49 people were gunned down and killed in an Orlando gay bar early Sunday morning, with another 53 wounded. You can read more about the gut-wrenching story here (CNN). The Orlando Sentinel is compiling a page where you can read a short tribute about each of the victims.
There are lots of heavy elements to this story: the shooter’s ISIS allegiance, a hate crime against the LGBT community, guns, an act of domestic terrorism, the pain the LGBT community is feeling, the pain the Latino community is feeling, and even the confusion some Evangelical Christians might feel about their (our) view that acts of homosexuality are sinful.
Well one of those heavy elements can be cleared up here and now: there need be no confusion whatsoever about how Evangelical Christians are to react to the Orlando massacre. Our reaction is to be an outpouring of love, mourning, prayer and solidarity. Period. Can we get over the fact that people are sinful and remember that people are people? Every person on the planet is sinful, yours truly leading the charge. The people in that nightclub were no more or less sinful than me or you. While most don’t want to hear it, the same goes for the shooter. Sin is sin and we all desperately need Jesus and thank God our (my) sexual sins don’t define us (me). Sin doesn’t negate the fact that we are all image bearers of our Creator (Genesis 1:27). We are all people who hold incredible dignity and value. Every person in that nightclub who was gunned down was an image bearer of God and God mourns with those who mourn. We are to do the same, Romans 12:14-18 makes this clear as day:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
My emotions went from gut-wrenched to infuriated when I saw what was trending on Facebook Sunday afternoon: Westboro Baptist Church says “God Sent the Shooter,” celebrates the Orlando shooting.
For those unfamiliar with Westboro Baptist, they are a “church” made up of a handful of people in Topeka, Kansas, almost all of whom are related to one another. They are most known for picketing at funerals and their “God Hates Fags” signs that they hold up seemingly everywhere. If you follow their activities, their message is pretty much that “God Hates Everyone and Everything.” Somehow this small family of rag tag hateful lunatics get more press coverage than the New York Yankees, and often as representatives of Christianity! I really don’t want to write much more about them.
The only group of people it is difficult for me to apply Romans 12:14-18 to is Westboro and their ilk. Not the LGBT community; not ISIS; Westboro. They take my Jesus and prostitute him for their gain. They lie about my Jesus. They paint my Jesus as a fraud, and people then associate my Jesus with the fraud they’ve painted.
Pray for my heart that I will love Westboro and not repay their evil with evil of my own.
Let’s all come together and bless and not curse, mourn with those who mourn, live in harmony with one another, not be proud or conceited, not repay anyone evil for evil and as far as it depends on us, live at peace with everyone.
I don’t think I could have said it better myself.
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It’s not just Westboro. The following is the partial transcript of a video released Sunday by a pastor in the Southwest. I don’t want to give him pub by giving his name but he has a pretty significant media presence.
“The good news is that there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world, because, you know, these homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles. That’s who was a victim here, are a bunch of, just, disgusting homosexuals at a gay bar, okay?
But the bad news is that this is now gonna be used, I’m sure, to push for gun control, where, you know, law-abiding normal Americans are not gonna be allowed to have guns for self-defense. And then I’m sure it’s also gonna be used to push an agenda against so-called “hate speech.” So Bible-believing Christian preachers who preach what the Bible actually says about homosexuality — that it’s vile, that it’s disgusting, that they’re reprobates — you know, we’re gonna be blamed. Like, “It’s all extremism! It’s not just the Muslims, it’s the Christians!” I’m sure that that’s coming. I’m sure that people are gonna start attacking, you know, Bible-believing Christians now, because of what this guy did.
Now let me just be real clear: I’ve never advocated for violence. I don’t believe in, you know, taking the law into our own hands. I would never go in and shoot up a gay bar — so-called. I don’t believe it’s right for us to just be a vigilante… But I will say this: The Bible says that homosexuals should be put to death, in Leviticus 20:13. Obviously, it’s not right for somebody to just, you know, shoot up the place, because that’s not going through the proper channels. But these people all should have been killed, anyway, but they should have been killed through the proper channels, as in they should have been executed by a righteous government that would have tried them, convicted them, and saw them executed. Because, in Leviticus 20:13, God’s perfect law, he put the death penalty on murder, and he also put the death penalty on homosexuality. That’s what the Bible says, plain and simple.
So, you know, the good news is that at least 50 of these pedophiles are not gonna be harming children anymore. The bad news is that a lot of the homos in the bar are still alive, so they’re gonna continue to molest children and recruit people into their filthy homosexual lifestyle… I’m not sad about it, I’m not gonna cry about it. Because these… 50 people in a gay bar that got shot up, they were gonna die of AIDS, and syphilis, and whatever else. They were all gonna die early, anyway, because homosexuals have a 20-year shorter life-span than normal people, anyway…”
Sure he’s nuts, YouTube pulled his video, but this guy is like Westboro, saying damaging untrue things with conviction using the bible and some people stereotyping him/them as Christian. Even if they treat him as a cartoon, they hardly ever look past him to see Jesus. It’s not just them tho, a lot of others are using Orlando as a means to other agendas: anti-Islam, anti-immigration, pro and anti gun control, pro gay rights and anti gay pride. When I heard the news I couldn’t get to any agenda, it was hard enough just trying to wrap my head and heart around the reality of evil in someone intentionally taking the lives of so many people he didn’t know, believing that it will somehow make something better. When these kind of slaughters happen, and evil shows itself so unnecessary and meaningless and empty, it’s like staring into the abyss. It’s deeply troubling and disorienting and discouraging. Only in Christ, but surely in Christ, do I find my bearing to move forward. I think you nailed it: “Our reaction is to be an outpouring of love, mourning, prayer and solidarity. Period.” And this is the perfect answer to those who would marginalize these lost lives: “Can we get over the fact that people are sinful and remember that people are people?”
Willingly entering into suffering is painful, and when it’s done in Christ’s love for the sake of others it’s powerful. A few years ago, brothers and sisters of the Deeper Life Church in Gombe, Nigeria, were worshiping on a Sunday when gunmen stormed the church, firing their weapons. It’s a common uncertainty of life that believers in northern Nigeria face due to Boko Haram. Below is a video reenactment of that attack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sy18SsUPlA
What’s so awesome and loving about the video is that it is shot on location in northern Nigeria and the actors are not actors, they’re the people who lived thru the attack. They were willing to re-enact the attack and relive the sounds of gunfire and the loss of friends and brothers and family members so that Christians would know the reality of what it means to be a believer and that Jesus is worth it. Their sacrifice/offering in making this video is a reminder that we should willingly follow Jesus into suffering, and embrace/enter into others’ lives who are suffering, so that Jesus is seen.
Sorry. You can’t show love and solidarity when you say “acts of homosexuality are sinful.”
Great post Noah, one of my friends said: “You know he could have gone into any bar and would have killed just as many sinners” no way is there any justification in any way for what he did.
The question is are any of us ready if we should die such a quick death? I don’t think there would be time for repentance at such a time