#IsLoveReallyWinning
This was a sad couple of days for me. The world is joining together to stop the “haters”. Unfortunately, hatred is being disguised in
the name of love - doublespeak.
The landmark Supreme Court decision has now made gay
marriage legal. Unknowingly, I happened
to be on FB shortly after the decision. I
read a comment that a friend had posted and I couldn’t agree more. The comment was something to the effect that
America was going down the tubes. I
thought to myself, “I could agree with that.
There are so many problems - from financial collapse to GMO’s to sexual
abuse, and a failing medical system.”
Unfortunately, I was not prepared to read the hateful
comments that followed that post. My
heart was immediately saddened. What
followed that post was an ugly discourse all related to the Supreme Court
decision. (The comment was removed, I am
assuming, because the backlash to that statement was so severe).
As I continued on FB, the hashtag #lovewins was
flooding the feed. Along with this came
some very disturbing comments directed towards Christians. One that caught my eye was: “Can't decide if I am happier that gay marriage is legal
or that conservative Christians are angry? win/win”, followed by this comment: “I'm
a rotten person. I'm tickled over the outrage.”
I commented on the post, not about
homosexuality, but rather about love winning through our speech. My friend graciously
apologized in a loving manner and we moved on, although others were not so
gracious. I never stated any opinions on
my stance on gay marriage, but only that we should be able to love one another
despite our differences. The responses I
got were angry, “No, you're haters. The idea that anybody
would have to live their lives by your belief system in a "free"
country astounds me. I'm elated that the conservatives are freaking out. The
lesson here as it always has been is, mind your own business.”
I thought of the scripture: A soft answer turneth away
wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. (Proverbs 15:1) I was really hoping that this would be the
case. What ensued was comments about me
that were untrue and I realized that to some, I will always be a label. No amount of discourse will break
through. The soft answer turned away my
wrath, my anger, but not Kevin’s (the man I was conversing with). As I
looked at Kevin’s FB page, my heart opened up to make room for him. Only God could do this. Later, my friend told me that he had been the
victim of hate crimes. In church the
following day, my emotions led me to tears.
We have a hard job ahead of us. One of those things will be repairing the damage
that the church has done to those who are suffering greatly. Many in the church have not felt the pain of
those, who are truly suffering. We have offered little or no hope or
understanding for them - only a standard that they can’t reach. My heart is grieving. I have to be ready for the anger and hatred.
