What the Question Should Be

This week on NPR, I listened to coverage of the Orlando shooting aftermath.  These radio segments tried to address the specific order of events, Omar Mateen's (the gunman) motives, and the president's and presidential-candidates' responses.  Personal stories were also shared.  Mina Justice, mother of Eddie Justice, one of the victims, released the last text messages she received from her son while he was trapped in a bathroom with several other victims (Lush, 2016).  It is difficult to imagine being on the receiving end of those texts, let alone finding out that my child was a part of such massacre. 

The prey of this murder were attendees of a gay club called Pulse.  LGBT individuals were targeted.  Admittedly, while I do have colleagues and friends who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, these sexual orientations are foreign to me.  I am a heterosexual and have worked hard just to be comfortable in my own skin. 

The best reading I have encountered on the issue of sexual orientation and the treatment of people who are "different" comes from Philip Yancy's (1997) What's So Amazing About Grace?  In it, he shares personal stories of his gay friend Mel, interviews he did during a march for gay rights (not as a journalist or a marcher but as Mel's friend), and conversations he had with high-profile Christian speakers.  Yancy concludes that we are all sinners who have fallen short of God's grace (p. 171), and as such, the question should really be about how we are to treat one another (p. 174). 

Highlights from this week's readings support this sound idea.  Psalm 97:10 begins, "O you who love the Lord, hate evil!"and Revelation 22:11 declares "Let [...] the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy."  How a person acts towards others should never be about anything but being like Jesus and doing what's right.  Yancy (1997) notes, "A prostitute, a wealthy exploiter, a demon-possessed woman, a Roman soldier, a Samaritan with running sores and another Samaritan with serial husbands - I marvel that Jesus gained the reputation as being a 'friend of sinners' like these" (p. 175).  We should be focused on our own choices and actions and the good that we can accomplish, not distracting ourselves by judging others.  Jeremiah 31:21 states, "Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went."  This is excellent advice.  To act rightly can sometimes require more than a simple choice.  A right choice is rooted in right living.  Thus, we must ready ourselves daily - in what we say, read, see, and do - to do that which makes us recognizably God's children, to treat others as we would like to be treated, to love them like ourselves.

References

Lush, T. (2016, June 12).  'I'm gonna die': Mother receives texts from son during Orlando shooting. Boston Globe. Retrieved June 19, 2016, from
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2016/06/12/gonna-die-mother-received-texts-from-son-during-orlando-shooting/SPbn7881pirR9zPEPkH6TO/story.html

Yancy, P. (1997). What's so amazing about grace? Grand Rapids: Zondervan.