100 Answers in 100 Days

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Sharing answers to the various questions of faith I have faced, and which others have been challenged with also.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Are Christians Now Persecuted by the Gay Community?

There is a website called change.org on which people can point out what they perceive to be an injustice or a problem with society, and people are invited to sign a petition to show support for this view. This petition is then sent off to people who may be able to make a change in this area, and bring justice to a situation. In one sense, I love this site, because I can be involved in trying to bring justice into the world, which is something that God explicitly desires of us (Micah 6:8). But then, on the other hand, people claim that there is some injustice or wrong-doing, and I disagree strongly - but there is no place for me to show my opposition. Instead, it seems that no petition ever fails since, on the Internet there are always enough people who see things as you do. So rather than being a win because of a majority vote, it's always a win simply because "enough" people agree with you. And what constitutes "enough" is kind of arbitrary, if you ask me.

But here's the latest case in point. One citizen has complained that a publicly funded high school has said they would not have accepted a certain student had they known about her homosexual parents from the beginning. And to many people, this looks like discrimination, and they want to call this an injustice and have it put up on change.org, calling for changes to be made to the Equal Opportunities Act. However, surely we can just as easily look at this from the opposite direction. This Christian school is rejecting students on this basis in order to make a statement in opposition to homosexuality. That's the reason - it's about the statement that they are making. And so by saying that a Christian school can't make this statement, you are asking this Christian school to deny what makes them Christian. That is, to be Christian is to believe and stand by what the Bible teaches us. It is equal to forcing the Christian to deny their belief in God, or in Jesus Christ, or any other tenet of Christian faith. And in that sense, it can just as logically be called discrimination against Christians.

I don't really understand why we should expect such a demand from a Christian school. You know they're a Christian school, and you know then that this is something that conforms to Christian belief and behavior. Telling the world what God approves and disapproves of is part of what it means to be a Christian, and so they are simply being Christian. Do you expect that they won't talk about Jesus in the classroom as well? Do you expect them to teach that evolution is true? Do you expect them to advocate abortion as an option for women? No; they're a Christian school and they're behaving like one. The school is publicly funded, but that shouldn't make any difference - they're publicly funded to be a Christian school. Where their money comes from doesn't change their nature. If you don't want your child to be taught that homosexuality is wrong, don't go to a Christian school. If you want them to be taught that evolution is true, don't go to a Christian school. Muslims wear burkas, Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions, and Christians don't approve of homosexuality. Be like the rest of the world and say, "What a bunch of weirdos", (if that's how you feel), and move on. But if you feel like you're being persecuted or discriminated against in this situation because you're gay; honestly, it's like going to Pizza Hut and asking for a Big Mac, and then being horribly offended that they won't serve you one. It's kind of strange that you would expect them to. It's almost like you went in there just to set them up for a dispute.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ... If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:19-20)