Sitting over coffee with one of my student leaders was suddenly interrupted by an escalation...a very sudden escalation at the tables near us. At one table sat 2 young women and a bald man with a Bible. At the other sits a middle-aged man with a mustache and a newspaper. All of them smoking cigarettes!
After overhearing a few comments made by bald Christian guy, mustache guy speaks up with intention. I don't hear the pricking comment into the small group's Bible study, but it is evident the comment was not a pleased one. It certainly was not inquisitive or yearning in nature. In a matter of moments, everything blew way the hell up.
The mustached man mentioned how much the Christian man hated him because he was gay. Christian bald guy tried to explain calmly that he did not, but gay mustached guy went on to tell bald guy what bald guy believed.
It hadn't taken long for me to realize this conversation is going nowhere; especially nowhere good.
It didn't.
All I was able to realize was that we have set a precedent for ourselves. Whether we believe any certain thing about gay marriage, prop 8, or homosexuality, none of it matters because we've already set for ourselves a precursory foundation of hate that we'll have a hard time ever replacing. (if we ever can)
Understanding that this situation began with a verbal attack on an unsuspecting Christian bald guy, I still wonder how that same conversation would have gone down if Christian bald guy and gay mustache guy had built a respectful friendship first.
What if gay mustache guy was friends with quiet college pastor guy in the corner?
How would that conversation have played out differently?
My hope is that....
My regret is that I will not ever know.
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LISTENING TO: "It's All Crazy! Its All False! It's All a Dream! Its Alright" by Mewithoutyou
6 days ago
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