I have had some thoughts lately, actually a lot of thoughts lately, about who Jesus is and how we, as Christians, portray His message to a hurting world.
There is a man on the UNC campus that holds up signs and shouts at the students that they are going to hell. They, affectionately, call him "Gare Bear" and watch his antics- filming him...not for his message but because of HOW he has chosen to acknowledge Jesus Christ. Gare Bear's bigger message is lost behind his shouting and signs. Perhaps, if he put the signs down and entered into the arena of "grace" there would be a better impact for the kingdom?
There is a lot of activity here over the HB2 Bathroom law. In short, the LGBT community needs a safe place to go to the bathroom. In Charlotte a law was passed that allowed anybody that was identifying as a gender, in that moment, different from the gender they were born into - could use the bathroom they were identifying with.
The law was passed at a County level, the law was repealed at a state level....
and there are two sides biting and hurting each other. We have all become "Gare Bear" in our pursuit of what we think is right.
Steven Schwartz wont bring his musicals,, such as "Wicked" back to Charlotte because of the discrimination of the LGBT community.
Paypal will not build in Charlotte because of the discrimination of the LGBT community.
....and the signs are made and the positions are engraved and the shouting commences.
Private companies get to make their own decisions. Steven Scwartz, PAypal, Chik-fil-a and Hobby Lobby all have made public declarations of their beliefs. We get to choose what products we use.
I must be honest- I dont want men in my bathroom with me. I wont feel safe. I know that the LGBT community does not feel safe now. The way the law was presented -one side has to loose their feeling of safety. This law has us all biting each other with insults and injury. The way it was presented there could not be a winner. The law, as presented does not honor BOTH groups. The way it stands now - everyone can use any bathroom - and the very people that the law was created to defend are still in jeopardy.
If we are to honor each other, it seems to me, and I am not a politician, the best way to do that is with "Family Bathrooms', like the ones that Target has. These bathrooms are a lifesaver to moms with younger children, to moms with older parents, to those with wheelchairs and scooters - the extra room is fabulous, and to the LGBT community - where everyone's privacy and safety are ensured. The privacy and safety of families are ensured, the privacy and safety of the elders are ensured, the LGBT community is safe. This bathroom does not discriminate, nor isolate. It, simply, locks- so that you can do what you have to do in safety and privacy.
In our pursuit of acknowledging Jesus Christ I have seen behavior that I am ashamed of, on both sides. Imagine, if you will, that the woman about to be stoned is one of our very own taken from the LGBT community. Would you have thrown the first rock? Would I have thrown the first rock? Don't I deserve to be the one about to be stoned, because I sin a thousand times a day and grieve the heart of God with decisions I make? Jesus meets all of us with truth. He extends His hand to everyone. Why do we act as if He is only available to those that we deem worthy of His message, His love and His dying on the cross? We all have to stop insulting and hurting- both sides...listen....
We have all fallen prey to an argument that can't be won. It's time to put the signs down and meet in the middle- where grace, honor and respect live. This is how I think we can acknowledge Jesus Christ in our hearts and through our lives, while evangelizing through love.
Thus ends my ponderings. <3
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