Last fall, another so-called transgendered man, obviously male to anyone who sees him, was allowed to enter the women's sleeping section of a homeless shelter. He later bragged about sexually violating multiple women over several nights at the shelter. These horrible abuses occurred because the shelter directors refused to judge the man's claims that he was a woman.
Last week, the Roman Catholic Church defrocked and excommunicated a Catholic priest named Theodore McCarrick. Mr. McCarrick was an openly gay priest of whom the Pope France once said, "Who am I to judge?" in defense of McCarrick's position of service as Bishop of Washington, an appointment that violated historic Roman Catholic practice and doctrine. Sadly, had the Pope made a judgment about Theodore McCarrick's sexual proclivities, hundreds of little boys would have not been abused during his tenure.
Yesterday, Dr. Al Mohler, wrote a brilliant piece entitled An Insidious Threat to Religious Institutions of Higher Learning: The Human Rights Campaign Gives Its List of Demands for a Biden Administration. The Biden administration has avowed to promote LGBQT rights, and Dr. Mohler writes:There is now an open demand for the Biden administration to deny accreditation, or at least to facilitate the denial of accreditation, to Christian institutions, Christian colleges and universities, but also beyond Christian, other religious institutions and schools to deny accreditation if those schools do not meet the non-discrimination demands of the LGBTQ community.
That means any Christian university making moral judgments that lesbianism, homosexuality, bi-sexuality, transgenderism, or queerness are transgressions against God will lose its accreditation if the LGBTQ community gets its way in a Biden administration. Dr. Mohler calls this "the greatest threat against religious liberty in the history of America."
Think with me for a moment.
Those who wish to censor a person for making a moral judgment about someone else is actually making a moral judgment about the person they wish to censor?
Do you see the irony?
I believe people should be free to make a moral judgments about me. They should be free to say I'm prejudiced, or that I'm homophobic, or that I'm a religious nut. That's their right, and I will fight for their freedom to make that judgment.
Just don't tell Christians to be quiet or attempt to forbid us by law from making moral judgments about others. The prophets of ancient Israel were stoned for the words they spoke because the people didn't wish to hear them. I will keep speaking about America's sins against God, even while the stones are being thrown. You may hate and despise what you hear. You may not like that I believe God gives to each of us a moral code, a code written in our hearts and expressed in His Word, and that those apart from Christ will one day answer to God for the lack of obedience to His moral law. But I will fight for the freedom of your expression, the freedom of practicing your non-religion, the freedom of your speech, and for your freedom to disagree.
That said, any demand you make of me or other Christians through the "Don't you dare judge!" movement represents the real danger we face in America. It is the freedom and ability to make moral judgments and to direct proper behavior that makes this country such a great place to live.
"Who am I to judge?"
I'll tell you.
I'm a person created in the image of God and I've been called to maintain an awareness that my Creator requires me to make moral judgments every day. If we don't involve ourselves in making moral judgments, we turn this world over to human abuses.
Everyone makes judgments. Everyone judges. Everyone.
The proper question is, "What's the standard?"
At least in America, it's the Judeo-Christian standard of morality, and the people better rise up and resist the tyranny of conformity demanded by the immoral and the godless.
14 comments:
At least in America, it's the Judeo-Christian standard of morality, and the people better rise up and resist the tyranny of conformity demanded by the immoral and the godless.
I'm a bit confused by the use of the word "conformity" in that statement. As Christians, we can maintain our standard of morality without discriminating against those who do not maintain that standard, right?
So are we in agreement that regardless of one's sexual orientation, gender, or age, enrollment in any business organization, dwelling, or school there should be permitted? No one is demanding "conformity" in the sense of denying our standard in the effort to "fit in."
If I'm misunderstanding the focus of this post, help me....:)
Can't wait to see Wade's response to Victorious' comment!
Wade, thanks for this post. The main reason I continue to land on your blog site is to gain insights into many important developments within contemporary society, Southern Baptist life, and other areas and I continue to hold to your perspectives being refreshingly credible.
Perhaps more than any other persons, Christians support the privilege of "free will". Mankind bears the highest mental capacity of all created life, and we can govern our lives by the exercise of will and choice versus instinct and (in the case of domesticated animals) training.
Free will is paramount to our belief as Christians, which means we protect the right of others to freely choose their lifestyle, even if it is a sinful lifestyle. The mindset of "You have no right to judge" is to deny free will while insisting on maintaining your own. For them to demand conformity in life and thought is also to deny us our right to free will, which amounts to tyranny.
As I see it, "You have no right to judge!" is an angry outburst coming from a guilty conscience -- whether the person is aware of it or not. We need God's wisdom to know how to respond in love and truth when we are accused like that.
It is hard to understand one another, to come into understanding of the full meaning of what another person says, but in the Pirkei Avot, there is a saying, this: ""Don't judge your fellow human being until you have reached that person's place." (Hillel) I have often wondered how different we would be towards one another IF we tried to really understand the pain behind the words and the 'acting out' that we are so quick to condemn without the ability to fathom the deep heart of that individual as only God can see it.
Perhaps that concept of Hillel found its way into the Jesuit language of 'public humility' that prompted Francis to say 'I am a sinner upon whom God has looked' and 'who am I go judge?' ? I cannot know this, but I do know something of the development of the Judeo-Christian ethos and so I do wonder if Francis was speaking from that tradition.
I was some time ago much moved by a post on SBCtoday in response to a television show called 'Survivor' and I wrote a response to it which I would like to share if I may, this:
"I am conscious of people’s discomfort with those who are ‘different’ and that often not knowing how to ‘fix it’ for them or ‘make it right’ for them, how it is that we seem too eager to distance ourselves from them in ways that are not Our Lord’s Ways.
What there is that makes us ‘human’ is something even more basic than our ‘maleness’ or ‘femaleness’ . . . and that IS a difference that invites us to engage with people who have gender issues on more common ground: our common human origin . . . the very soil from which we were formed and the very life breathed into us by God.
Some in the Church are wanting to surround and care for those who are ‘different’ with great patience over time with gentle care and unremitting hope for their salvation,
whereas others seem impatient in how quickly they are ready to cast transgender folk out from their midst . . .
I think it important not to be afraid of encounters with those who suffer from differences so many of us cannot understand;
or worse, not accept them as having one kind of ‘presenting form’ of that far more basic fallen human condition we all suffer from, each in our OWN way.
The person who was ‘outed’ as ‘transgender’ IS, first and last, a child of God.
What could be more important for us to know? "
http://sbctoday.wpengine.com/survivor-transgender/
CHRISTIANE,
How many children of God did He kill in the flood? Were not children of God killed in Sodom and Gomorrah?
REX RAY,
I'm from a different 'branch of the family'. In my Church, we see Christ as 'the Revealer of God'.
I'm also a believer in the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. One God in Three Persons.
So I my understanding of 'God' may be very different from your understanding, and that is why your questions don't make sense to me in the way that you might want them to,
but even the way we interpret sacred Scripture through the lens of Christ may be very different from the way you interpret it.
I wish I understood your questions better, so sorry for my failure.
You stay safe. Just a while longer and maybe a vaccine will come. Am praying for all who gather with family at the holiday time, that the 'angel of death' passes over them, because the news is so bad about what is happening in the heartland. You have my prayers.
CHRISTIANE,
I’m having a problem following your reasoning: “In my Church, we see Christ as 'the Revealer of God'. I'm also a believer in the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. One God in Three Persons.”
I believe all or most Baptist believe as you do.
Did Jesus JUDGE when he made a whip and said? “The Scriptures declare, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:13 NLT)
Christiane, should we JUDGE? “The Biden administration has avowed to promote LGBQT rights.”
“Later he turned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into heaps of ashes and blotted them off the face of the earth, making them an example for all the ungodly in the future to look back upon and fear.” (2 Peter 2:6 Living Translation)
Good Morning REX RAY,
I think the confusion is because it appears to me that some evangelical understanding of the sacred Scriptures is 'literal' where others may see it in a more abstract way. It's not anyone's fault, it's just how the verses are read and seen. Some read them as what they say on the surface (literal in meaning); others may interpret the same verses as symbolic or written according to a certain purpose.
I always wondered about in other denominations, how people that read the sacred Scriptures DECIDED what was to be read literally and what was to be held as symbolic. In my Church we see some verses literally that other denominations see as symbolic. So, it's the way things are and it helps to know from what tradition or context, a verse is interpreted, or folks may misunderstand one another, sure.
As for 'judging', I sometimes wonder about how people can be so sure they are righteous before God and able to point the finger at 'those other sinners'. I always thought that God favored them what came before Him in humility and asked for His mercy.
A really good friend long ago (Presbyterian lady) told me that she thought differences were more a matter of what was emphasized. I'm come to see more of what she meant, but I am still hopeful of trying to comprehend the thinking of others with different emphases in how they interpret verses. At least I am open to trying to understand what is meaningful to others and why it is meaningful to them. In this way, when I can see a verse from different points of view, I may learn something from another's insight into it.
"As Christians, we can maintain our standard of morality without discriminating against those who do not maintain that standard, right?"
Victorious, if a Christian school has a morality standard, a covenant of behavior signed by students who step foot on campus, then it should be that Christian school's right to expel a student for violating that standard. One man's discrimination is another man's moral judgment.
I am for liberty - across the board - and have no problem with full American rights given to atheists, socialists, homosexuals, etc. - I'm advocating that the RIGHTS of Christian universities and schools not be violated by demanding secular conformity of them.
Does that make sense?
Wade, thank you and yes...it does make sense now. Looking back at your post, I think the first half was focused primarily on the rights of Christian universities and the second half more on the rights of American individuals. I ignored the university portion and saw it as discriminatory much like the bakery that refused to bake a cake for a homosexual couple. :) Had I not overlooked the importance of the accreditation point, I may have understood that portion of the post.
That's why when I applied the post to individuals, I wanted to be sure you agreed that individual believers could still maintain their standard of morality while interacting with non-believers who adhered to a different standard and thereby refusing to discriminate.
I remember when homosexuals were not allowed to serve in the military and how Chris Beck served for 20+ yrs. hiding the fact that he/she was a transgender.
snip:
She was a SEAL for 20 years, completing tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia, among other places, and receiving numerous medals, including a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and 27 other medals.
https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-kristin-beck-2017-7
Again, thank you for taking the time to help my confusion.
Victorious,
thank you for your info on Kristin Beck who served our country under difficult professional and personal circumstances with honor.
I do not know 'WHY' transgender folk are so heavily targeted by the conservative far-right, but I don't think it is right for Christian people to 'point the finger' and to have contempt for them, and when I see it, it saddens me because transgender people suffer and carry large burdens that the rest of us do not share. But to add to their troubles by harsh treatment seems so wrong to me. Contempt for transgender people is not Christ-like in my opinion and I feel compassion for their suffering. I appreciated your link, which illustrates how much one person suffered for many years knowing 'something was wrong' but unable to resolve the problem at the time.
Victorious, maybe in time we will all come to understand 'gender issues' more fully, but I can only hope that our Christian people avoid having 'contempt' for those who already suffer greatly. We are imperfect in my Church, so it may be easier for us to stop 'the pointing of the finger', but it is apparently done openly among some faith communities, and that is sad to see, for the sake of those who already suffer. Thanks again for the link.
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