The Encourager – Pride Month — The Quilted Heart

Facebook Warrior, Part 2. My cousin M, not a Christian, posted on Facebook after attending a Pride Month event in her town.

Original Post by M: To all my fellow Peacekeepers, be sure to take care of yourselves. It's a bit rough out there today. Thank you to Silent Witness Peacekeepers Alliance for letting me be a part of your awesomeness. To the "Christian" man who insisted on using a megaphone to loudly and vividly describe sex acts to children as they passed by with their families, shame on you. And to the man who told me "Jesus would rather you have a lode stone strung around your neck that you may die in the coming floods" I hope you can swim. Happy Pride, y'all.

Comment by L: Christians ruining Christianity since, well since Christ.

My response J: I'm a Christian, and I am truly sorry for the way these "Christians" acted! 😢 IMHO, they did not represent Christ well. I think there's a kind way to share one's beliefs without being rude, judgmental, or inappropriate to the setting.

Response by M: yeah, there was a lovely lady standing near me at one point who was just kind and wanted to share her beliefs. She seemed unhappy and embarrassed and surprised by many people’s actions and packed up and left. She heard Jesus’s teachings and knew this was not how to share them.

Comment by S: I despise Christians who only preach hate. That’s not my Jesus.

Response by M: yeah, these people had clearly not actually heard his message.

My response J: I feel sorry for them! Jesus sought out the marginalized and showed them love when most of society rejected them.

[End of thread]

Friends, Christians who act that way are well-intentioned but wrong! Kindness and gentleness are just as much a part of Christ’s message as sexual purity. The loud self-righteous attitude shown by some Christians is just as bad as having a proud attitude about a homosexual lifestyle.

And what about us reading this exchange right now? Did you get the irony of S who said “I despise Christians who only preach hate.” Isn’t despising someone another form of hate? But we are not superior to S in any way. We must remember that our enemy seeks to separate Christians from one another using tactics just like this. Beware of spiritual pride. Instead of despising or dismissing Christians who are doing questionable things, we should be praying for them and teaching them more effective ways to persuade people. Clearly at least they care about the issues, while I sit here on my sofa.

At the beginning of Pride Month, another friend posted, “How about a Humility Month?” 😂 Funny but true. The humble Christian will recognize his own sin as being worthy of eternal shame, suffering, and loss. My own sin put Jesus up on the cross! It’s not my place to judge either the proud homosexual or the proud Christian. My job is to love God and love my neighbor, whatever his condition.

Do you want to protest Pride (or something else)? Here’s your guidance from Scripture: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” – James 3:17

God is faithful,
j