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Friday, April 16th, is the Day of Silence, a day where hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults will take a vow of silence to encourage their friends to address the problem of anti-gay, anti-lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender behavior.
Christians always get wacky on how to handle this day. They’ve even come up with their own day in response… the Day of Truth.
Sigh.
If you want my two cents, check out my blog from last year. I state my opinion on the matter clearly.
As for this year? I’ve gotta link my buddy Walt Mueller’s resource on the subject. Walt does an incredible job informing us about the history and purpose of this day, then sharing some vulnerable insight to his own feelings on the subject, and finally providing us with a glimpse at his reaction- step by step- of how he responds to people on this day – a reaction that models Christlike compassion and truth.
Walt also provides a link to a neat little free 10-page booklet (a PDF that you can print out and fold- tricky to read on the screen- it’s meant to be folded) from Harvest USA, “How Can Christians Respond to The National Day of Silence.”
I found all these resources enlightening and spot-on. I encourage you to take a peek at them.
Posted in Faith, Jonathan's Rant, News, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment
Thank you Jonathan and thank you Walt. I consistently get deeply frustrated by what I think sometimes is the inability of many Christians to see “the forest through the trees” on many hot button issues. I think the story Walt tells is a great example, and I’m thankful for it.
The purpose of “Day of Silence” as stated on their website, is to call attention to the persecution (name calling, bullying, etc…) of LGBT students and encourage schools to implement solutions to end it. The purpose is NOT (as I understand it) to ‘advance gay rights’ or anything else that tends to drive many Christians into a frenzy. It is to call attention to a very serious problem that exists in our schools. The persecution of a group of people. Jesus didn’t condone the behavior of sinners like prostitutes or corrupt tax collectors, but that is who he ministered to and stood up for.
There is no action that any human being can take that will cause Christ to say to the rest of us, “its ok, go ahead and persecute them. I’m fine with that.”
That’s what this day is about. Attempting to protect a group of people from being treated with less than the dignity that God DEMANDS they be treated with, because they are his creation. And as you state so well Jonathan, and Walt as well, by showing this love to them Christians who wish to change their hearts stand a much better chance of doing so than by preaching or attacking.
Thank you both again for your very Christ-like responses to this issue.