Just exactly whose battle are we fighting?

Allow me to acknowledge upfront .. this is gonna be a controversial post. It will certainly upset one group and possibly upset both or more, but it needs to be said... at least by me, for myself.

Earlier today, I "called out" a friend for a Facebook post he made about some comments by RGIII about it being a good time for any gay players in the NFL to come out. And in the post my friend challenged Baptists and Baylor University in general. My point to him was that by challenging and provoking them, he was in essence "kicking the mad dog" and that that put him on their level, a "juvenile" level. And that he was above that and that we needed more "adults" in the conversation and less "juveniles". In this post I am gonna kind of violate that myself, but I hope to at least make a point or start a conversation by it.

I hear all the time from "Christians" (and in the interest of full disclosure I am a Christian and a Southern Baptist one at that) that Homosexuality is wrong, that it is a sin against God, unnatural, etc. I am not here to argue any of that one way or the other (again for full disclosure I do feel it is unnatural and a sin but one that is no worse than any other especially the myriad sins I commit every single day and therefore I do not hold anyone lower or worse than myself). What I want to discuss though is those who "fight" it at every step and who claim to be "fighting" God's battles and standing for God.

Last time I checked we weren't called to fight God's battle for him. He is God, he is all powerful, all seeing, all present...ergo he is more than capable of fighting his own battles without our help. And throughout history we have caused more problems than we have solved by stepping in where we aren't wanted to supposed to be. We are however, called to love each other, to show each other respect, grace, forgiveness,... all attributes of God we only bring out when we want them shown to us. But we conveniently forget them when we are discussing how to treat others we disagree with.

We are NEVER going to get anyone to listen to us or take us seriously until we get them to trust us and to believe we care about them. We can use all the words and actions we want but they are nothing but useless noise if there isn't trust and respect backing them up. And how do we build that trust? By showing them love and respect for who they are, as they are.

We can claim to be "standing for God" and more but it is done without love and respect we are nothing but "clanging cymbals". For example take the adulteress caught by the mob and brought before Jesus. Did Jesus applaud them for "standing for God" or  for "fighting God's battles for him"? No.... instead he said.."Let he is without sin cast the first stone". The point here is not that they mob was wrong in their claim of adultery or sin, but that they were all sinners and violaters of God's will and law. And therefore had no right or claim to "stand for God" or "fight for God". As the story concludes Jesus then asks the woman where her accusers are and she says there are none... and Jesus says "then neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more". Even Jesus who had every right to accuse and punish did not.. he showed love and compassion. Certainly if Jesus (being God in the flesh.... a theological point we can argue at another time) chose to show love and compassion instead of punishment, we sinful, imperfect human beings can and should.

Let's not lose sight of the forest for the trees by being so caught up in "fighting God's battles"for him that we alienate and drive away the very ones we claim to care for. Another argument I have seen used to justify all the hate and argument is..."if someone was about to step in front of a speeding car, I wouldn't just stand there and watch it happen.. I would warn them and do what I had to to save them". That's a valiant goal and one we should all strive for, BUT, if you do nothing but condemn the person by calling them stupid and ignorant, and blind (add any other suggestion you wish) and drive them away. Then they will just move further away from you and you will drive them into the very street and on rushing car you are trying to save them from.

Let's all step away from the constant criticizing and condemnation and picking of fights, in other words, let's all stop being juvenile and be adults instead.