There are some good things about society's focus on "diversity," but there are also aspects that concern me. It is, of course, a good thing to love and include all people, different sizes, shapes, bents, races, genders, personalities and so on.
I love variety, love all different kinds people, each person uniquely and specially crafted for a purpose. And I know what it feels like to be on the outside. I sat on that fence in middle school (and onward), so I can resonate with those who have been isolated, though I won't pretend that I have a clue about the level of rejection and hurt many people have experienced. I want good things for those who have been on the outside, want to include them and show them how they are loved, without conditions.
In sum, the "loving and including others" idea of the movement is something with which I can hop on board.
But when I hear some people passionate about diversity speak about the definition of inclusion, it worries me.
Recently, I saw somebody present a chart that progressed from genocide to inclusion, with a list on the chart demonstrated a false idea at the core of the diversity movement — the idea that one must accept and celebrate someone's beliefs and actions in order to love them.
Is that really what love means?
Common sense rejects this idiom. It's a plain contradiction to truth. So does God's word, where He calls us to love enemies, calls us to obey Him and to live and die for Him, to stand firmly and shine as lights for Him. God, who radically loved us to death when we were still wicked, still His enemies. The inclusion chart spits in the face of real love, love that deeply disagrees but befriends and includes anyway.
It is quite incompatible to reality to say that someone's ideas must be celebrated before we may include them.
Christians are called to love liars, thieves, cheats, maniacs, murders, people cruel and intolerant, people wrong and imbalanced, called to love everyone, called to love sinners like ourselves. I've heard the word hate thrown around to much; it isn't hating someone to disagree with their actions and beliefs.
(Again, I'm saying all this not because there aren't truly hateful people that deserve to be reprimanded, but to call into question certain things I've heard from the diversity movement, specifically about the definition of loving and accepting others. I'm not at all trying to defend real hate and hateful actions.)
We were never called to love sin but the sinner.
An illustration is helpful here:
If we saw a blind chap walking towards a cliff edge, we would have to be psychopathic to egg him on in his progress. Imagine the crowd, calling out in encouragement, "Yes, Jim! Stay on that path; you have our full support. We accept your belief that you are headed in the right direction, and we celebrate your choice to continue walking. Whoo-hoo, Jim! You are great!"
All that to show, to celebrate someone's sin is deadly business. To celebrate someone's sin is to despise them. We don't need to celebrate sin to love sinners. We cannot.
Sometimes loving someone means correcting them, telling them that they are wrong, saving them by warning them about the cliff.
This is true to everyone's experience. Who can deny it? If you want what's best for someone, you are going to have to put yourself on the line for them, going to have to risk your 'likability,' as hard as that can be. Their life should take priority over harmony and comfort in the relationship. When we enter into community, when we enter into friendship, we enter into contract. This might not be how most see it, but we should be seeking the good of the other person above our own.
A big buzz word nowadays is tolerance. Tolerance is the newest popular virtue. But who is tolerant when she is divorced from a solid standard, any real truth?
Toleration is a real virtue. But sadly, she is often a weapon used by those who seek to promote their own beliefs and defame others.
People are blacklisted with the weapon of tolerance; they are called intolerant and thrown out, of culture, of discussion, of friendship, etc. And some certainly deserve the title...
But this is hypocrisy at its worst. For to refuse to tolerate the intolerant is to be intolerant.
Christians are often called intolerant because they will not celebrate the beliefs of others. But this is our belief, that there is only one way to God. And those who ridicule us as intolerant do not celebrate our beliefs. I cannot see the consistency.
The very definition of tolerance is to put up with that which you dislike, isn't it? There does not seem to much of that happening in our culture, even and especially by the biggest advocates of tolerance.
Ultimately, what this world, what this country needs, is not a man-made moral agenda, not more safe spaces, not more movements and so on. We have come to all this because we are dying of thirst for the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.
If you've come to the end of this post and firmly disagree with my position, I love you still. I wrote this post for you: because I want to share how the good news about Jesus' crazy, death-on-a-cross love has transformed my life and anchored it in truth and joy.
I want others to know this truth, this truth that sets us free.
Many in this movement probably have a heart for others and have good intentions, probably are so sick of the cruelty and rejection they have grown up with in this broken world, and they seek to better it. But how can one know the path to walk, how can one know how to love and include people when this age has rejected any sort of real path, any sort of anchor?
In rejection of sin and in rejection of absolute truth, we have only to trust ourselves, and we are "free," happily adrift without any anchors on this storming sea of life.
How can we know what is right when we have denied the existence of right and wrong?
How can we know the pitfalls of sin when we disguise sin with labels like "their truth" and "my truth?"
How can we know good when we have denied the only One who is good?
The world doesn't need another crappy Bandaid when we are burning alive. We need to be...
"Born again... to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." — 1 Peter 1:3
I apologize if I came across as arrogant in this post; that does not reflect Jesus. Christ is the God who created the immense diversity of creation and of people. And He has died for us all. He is the greatest includer — ALL are welcome into the salvation He has won, if only they will surrender their bleeding lives into His bleeding hands. Come to the lavish feast of food and joy and healing redemption at His table, you who are "weary and heavy laden," you who are bruised and broken. The door stands open, and He stands waiting for you.
