Well, June is our national "LGBT Pride Month"--more on that later.
When a Jesuit priest named Gregory Boyle witnessed the devastating effect of gang violence in his community of East Los Angeles, California, compassion stirred in him. He believed that the cause of the violence was simply "a lethal absence of hope."
This revelation led "Father G" to humble himself in service to God and adopt a radical method of gang intervention and rehabilitation--treat gang members as human beings.
The goal, it seems, was to replace the pride they had in negative achievements (i.e. who served the most prison time, who has the fastest car, who is the best fighter, who is el vato más loco, etc.) with pride in a sense of purpose--that is, to replace their negative sources of pride with marketable skills, job opportunities and hope.
A very successful rehab/reentry program called Homeboy Industries was the result.
The Problem with Pride
According to the Bible, we all tend to be proud of the wrong things. As we go through life, we stack up our worldly achievements like cans in the cupboard. We take pride in things that have no real value in the kingdom of God.
The understanding that God does not honor pride in worldly accomplishments came as a revelation to the apostle Paul. After recounting the many achievements in his life, he concluded that they were all "rubbish" compared to the "surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:8).
The Bible sums it up by simply stating that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Humility, not pride, is the proper condition of a person's heart that is honored by God.
Pride in Sexual Preferences?
To our country's shame, June was declared national "Gay and Lesbian Pride" month in 1999 and expanded to include bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) in 2011.
Even though worldly pride is opposed by God, a certain sense of accomplishment associated with overcoming difficult circumstances or gaining victory over personal struggles is certainly understandable. However, the declaration of June as "National Pride Month" is a shameful call for the promotion and the celebration of the non-achievement of sexual preference.
To demand that a nation celebrate "pride" in something that is distinctly non-meritorious fools no one, least of all, those who know they haven't really achieved anything worthy of honor.
While the intentions behind the "Pride Month" declaration might be noble--to ensure that all people are treated with respect and to affirm the God-given worth of every person--the national call to celebrate something opposed by God is not only an act of rebellion against God, but also an affront to those who hold a biblical worldview and an insult to all rational-thinking people who intuit that LGBT proclivities are simply unnatural.
In lieu of offering true hope for those struggling with same-sex attraction and/or gender dysphoria, our government has merely offered a placebo for a serious malady, a band-aid that merely hides the wound and masks the futility of a lifestyle that opposes God's natural order without providing any real solution. After all, why bother to fight the tough fight--that is, to cure the patient--when you can just re-label the disfunction as an "alternative lifestyle" and promote it as something in which to be proud?
The Christian Response
To be clear, as Christians we should have great compassion for those who, in most cases through no fault of their own, have been given a potentially lifelong burden to endure unnatural desires--that is, desires that run contrary to God's natural order. They are, in a sense, victims of the fallen nature suffered by all of creation.
Sadly, while there are conflicting reports, one extensive survey (17,000 participants) reveals that people in the LGBT community are less happy, less healthy, and less fulfilled than straight/heterosexual/non-trans people.
The solution to this devastating lack of well-being of the LGBT community is NOT under-girding them with a false sense of "pride" for something opposed by God, nor is it to heartlessly condemn them for an unnatural predilection beyond their control.
Perhaps there is a lesson we, as a nation, can learn from the approach "Father G" used to achieve success with Homeboy Industries. Three simple steps; (1) humble ourselves with Christ-like compassion, (2) treat those struggling with sex/gender issues as human beings and (3) replace pride in negative achievements with true hope.
Unsurprisingly, this approach reflects the counsel of the apostle Peter (1 Pet 3:15).
(1) But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord
Ensure that your own heart has the humility of Jesus who "emptied himself" to become servant to all.
(2) Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have
Replace their "lethal absence of hope" and false sense of pride with the true hope found only in Christ
(3) But do this with gentleness and respect
Simply, "treat them as human beings," people loved by God.
The solution then, is found in the gospel, the good news that through faith in Jesus Christ, the struggles of this world can be overcome. The Bible tells us that this life is but a mist, a momentary stop-over on the way to our final destination, and those who abide in Jesus, honoring him as Lord, will never regret choosing a lifestyle of obedience to his rule.
... though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1Peter 1:6-7 NIV)
We need to let the power of God turn our "light, momentary afflictions" in this life (2 Cor 4:17) into eternal victories.
Final Thoughts
God sees great value in all human beings--a value so great that he gave his only Son as a ransom to redeem us all--a redemption actuated by faith in Jesus
Let's rethink what constitutes real pride. It is God who affirms our identity, not our sexual preferences. Who we are in Christ is our only true worth and perhaps the only true reason for boasting.
"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (2Co 10:17)
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