hard lessons from hardaway

Imagine my alarm when I sat down in front of the TV yesterday morning to catch up on the news. It caught me by surprise that the lead story was about a mediocre NBA player, Tim Hardaway. Apparently he expressed some pretty strong feelings about gay people in an interview. It is shocking enough that someone would have the guts in 21st century PC America to express feelings this bold. Does he not have endorsement deals to keep? Surely he is selling cars for a pre-owned dealership in Broadwell, IL or something. Certainly in the wake of a former NBA athlete admitting that he is homosexual people in that field would be on high alert not to say anything offensive. The issue now concerns one of them.

Hardaway did not keep his mouth closed however and went above and beyond bigotry, claiming that gay people don’t belong in this country. The news anchor was obviously shaken up as she read his comments. Nothing she had learned in journalism school could help her make the transition to the weather report. By the way, it is cold.

I’ll admit that I know nothing about his religious convictions but the story bothered me a little. It caused me to think about my own feelings on the issue. How do we as Christians handle an issue like this? We are able to address most hot topic issues with educated responses but we don’t handle homosexuality well. We grab picket signs and ballots and scream from pulpits. I am torn between believing it is wrong and being called to love.

Is this the one people group that we are not able to deal with? Sure you can write it off as wrong and close the door. Draw a line in the sand and demand people to cross it. That way, when someone says that they hate gay people we can smile and say, “well, he has a point”. Yet to tell you truth, there is a problem when we call something that we think is stupid “gay” or if we’re so homophobic that thought of having a conversation with a lesbian makes us sick.

Do we really think that gay people are a lost cause? Don’t say we don’t until you think about how many gay people you know. We’ll go to half way around the world on mission trips but won’t serve a meal to a gay man dying of AIDS in the hospital down the street. Speaking of which, if you honestly think that AIDS is God’s judgment against gay people, you are an idiot. That is the nicest way I can put it.

Yes, Disney supports gay rights. Why does that bother you? Are they a religious institution? Pack up the minivan and take your kids to see Mickey. And when you get there, let me know where the safe place between condoning and hate is. I know I can’t figure it out.

What I do understand is that they will know we are Christians by our love, not our views.