Gentleness and Respect

Saturday 8/4/2012 7:31 AM

A few weeks ago Don Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A^®, created a firestorm when he voiced his opposition to gay marriage in an interview.  This past Wednesday Mike Huckabee, a conservative radio talk show host, called for a Chick-fil-A^® Appreciation Day and thousands of loyal customers went to their local restaurants to show their support of their stance.  Then yesterday gay rights activists called for a Kiss-In where same sex couples would go to their local Chick-fil-A^® restaurant and kiss their partner in front of the establishment to voice their protest.  While the appreciation day garnered more support in numbers of people visiting the restaurants both days saw protesters from both sides yelling slogans and slurs at one another.

I am Christian but I am not opposed to gay marriage being legalized.  What bothers me is the self-righteous, hateful way many Christians approach the issue.  When the Christian community has a zero percent divorce rate and a one hundred percent fidelity to one’s spouse and children then I might be able to accept their criticism of a different style of living.  As it is, we vilify the LGBT community as being those responsible for the breakdown of “family values” while, in my opinion, our own hypocritical way of living is the primary reason for the breakdown of the moral fabric of our society.  My reading today includes 1 Peter 5:5, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’”  We, in the Christian community have forgotten about humility and have clothed ourselves with pride.  According to Peter, this puts us at odds with God.

We need to heed Peter’s advice in 1 Peter 2:15-16, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”  I believe we in the Christian community have forgotten about revering Christ in our daily lives and we have certainly ignored the part about gentleness and respect.  The Christian community would do well to get off its moral high horse and start to live as God has commanded us to live, in unity with one another and with love for our neighbor.  If we started living that way people’s criticism of Christianity would have no basis and our “lifestyle” would be attractive rather than hypocritical.