Love Listens
Al Mohler wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post entitled “I signed the Nashville Statement. It’s an expression of love for same-sex attracted people.”
If the second clause of his title is true, why is it the case, then, that almost no LGBT people are feeling the love? Why is it the case that even LGBT Christians who affirm the traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality as anything but an expression of love for them? A full exploration of this would explore many factors. I want to focus on just one: the authors and signers of the Nashville Statement have not attended to the concerns of LGBT people. They have not listened.
When a person from the majority culture tries—and fails—to say something in a loving way to a person from a minority culture, 99 times out of 100 it is because the majority person hasn’t taken the time and attention to educate himself on the minority culture, so he says something tone-deaf and offensive and ends up hurting rather than healing. This is culpable ignorance on the part of majority culture guy. (If this is making you feel defensive, guess what! You’re Majority Culture Guy! ...Please don’t @ me.) And if Majority Culture Guy responds with defensiveness, then that suggests that his gesture of love wasn’t really about the other but about himself. Better to say, with humility, "I'm sorry. Please show me how to do better." To my knowledge, not a single author or signer of the Nashville Statement has responded to criticisms of the Statement in this way.
But how do we know that the authors of the Nashville Statement didn’t listen to the concerns of LGBT people?
First, the language of the Statement is not language that anybody would use if they had much familiarity with conversations on LGBT issues. “Homosexual or transgender self-conception” or “transgenderism” isn’t how anyone talks. Even typing it out makes me cringe, like I cringe when elderly relatives go on about “the Orientals.”
Second, the Statement asserts things which no one would assert if they had much familiarity with conversations on LGBT issues. Article 6 describes all intersex persons as “eunuchs,” though many intersex persons are capable of reproducing.
Third, the Statement omits things which no one would omit if they had much familiarity with conversations on LGBT issues. Article 7 condemns “Homosexual or transgender self-conception” but says nothing about other common sexual or gender identities. So if you’re a gay Christian at SBTS, just refer to yourself as “a very picky bisexual,” and you’re golden. Being trans is apparently out, but you’ve got nothing to fear if you’re genderqueer!
The authors and signers of the Statement haven’t taken the time to learn about the concerns, fears, hurts, and joys of the LGBT community. This isn’t how love acts. If you gave your mother, wife, or sister a gift with no regard to how she was going to receive it or whether she would appreciate it, would that be a gift given in love? Also, how would that go for you? Would such an action result in closer relationship, or would it cause strain?
If the Nashville Statement is a gift to the LGBT community, it’s the kitsch with the cheesy motivational saying on it that your great-aunt got you from the Christian bookstore because “it just made me think of you,” and no, she didn’t get a gift receipt.
When a person from the majority culture tries—and fails—to say something in a loving way to a person from a minority culture, 99 times out of 100 it is because the majority person hasn’t taken the time and attention to educate himself on the minority culture, so he says something tone-deaf and offensive and ends up hurting rather than healing. This is culpable ignorance on the part of majority culture guy. (If this is making you feel defensive, guess what! You’re Majority Culture Guy! ...Please don’t @ me.) And if Majority Culture Guy responds with defensiveness, then that suggests that his gesture of love wasn’t really about the other but about himself. Better to say, with humility, "I'm sorry. Please show me how to do better." To my knowledge, not a single author or signer of the Nashville Statement has responded to criticisms of the Statement in this way.But how do we know that the authors of the Nashville Statement didn’t listen to the concerns of LGBT people?
First, the language of the Statement is not language that anybody would use if they had much familiarity with conversations on LGBT issues. “Homosexual or transgender self-conception” or “transgenderism” isn’t how anyone talks. Even typing it out makes me cringe, like I cringe when elderly relatives go on about “the Orientals.”
Second, the Statement asserts things which no one would assert if they had much familiarity with conversations on LGBT issues. Article 6 describes all intersex persons as “eunuchs,” though many intersex persons are capable of reproducing.
Third, the Statement omits things which no one would omit if they had much familiarity with conversations on LGBT issues. Article 7 condemns “Homosexual or transgender self-conception” but says nothing about other common sexual or gender identities. So if you’re a gay Christian at SBTS, just refer to yourself as “a very picky bisexual,” and you’re golden. Being trans is apparently out, but you’ve got nothing to fear if you’re genderqueer!
The authors and signers of the Statement haven’t taken the time to learn about the concerns, fears, hurts, and joys of the LGBT community. This isn’t how love acts. If you gave your mother, wife, or sister a gift with no regard to how she was going to receive it or whether she would appreciate it, would that be a gift given in love? Also, how would that go for you? Would such an action result in closer relationship, or would it cause strain?
If the Nashville Statement is a gift to the LGBT community, it’s the kitsch with the cheesy motivational saying on it that your great-aunt got you from the Christian bookstore because “it just made me think of you,” and no, she didn’t get a gift receipt.
A gigantic hearty amen from a deconstructed reconstructed pastors wife whose husbands career is tanking a bit Because of this heartfelt amen.....And also run on sentences LOL.
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