For the life of me, I will never understand why people who call themselves Christian are often the most hateful, judgmental, hypocritical people out there. The Bible is full of examples of Christ’s love for everyone, even the worst of sinners. The prostitutes, the corrupt, the people afflicted with leprosy…they were deemed the most unlovable people of the time and yet Christ made a point of befriending them and showing them His love.
In a small town in Mississippi, the “undesirables” were sent to a fake prom. The parents of the town instead hosted a secret prom for those deemed acceptable to them. This whole episode started because Constance McMillen wished to take a girl to prom as her date. When I was in high school, girls without dates would go together and their sexuality was never questioned, nor was it ever an issue. Regardless of your feelings on homosexuality, how can adults condone this type of behavior? Are they showing these children how Christ wants us to act or are they behaving like petulant, whiny children themselves and reinforcing that hateful behavior in their children?
The behavior of these people makes me embarrassed to call myself a Christian and a Southerner. In a day and time when children go home and commit suicide because they have been bullied and ridiculed, it is unconscionable that adults would engage in this behavior. It makes me sick, it makes me angry, and it makes me sad. Christ’s message of love and redemption is being lost these days in hate and hypocrisy.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Mark 12:28-31. The NIV translation is this:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘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.”
These are the two greatest commandments, as given to us by Jesus Christ himself. I have no doubt that these people truly do love the Lord. Clearly their religious beliefs are very important to them. Sadly, they’ve missed the mark on the “love your neighbor” part of it and have taught their children that it’s more important to pass judgment and pick and choose those to whom we will show love.
Every day, my goal is to show the Lord how much I love him and I think I do this by treating all of His children with kindness and courtesy. It’s too bad that these adults chose instead to teach their children hate. Shame on you, Itawamba County. It is people like you who give Christianity a bad name. I pray that people who don’t know Him can look beyond your hate and see the love that God has for all of us regardless of who we are or what we do.
Jeffrey D.
April 9, 2010 at 10:31 am
I agree that we should show people the love of Christ. And you’re right. Christ showed people His love as well. But He also called them to repentance and grace. The woman at the well was told of her sin. The woman who was an adulteress was told to go and sin no more. Christ came to the temple with a whip.
You spoke of the actions of a public school district, which I believe is not related to actions of the Christian church. But, sure, many of the parents may have approached this from a Christian perspective, which is wrong in a public school setting in many ways. Public schools are not governed by the church.
I’m sure the Pharisees would have loved to try and trap Him into saying the school dance should have been cancelled. Who knows what Jesus would have said or done? I believe He would have lovingly called the young lady to flee from her sin of homosexuality and called her to repentance and grace. Jesus never condoned sin, but He loves sinners, and wants them to follow Him in righteousness.
Susannah
April 9, 2010 at 12:56 pm
The behavior of these people, and ESPECIALLY the behavior of the people in the churches we visited in Augusta, is exactly why I no longer identify myself as a Christian. There is good in all religions and I don’t think any of them are right or wrong.
So I now consider myself Agnostic. I’ve struggled with religion and questions of faith my entire life. And finally allowing myself the freedom to say “I don’t know and that’s alright” is so completely wonderful. Do I believe there is a higher power? Absolutely. Look around. It can’t be denied. But I’m not going to even pretend that I can define or explain it.
Instead I will endeavor to live my life as a good, kind and honest person. I will raise my children to be compassionate and accepting and loving of those around them. I will teach them to honor the earth, nature and humanity. I will teach them to live without fear, trust in their own hearts and never stop searching for knowledge. And I will try to leave my little corner of the world a better place than I found it. And that’s all I can do. It’s all any of us can do.
Wendy
April 9, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Susannah,
It saddens me to hear that you no longer identify yourself with Christianity because of the behavior of people who claim to be Christians rather than the object of that faith, which is Christ himself. Do you find fault with Jesus? If not, why not follow Him, and show those in error how it’s really done?
themama
April 9, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Jeffrey,
As I understand it, the school sponsored prom was reinstated and Constance was allowed to attend, as was everyone else. HOWEVER, the parents of the school got together and decided to hold a secret prom elsewhere on the same night. Constance was not invited, nor were some other students who were developmentally disabled. This is NOT OK.
As with anything, there are 2 sides to every story and I’m sure we’re only hearing a fraction of the truth. I won’t get into my feelings on homosexuality because I don’t think it’s relevant to the discussion, but the actions of the parents were absolutely NOT Christ-like.
They had an opportunity to show an entire world the love of Christ and they failed miserably by deeming a handful of kids unworthy. I’m probably just as bad as they are for passing judgment, but this is exactly why so many people don’t like Christians.
Susannah
April 9, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Wendy-
I’m so sorry it saddens you, I wish that it wouldn’t. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I find no fault with Jesus, at least no more than I find with any of the other religions who try to define the truth and claim that they know, without a doubt, that THEIR god is the only one. I think Jesus is the story of an amazing man that may or may not be true. But do I think he’s the symbol of the world’s one true religion? Absolutely not. because I don’t think that one true religion exists.
I believe, with all my heart, that we as human beings are incapable of comprehending and interpreting the truth about a divine being. And I don’t think ANY of the religions have it right but I especially feel that way about Christianity. I probably should have explained that better but it was the actions of “Christians” that pushed me over the edge and made me confident in my decision to no longer identify myself as one. I CHOOSE not to follow Jesus because I don’t think Christianity is the answer. I don’t think that the churches on Earth have it right.
I believe in a higher power. Period. And I’m perfectly comfortable and content with that. I have no desire to call that higher power Jesus because I don’t think that’s what it is. I have a plan for living my life and raising my children that I am confident in. And like I said, I’m sorry if that saddens you. It was largely the actions of followers of your religion that got me here but I thank them for it. Once I was able to let go of trying to understand and define spirituality and reconcile that with the hatred and bigotry and bile being spewed in the name of “God”, I found so much more peace.
Sorry to hijack your comments Melissa… this is just something that has really been forefront with me and Patrick lately. And what is truly amazing is that we’ve found ourselves at the exact same conclusion but each got there through our own journeys.