A Parable

We got a new(er) car this year and as a dutiful owner, I was perusing the owner’s manual. I got to the section on lubrication and it said that the owner should use synthetic oil. I immediately hurled that hateful book into the garbage. I can put what ever I want into my car and I am not going to have some engineer who thinks he knows it all tell me what to do. If my personal preference is for natural oil, I will use it.

Logical, right? (Notwithstanding the fact that it will limit the lifetime of my vehicle.) Well, you might chuckle or cluck cluck at that, but I dare say that has happened recently with the Nashville Statement. (https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement) A multitude of critics have assailed and assaulted the statement as a hate-filled, bigoted declaration. I have read it and did not find “hate,” or intolerance, or any other derogatory reference. There were 14 affirmations accompanied by 14 denials of misinterpretation of the affirmations.

There are quite a few rebuttals to global warming and none, that I have seen, has been characterized as hate speech. And the opposition to abortion is profound and increasing. I do not recall any “hate” labels applied to that. And there is a group who opposes capital punishment. Defenders of the ultimate penalty do not charge these opponents with being hateful. Even the civil rights movement was not characterized by hateful name calling. Even the dispute over slavery did not devolve into such tactics.

The attack tactics of the homosexual lobby are unprecedented in American history and have descended to a new low in both civility and rationality. For those who have not read the Statement, there is a link included. You will find frank language, but not even as specific as we find in the Bible.

If you miss the love and compassion, read it again. It does not pander to society’s aberrations, and that is conceivably the motivation for the strong negative reaction. It is a strong statement of Biblical world understanding.

The Bible, like my auto manual, it directs us to optimal operational principles for maximum enjoyment of my experience and the longevity of the equipment. Maybe we need to return to the trash can to retrieve our discarded “manuals.”