Can anyone explain to me how someone could be so intellectually self-unaware and obtuse as to be able to write, record and sing the following lyrics by Lily Allen:
"Look inside
Look inside your tiny mind
Now look a bit harder
Cause we're so uninspired, so sick and tired of all the hatred you harbor
So you say
It's not okay to be gay
Well I think you're just evil
You're just some racist who can't tie my laces
Your point of view is medieval
F*** you
F*** you very, very much
Cause we hate what you do
And we hate your whole crew
So please don't stay in touch."
Uh, yeah... We're so tired of all the hatred, we're just going to add to it.
Makes complete sense.
It's not okay to have a problem with same-sex sexual activity. But it is okay to call someone evil because of their view that sex was designed to work a certain way in a certain context? Yeah...
This reminds me of a passage in Tim Timmerman's fantastic book A Bigger World Yet- Faith, Brotherhood & Same-Sex Needs in which he talks about his friend Jim who had strugged for years with same-sex attraction and has found finding a home in the church difficult- but maybe not for the reasons you think. Of course, he describes the reception you might be able to imagine from some-"I mean, God forbid I should even say 'I'm still having troubles.' They figure you got born again, you got Spirit-filled and you've done your discipleship program- you should be fixed. You should be better... If I did struggle what I got from the church was that I was the one who wasn't praying enough, I was the one who wasn't doing enough..."
I'm sure you've heard similar- but what about those on the left side of the spectrum, the affirming side? Surely those who eschewed hate would have a different reaction to Jim? Well...
He was asked to tell his story to a denominational gathering of a mainline denomination and when he shared that same-sex attraction was something he struggled with (as opposed to embracing) and that he had some ties with ministries that actually support men and women who want to move in a different direction, the reaction shocked him. "I've never had people hate me so vehemently," he said as he was called a bigot by people who should have been calling him "brother"...
I didn't mean for this to turn into a big post, but I think it's important to point out- we ALL struggle with hatred towards those on the "other" side, and whether you are hating someone because they are gay (which I think many do- though I'd argue that simply believing that same-sex sexual activity is out of bounds for Christ followers is NOT "hatred") or hating someone because of their to-the-right-of-you views about sexuality, you are still hating. And all the hating whether from the right or the left doesn't help anyone.
A final quote from Tim that I think many on both sides of this thing in the Church need to hear: "The battle that has been waging between Christians regarding homosexuality is killing people. Really. There are men like Jim who are smashed in between this debate like a pedestrian in the middle of two vehicles dead set on a head-on crash. These men are ostracized and not supported at church because they are treated like they are 'gay.' But they are vehemently attacked by gays and church goers who support the gay lifestyle because their actual choices present a challenge to the "born that way' story. Like modern lepers, they have nowhere to go where they are accepted and encouraged.
"I have watched men who don't find what they need in either warring faction give up asking for help. I've watched them make do, get by and, in many ways, simply go to sleep. I have watched men risk a myriad of sexually-transmitted diseases to have at least a moment of touch from another man. As we fight on the intellectual, emotional and psychological fronts men are losing their lives. I know them well as they show up on men's weekends I staff, threadbare and roadweary. They fear they can't get their needs met at church, but also find having sex with men tearing their soul to pieces. The church is busy arguing on an intellectual level over what Scripture may say, or over what is cuturally appropriate in the 21st century. Meanwhile, men are disappearing daily."
Yes, but Ted Haggard is running a church again, so we must be doing fine.
I hate you Bob, but this is a great post.
Posted by: Frank Turk | July 15, 2011 at 01:23 PM
I have no idea who Lily Allen is, but she is returning hate for hate. Sure, hate is hate and all hate is most egregious, but why not comment on those who started the hate? It's all terrible, but I can't help but think that an eye for an eye is somehow better than just taking an eye.
Posted by: Mike | July 26, 2011 at 06:23 AM