The God of Equal Rights?

Equal Signs.

You have to love enthusiasm.  There is something so fulfilling and life giving to championing a cause of the oppressed.  We the people love the underdog.  There is something wired into the DNA of Americans that compels us to root for the lesser every time. 

We talk about Cinderella teams, the ones that make a run at the trophy that no one saw coming (I am looking at you Florida Gulf Coast!). 

We root for the little guy. 

We glory in a win from a golfer no one saw coming in. 

We stand and scream for a team when the sum of its parts outweighs its individual talent.

Which probably brings us to gay marriage, right?

I think the Facebook avalanche of red squares and equal signs, a borrowed former Fair Trade logo and possibly this years current Kony 2012, is bringing to light a bit of a crossroads in our culture.  Because there are two ways this goes right?

The first is that it really does become this years Kony 2012.

I suspect that most of those fueling the equal sign explosion are simply cheering on a fight fought by others.  Honestly, if you didn’t care three days ago before everyone and their mother changed thier profile pics on Facebook, sorry, you actually don’t care at all.  That’s all bandwagon junk.  Trust me, I am a Will Clark/ JT Snow San Francisco Giants fan.  I know the drill.  I think whether or not my Facebook and Istagram are still flooded with red squares in a week will prove this one.

So that’s one possible way (among many).

Another way is that this doesn’t stop.  It keeps growing, which throws every Christ follower into a larger discussion.  Not a new one.

                                             Not even one about Gay Marriage.

                                     Not about equality.

                    Not about me. 

                    Not about you.

                    Not about them.

But only about Him.

A less famous story goes like this…

-Acts 5-

 

³³ When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. ³⁴ But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. ³⁵ Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. ³⁶ Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. ³⁷ After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. ³⁸ Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹ But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Careful lest you fight against God…but is it?  I don’t know.

If this is a movement of God, which seems completely irreconcilable to most Evangelicals at this time, what side do we take?  Pro?  Con? 

And if it is of men, it will fail…right?  Should we glory in it’s demise or sieze the oppurtunity to discuss the real issues? 

If God is using this for some reason and we fight against it with vehement rhetoric and hateful speech, we condemn ourselves.  We earn our bigot badges.  We then deserve the label those on the outside of the Christian faith already throw at us.  We are no better than the idiots holding the ‘god hates fags’ signs.  (Notice the lower case ‘g’ there.   They are serving a god, just not my God.  My God chases lost sheep, not scares them off.)

But if God is using this equal rights movement for a reason, ANY reason that He deems fit, it will succeed, even if just for a time.

And it is not like this is without precedent.  Assyria was the scourge of Isreal and yet God used them to bring his people back.  The Romans were used by God to demolish the temple and bring Isreal to its knees which set the stage for Jesus to enter the scene.  God does what God does. 

There is never a limit to what God can and will use to bring about His Will and His Purpose.  When we declare that something could never be used by God for any good purpose and is completely evil is the exact moment when we lose any moral ground to stand on.  Because in that moment our own opinion reigns supreme.  We know best.  We call that pride, and that destroys every time, mostly just us.

“This is my Father’s world
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King;
Let the heavens ring!
God reigns;
Let the earth be glad!”
          -This is my Father’s World