ESPN Regrets Christian Speech... Full-Blown Persecution Is On Our Doorstep

We have entered an era where it is a liability to be a Christian, and a boost to your popularity and career to boast of your secret sins. Or not so secret.

The Homosexual Revolution

You've likely heard of the news regarding the basketball player who recently "came out" (I can't remember his name, and I frankly don't feel the need to; why give him more press?). He was greeted with congratulations and accolades from every corner. The President, who couldn't be bothered to comment on the Kermit Gosnell trial (likely because his voting record shows that he thinks the murderer's actions should be legal), nevertheless made a personal phone call to the now out-and-proud homosexual to CONGRATULATE him on his supposed "bravery."

Stop for a second. If coming out of the closet gets you nationwide media attention, widespread encouragement and support throughout the media and the public, and even a presidential phone call to congratulate you, what's brave about it? Even a USA Today column this week made the admission that this could only be a net benefit to his career.

Can anyone look at this particular case and honestly say that homosexuals are oppressed in this country?

Broussard Brouhaha

Flip the issue. A Christian ESPN commentator, Chris Broussard, takes a public stand for Christ by saying that homosexuality is a sin and that unrepentant homosexuals can't be true Christians.

ESPN hasn't immediately fired him, but it's early, yet. Supposedly, the website issued an apology for letting their tv coverage get 'nasty,' with apparent reference to the fact that someone who dared to disagree got airtime. Keep your eyes open for possible future contract termination. Persecutors of Christians in this country tend to try to be subtle...but they're getting bolder.

What's interesting is the response. While the backlash among the populace is vocal and aggressive, as is a typical product of internet anonymity, the fact that Mr. Broussard is able to clearly show that he's not hateful of homosexuals, that he's not behaving like an elitist or a hypocrite either, and his responsible and frequent bringing-up of Scripture to support his case, seems to have had the effect--if temporary--of actually stifling the animosity from the other side. He actually has gotten his critics to shut their mouths. Partially.  And you know why that is? The Word of God. 

Analysis

Todd Friel is a Georgia-based Christian radio host who comments on culture from a theologically Christian conservative point of view. Here is his analysis of the initial event:

http://www.wretchedradio.com/podcast.cfm?h=E6E7FF801F595092DC829C929E2981FD&page=1

Just recently, Mr. Broussard did a radio interview where he excellently exegeted Scripture and stood his ground. If you want to be encouraged that God is raising up true believers in public places to be salt and light, this second clip from today is must-hear radio:

http://www.wretchedradio.com/podcast.cfm?h=96399C6B6BB75AC77CDF8CCA9C7D5E6A&page=1

The first link is a little more cynical. I won't say pessimistic. In my view, pessimism is cynicism combined with a touch of fatalism (the feeling that there's no point because everything you do is futile). Cynicism is realism, namely the realization that things are bad, and the correct understanding of how you relate to it -- you have a purpose and things are never totally hopeless. You don't know what God's working on outside of your sphere of knowledge. Todd is cynical in his perception that persecution is on the way, but he's not a pessimist--the very fact that he has this radio show and that he goes to preach on "Witness Wednesdays," and his "Biggest Project" DVD-tracting ministry all show that he thinks his efforts -- and that of those who join ranks with him -- have the potential to be used by God to accomplish revival if it is in His sovereign will to do so. Pessimism leads to fatalism, which leads to a lack of action and motivation toward action. I don't see that in Todd, and I don't recognize it in myself, either. This blog is my personal attempt to do something about the situation in our nation today. I don't have the following of Wretched, Answers in Genesis, Way of the Master, or Grace to You, but to underestimate the impact that I as an individual can have is to ignore the implications of the Butterfly Effect -- that minor events can have huge consequences down the road due to the cascading ripple effect.

A USA Today column I read about the issue said it all. The writer, pro-gay, admitted that coming out of the closet was bound to be "a net benefit to his career," and I agree. I already questioned the notion that homosexuals are being oppressed by the greater society at large above, and I won't keep beating that dead horse. The irony here is that whereas homosexuality used to have a stigma, it really doesn't any more. Now the stigma is centered on Christianity. The news story of the week ought rather to be that Chris Broussard "came out of the closet" as a Christian on national television (not technically true, as he has been outspoken about his faith in the past). 

Todd pointed out something interesting in the second clip: that Broussard, by bringing up Scripture, was able to "shut them up," them being the hosts interviewing him. The takeaway lesson is that we won't have an impact on the culture by being witty or by promoting ad campaigns or joining with unbelievers in social activism. No, the one thing that has the power to accomplish God's plan is none other than God's own Word. The Bible.

In keeping with Todd's observation, here are two typically-leftist major online news websites' articles about Chris Broussard. What strikes me is, (in contrast to the comments at HuffPo), the seeming lack of animus in the writings. It really does seem as if Chris, by rightly handling the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15), has managed to stifle the anti-Christian sentiment, at least temporarily. This should encourage all of us to, when dealing with unbelievers, to not rely on our own intuition or cleverness, but to always bring the discussion back to the Gospel and to bring up Scripture. No matter how much the person we're talking to hates it. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/chris-broussard-jason-collins-ask-forgiveness-gays_n_3202418.html?utm_hp_ref=sports&ir=Sports

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-espn-chris-broussard-sparks-uproar-after-jason-collins-remarks-20130429,0,1157118.story

Bonus:

A final tidbit, somewhat unrelated:

Homosexuality leads to the degrading of women. The logic goes, since relationships aren't about the man taking responsibility to lead and sacrificially love and serve his wife, and the wife respecting and submitting to her husband....if relationships are just about "happiness" and sexual pleasure, then as homosexuality gets mainstreamed, more people will think, since we don't need women for our sexual pleasure, what use is there for them? They're only good for one thing--making babies. Consequently, societies that have been sexually and homosexually promiscuous have not historically honored women. This is where we're going, now. Nothing is more anti-woman than the philosophy of 3rd-wave feminism that seeks to remove gender distinctions and mainstream homosexual behavior.

Another point Todd makes, in one of the three links I've given here, is that if it's really true that homosexuality isn't something people are born with--if it's a learned behavior--then you can expect that it's going to vastly increase in prevalence as it becomes accepted and mainstreamed by our society. 

Scary stuff. But I'm encouraged that God is raising up Christians like Chris Broussard in public places to be salt and light and accomplish His divine purposes.

His parents named him well. "Christopher," after all, is a name that means "Christ-bearer."

~ Rak Chazak

Journal Entry: A Flashback to Middle School, Male Relationships, and Homosexuality

To explain why the title says "Journal Entry": I have kept a written Journal, fairly consistently, since 7th grade, with gaps during 9th grade and the first three years of college. In 2011, I started to keep a typed Journal on my computer, so now I have the option of writing with pen or writing with a keyboard. Consequently, my computer Journal has become a repository of copy-pasted information I've come across on the Internet that I deem valuable.

I'll start this entry with one such quote:

“Although slavery is not uniformly condemned in either the Old or New Testaments, the sincere application of New Testament truths has repeatedly led to the elimination of its abusive tendencies. Where Christ’s love is lived in the power of His Spirit, unjust barriers and relationships are inevitably broken down. As the Roman empire disintegrated and eventually collapsed, the brutal, abused system of slavery collapsed with it—due in great measure to the influence of Christianity. ... New Testament teaching does not focus on reforming and re structuring human systems, which are never the root cause of human problems. The issue is always the heart of man—which when wicked will corrupt the best of systems and when righteous will improve the worst. If men’s sinful hearts are not changed, they will find ways to oppress others regardless of whether or not there is actual slavery.”
~ John MacArthur


And now here's the Journal entry I wrote on Wednesday, January 23 of this year. Brackets are used to remove personal information.

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                        Flashback: back when mom, [my brother] and I visited the [Svensons](cousins to the [Smiths]) in Stockholm in either ’02 or ’04. We took a walk around their neighborhood, and one of the things I noticed was that there were stray rabbits living on the hillsides. That is, not normally wild animals, but ones that had been released. I remember seeing a small, cute, all-black bunny and [Johan] or [Gustav] explaining that to me. Later on that day, [Lisa], her brothers, [my brother] and I came across some other kids on a soccer field and played a match with them. We won. :) Oh, in the early part of our walk, [my brother] did some sort of air-skateboard (i.e. he didn’t have one; like air-guitar) jump off of a bench and cut up his knees. Which is classic [my brother], if you know about him as a kid. He was always getting scrapes. I have another memory, not because it’s particularly nostalgia-inducing, but because mom made a big deal of it and it stuck with me as a result. When we were walking up a hill to go back to their house, [Johan], I think, threw one of his arms around my shoulder and said something like ‘my gay brother.’ It was in the context of celebrating the soccer victory, so he was saying it not to mock. My reaction was to smile in a sort of grimace, but to shrug off his ‘hug.’ Mom and their mom was walking behind us, and she told me later that that was rude and shouldn’t have been so off-putting. But the reason why I (not very violently, but it was sort of a flinch (in Swedish, I would use the word “ryckning” to describe the motion)) pulled away was subconsciously ingrained, because in Middle School up to that point, kids had been very mean (also probably in Boy Scout Troop [###]) and had often used the word “gay” or “fag/faggot” or “queer” in a derogatory sense toward me. Also in an aggressive sense. The word for me was very closely associated with bad reputation, kids disliking me, and potential impending violence, so it didn’t strike me that [Johan] was intending to say something different; it came across differently to me. I think what he meant was something akin to ‘blood brother’ or just “bro” in general (that’s a term that, to my knowledge, has proliferated since that time, and wasn’t widely in use then). As in, to be so close friends with someone else that others might suspect you of being gay? Maybe that’s what he meant. Because he’s not gay himself, and there was no sexual innuendo or context in/to what he was saying. I just remember that particular moment as indicative of how pervasive the verbal bullying was among kids in middle school. It was, thankfully, much easier for me to deal with it because I’d gained immunity from being bullied back in 4^th grade. It still resulted in me having little to no friends, nonetheless. Not ‘til later in high school, maybe 10^th or 11^th grade, did people seem to indicate a sort of respect for me, or that they knew who I was in a positive sense, not as a result of negative rumors. It’s funny, I seem to be repeating the early years of middle school, socially, now, in that sense [this is a reference to ostracism among my peers at my university because of expressing my Christian beliefs]. Anyway, if I were to sum this up, this is just one of the many ways in which homosexuality, and the stigma surrounding male closeness as a result of the former’s prevalence in society, has hindered male bonding in youth of this generation, and resulted in millions of boys and men with broken emotions and a stunted capacity for empathy or gentleness. I’ve sort of overcome it, myself. Knowing what the problem is helps. But you can’t undo the developments you went through in your formative years.

~~~~~~~~

Commentary:

I recall reading something in an article a few years ago that explored that topic, and presented the idea that homosexual stigma has negatively impacted my generation, preventing us as boys from having the close sort of bonding relationships that we see displayed in antique American literature and film. When you see young boys be violent and aggressive, and when they grow older and can't form friendships with other men, then I hope you recognize that it's because they were taught from a young age--or pressured, rather--to avoid appearing to be effeminate, at all costs.

Far from leading to an endorsement of homosexuality, however, this is an important reason why it should not be mainstreamed. If mobbing from one's peers because you are timid or not inclined to be hyper-aggressive or assert yourself sexually is something that is already happening now, this would only increase when school systems attempt to encourage young boys to question their sexuality and to behave effeminately. Not to mention that the bullying from the aggressive ones would be stoked by resentment against punishment for violating the school rules on 'tolerance' towards anything that departs from what used to be heterosexual norms of behavior. I can't tell you how many times I've been told directly, or heard second-hand, a girl question a guy's sexuality for not behaving stereotypically masculine, which in today's world means that if an attractive woman is in your line of sight, you're expected to be sexually attracted, and, given the opportunity, to engage in sexual intercourse with her. Any deviation from this expected behavior earns you the sneering remark, "are you gay?" -- And much worse.

Here's something I recently wrote elsewhere on this topic, just to round out what I'm saying here:

Is accusing someone of being gay for not seeking heterosexual sex necessarily anti-gay or is it actually anti-straight? More to the point, is it more insulting to gays or to straight people who choose abstinence? Me being the latter, this is far more of an insult to straight people who hold to a moral standard of sexuality more strict than that of "most people," than it is an insult to someone who is homosexual. It implies that there is no legitimate reason to not want to have sex with someone except if you're gay. It objectifies men, declaring that so long as there's an attractive female in front of you, you're expected to want to have sex with her, and expected to actually follow through if given the opportunity. It's way more insensitive toward straight guys than gay guys.

Those who would mock you with suggestions that you are gay, merely for exercising restraint in saving yourself for marriage, are the same people who claim to be pro-gay-rights and who accuse you of homophobia for daring to hold the Biblical view that that which God calls perversion IS perversion.

If homosexuality continues to be mainstreamed, "anti-gay" language will not decrease, it will increase. But it will be directed toward straight males and Christians, primarily. The Biblical norm--the natural norm, even--has become the new deviancy. That which is outside the bounds of "typical" behavior (namely, abstinence and monogamy) is going to be viciously attacked until it vanishes from the public sphere.

It's already happening. What I'm saying here is hardly a prediction. Sometimes I wonder if there will be any virgins left, by the time I'm financially stable and ready to marry. I wonder if all the women will have given in to the pressure to adhere to the new normal. So I've had to seriously consider the possibility of a lifetime of singleness, though I long for marriage. I might not get what I want. Now isn't that a radical thought?

If you are a man with the power and position to influence young boys (8-16), I encourage you -- I speak from my heart, knowing my own experiences -- do your best to model male behavior and show them that being a man does not mean you can't be gentle, caring and loving. Show them that a real man is one who is slow to anger and honors women, and isn't afraid of what other men  say about him in public or private.

I don't know what else to say. But I hope that something I've said here has been of value to one of you. 

~ Rak Chazak