Silent Suffering

Recently, there have been many hurtful remarks made on the Wheaton campus relating to race. These remarks were posted on Twitter and have sparked campus wide awareness of the issue of race, and it has started a chain reaction of prayer, support and dialogue about the issue. I have honestly been amazed by the amount of love that the Wheaton community has responded with. However, in the recent Town Hall chapel, where there is an open mic to ask questions to President Ryken, and he was asked about how he thinks homosexuality relates to this, his answer was essentially that race and sexual identity are different when it comes to discrimination. I think I agree with President Ryken, they are very different. When racist remarks are made, the community surrounds those who were hurt. When anti-gay and homophobic remarks are made, we suffer silently and alone.

Most Christians have decided to ignore the fact that they are hurting people around them with their remarks. They have created a systematic approach that allows them to discriminate against groups and feel as though they are doing God’s work. There are a few steps for achieving this state of mind:

1. Label gay people as “special type of sinners”, allowing Christians to distance themselves from gay people, because at least they aren’t “that kind of sinner”
2. Create an atmosphere of condemnation so that gay people feel as though they cannot discuss what they are feeling without being labeled, judged and hated
3. Rationalize that it is ok to speak hateful words about sinners because they are sinners, and sin is something to hate

There are problems with each of these steps which are obviously contrary to biblical principles. First, the only type of “special sin” is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Even if being gay was a sin, it would be no different than any other sin. We are called to love our enemies as ourselves, not to love others unless we don’t like the particular sins they commit. Second, the atmosphere of a Christian community should be that of grace and love, not one of condemnation. Going back to loving others as ourselves, anytime we make someone feel hated and judged, we have failed in our duty to love others. Third, we are all sinners. If we were to start hating all sinners then we would have no one left to love.

Humans have a tendency to love those who we are similar to, and Christians are no exception. We must realize this, and make sure that even though we may not be able to see someone’s suffering, people are in pain all around us. As Christians, we must make every effort to make everyone feel loved and accepted, even if we do not agree with their beliefs.