rules.

            For the record, I believe the Bible teaches that God is glorified in sexual relationships that are between a husband and wife.  Any other sexual relationship is outside of God’s vision for humanity.  Marriage or celibacy as a single person: this is God’s plan for human sexuality.  Anything beyond is sin. 

            Other Christians see it differently.  Can a practicing homosexual be Christian?  Anyone who declares Jesus is Lord and worships him is a Christian.  No one is a perfect disciple; certainly not me.  As a pastor, I would not perform a same-sex union.  As a friend, I would attend one. 

            Jesus came to show the light – to free us from sin.  Restoring sight to a blind man was a sign that pointed to Jesus’ life work.  He frees us from sin’s grasp.  He gives us abundant life in which we are sons and daughters of God. 

            Look around the world.  Where the blind receive sight, the hungry are fed, children go to school, and the sick get medicine; in all these works, God is at work, we join Him.

            The debates over homosexuality matter, but that conversation is secondary.  The main things is announcing that Jesus is Lord and his coming is a sign of the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom.  Announcing the gospel supersedes secondary.  Conversations on that topic should be done in love great patience and grace on all sides, and without driving us to nullify each other’s Christianity. 

            Jesus is the Light of the world and his light is shining in the world today.  We are healed of our blindness when we walk to the light. 

            The last I heard, World Vision was going to reverse their decision and now not hire same-sex couples.  It made me sad to think that Pharisees complaining about broken rules trumped the work of caring for orphans and extremely poor children.  They are unable to rejoice when a blind man receives his sight. 

            Jesus said, a thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.   If you heard me to endorse homosexuality as a Biblically acceptable life style, you have not been listening.  What I have done is present a story in which Jesus puts the full, abundant life – the life freed from sin’s clutches – as his top priority.  And in that story, some believers choose the rules over the abundant life.

            How do we respond?  Do we strive with everything in us to walk with Jesus and help people have abundant life.  Or we do stand in the corner, wringing our hands, griping because someone’s Christianity doesn’t fit our standards.  I want to be where Jesus is – where healing is happening.   I want to walk to the light and walk in the light.  I pray that we all want that.

AMEN

Gay NBA Player - The Conversation

            This is a follow up to my post from yesterday.  I watched a larger clip of the conversation in which the ESPN NBA writer Chris Broussard declared himself to be a Christian.  In his statement he said he could not see how someone could live in open rebellion to God’s decrees regarding sexuality and still claim to be a Christian.  He cited many forms of sexual sin – adultery, fornication, and homosexuality.  His point was if a person is doing any activity in one of those categories and is in that activity as a life style and seeking legitimation of that life style, then that person is living in unrepentant sin and thus cannot be a Christian.  That is Broussard’s point.

            I felt he articulated it well, but while I agree with much of his statement, I come up short of his final declaration.  In the context in which he wrote, I will not state who is and who is not a Christian.  I define a Christian as one who follows Jesus.  I know people who are trying to follow Jesus as Lord in their lives and are openly gay.  I personally believe that creates an unresolvable tension but I think there are many unresolvable tensions.  The most American of these is living with disproportionate wealth, but that’s another topic for another day.

            In the ESPN dialogue, the other conversation partner with Broussard is a LZ Granderson.  He is also a sportswriter and he is openly gay.  The ESPN host moderating between Granderson and Broussard brings up the issue of athletes who have trouble with the whole concept of homosexuality.  Granderson takes that question as an opening for conversation about the way we in society discuss homosexuality.  Up to this point, the conversation has been about how being openly gay will affect Jason Collins as a basketball player.  Broussard had done what he has always done and talked about the NBA scene from a basketball perspective.  But in responding to the host’s question, Granderson, appropriately, I think, takes the discussion in the direction of societal conversation (“the conversation”).

            To his credit, Granderson does not lash out at the tweets of athletes who simply cannot understand the entire notion of homosexuality.  He invites divergent viewpoints.  He shares that he and Broussard have discussed the issue many times.  They are long-time friends and have multiple times had “the uncomfortable conversation.”  Granderson’s point is that the conversation needs to be had.

            Broussard picks up on this and agrees that he and Granderson have had this conversation and continue in their friendship.  They have been on basketball teams together.  They accept each other’s different points of view.  Broussard actually uses the word “tolerate,” but he uses in a context that implies he and Granderson are friends who have covered this ground thoroughly and have done so in off-camera, unfiltered settings.

            The congenial dialogue however becomes a bit pointed and it makes me wonder exactly what Granderson and Broussard have said directly to one another in unguarded moments.  I think the sticking point that sharpens Granderson’s tone is Broussard’s definite contrast between the homosexual lifestyle and Christianity.  Incidentally, I would guess it is anachronistic to say ‘the homosexual lifestyle.'  When talking about the LGBT community, we are talking about millions of people so there are many lifestyles.  But in his remarks, Broussard definitely sets up two poles – gay and Christian.

            Granderson takes exception to this because he self-defines as a Christian and very clearly says, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior."  He expresses extreme frustration saying that on one hand “you,” and here there is double meaning as "you" refers to both Broussard and to enforcers of marriage laws that define marriage as man and woman, call sex outside of marriage a sin.  Then on the other hand, “you” won’t let “us” (and he identifies the LGBT community) get married. Granderson’s finishing flourish is that he doesn’t need Chris Broussard or anyone else to tell him he is a Christian.  This turn to more confrontational rhetoric comes when Granderson invites the conversation and the host points out that the player who has come out, Jason Collins, calls himself a Christian.

            Thus we have three self-identified Christians, Granderson, Broussard, and Collins.  Two, Granderson and Collins, are openly gay.  The third, Broussard, says, you cannot live a gay lifestyle and be a Christian.  Is he right?  Or is Granderson right in calling this an “unfair” position imposed on persons who are gay and Christian?  On this point, I recommend the reader check out Christopher Yuan’s book “Out of a Far Country.”  I have blogged on this book and you can read my comments here http://honesttalkwithgod.blogspot.com/2012/05/christopher-yuans-out-of-far-country.html.

            Yuan, himself gay, concludes there are two options.  Heterosexual marriage and celibacy.  He refers to these options as holy sexuality.  I know LZ Granderson would be upset and cry unfair as this conclusion.  So too would a lot of my gay friends and I can understand why.  Many of my friends who are heterosexual would also call this ridiculously unfair.  But is it?

            Where I live in North Carolina, there are three fairly prominent Baptist Churches that will gladly perform same-sex weddings.  Of course North Carolina as a state does not recognize same-sex unions as marriages.  But I think same-sex couples can get legal paperwork that states they are in a civil union.  And there are other states where they can go and get a marriage license.  At one point, as the temperature rose in the Granderson-Broussard dialogue, a frustrated Granderson said, “You say I can’t get married then you call sex outside of marriage a sin.  Well a brother’s gotta do what a brother’s gotta do.”  Of course the implication is that sex is a necessity and it will happen no matter what.

            That is a mistaken stance for a Christian.  I was celibate until I turned 32 (when I got married).  I was extremely frustrated in my 20’s.  I wanted to say “a brother’s gotta do what a brother’s gotta do.”  But I waited and many times I did not know if my wait was going to end in marriage or not.  For me it did.  And I can hear the retort.  “But Rob, as a heterosexual, you always had the potential for marriage.  You were waiting, not accepting celibacy as a lifestyle.”  I grant that response.  It is a reasonable response to make.  My rejoinder is this.  There are many heterosexual marriages where the sex part of it is either wholly unsatisfying or absent altogether.  Healthy spirituality must take precedence over fulfilling sexuality for the person who wants to follow Jesus.

            Granderson’s phrase “a brother’s gotta do what a brother’s gotta do,” has no bearing for a Christian.  I appreciate his sense of unfairness.  However, he and all Christians must submit every region of life to the Lordship of Jesus.  I do know of Christians who believe this can be done while affirming monogamous, committed homosexual marriages.  When I was in Arlington, VA, I was in a small group of men (we met in DC weekly) who prayed together regularly.  Every member except me affirmed homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle choice if the relationship is for life and is nurturing and beautiful and full of love.  Now in Chapel Hill, I have a friend who is a pastor whom I greatly respect.  She makes the same argument.  My DC friends and my NC friend both make their case from scripture.  I think their reasoning is Biblically weak, but it is Biblical reasoning.

            Granderson needs to revisit his own presentation if he wants to assert the compatibility of Christianity and homosexuality.  While I do not think the two – Christian life and gay life – are necessarily opposite poles, I don’t see them as natural compliments either.  To call Jesus “Lord” is to submit to him in everything.  Listening to Granderson describe his faith, it sounds like it is something he desires rather than something that is true.  It sounds more like Jesus is his than he is Jesus’. 

            I want to be kind about this.  Granderson is a sports columnist, not a trained theologian.  And his comments came in the fluid medium of a live conversation.  My thoughts here are written at my leisure, with the benefit of editing.  Granderson would doubtless be more polished in his articulation if he were writing a piece entitled “the gay Christian.”  Even so, he would need to base his case on something other than his own desires or what is fair.  At some point the advocate of Christianity that allows for gay marriage must make that case from the Bible.  I have not seen that case made with any weight anywhere.

            In conclusion, I reiterate that Christians are called to love.  We must go overboard in extending grace the way Jesus did.  This is true of all Christians, gay and straight.  What matters most is not who one can marry or my right to assert a particular theology. For the one who calls Jesus “Lord,” what matters most is his will which we discern through ardent study of scripture, the teaching of the church, and the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  Everything we do is to be done in obedience to God.  For this conversation to proceed, the outcome cannot be dictated in advance, and all the participants who call themselves Christians must move ahead in submission to God and in a spirit of love.