Pride

 

     In a few seconds, I went from being a Dodger fan to being totally disgusted with them.  Why?  Because this team, which are excellent baseball players, have decided to celebrate and promote "Pride Month."  I am grieved that something as fun and innocuous as baseball is being used as a political platform.  Here is what alarmed me much more.  I was alerted to the Dodger's decision via their Facebook post.  Being totally fed up with the LGBT (etc.) agenda bullying everyone, I made the following comment: 

     "Really?  People are free to do whatever they want, but I don't need to know who you're having sex with.  Do you want me to have a parade to celebrate having sex with my husband?  Of course you don't.  It's TMI!  I don't need a mental image of ANYONE'S sexual activities.  Maybe your family and close friends care about your sex life, but I sure don't!"  

     I was making the point that this whole Pride month thing is very self-centered, and it focuses on the sex life of the individuals involved.  My point was that no one cares about anyone else's sex life.  I was kind of trying to say the LGBT community needs to get over themselves.  No one is important enough to me that I want a whole month of parades to celebrate who they are attracted to or having sex with.  

     Well, my comment got some strong likes, support and agreement, and also some angry tantrum-throwers.  I was called ignorant (which is leftist language for a generic insult, since they call PhDs, Rhodes Scholars and certified geniuses "ignorant" whenever they don't agree with their narrative).  One woman who was completely outraged at me called me ignorant multiple times in her comment, then told me "Pride month has nothing to do with sex!"  Seriously?  Then what is it about?  And she calls me ignorant?  A very cruel commenter implied my husband is really gay but hiding in the closet because (and here he made a disgusting comment about me).  You know what?  People are mean and really filthy.  You will note that I did not even say in my initial comment anything against the LGBT community, just my objection to having a month to celebrate sex of any kind.  From these leftists, I did not get one intelligent comment.  I didn't get one leftist person asking me questions or offering to have a discussing with me.  Just insulted.  That's all these people know how to do.  They claim they want "discussion" but they really don't.  A group that claims to want diversity can't handle an intelligent person having a different opinion.  I believe all my comment did was pull Pride Month's cover to illustrate the pettiness and self-importance of the people perpetuating it.  

     As Christians, let's look at that all biblically.  What does the Bible say about pride?  First Peter 5:6 says, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,  James 4:6 says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14, But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  God values humility and is opposed to the proud.  As humans, I think we enjoy being around humble people more than arrogant people, wouldn't you agree?  God set up His whole plan of salvation to require humility.  It isn't works-based.  Ephesians 2:9 says, not a result of works so that no one may boast.  We must admit we are sinners, unable to save ourselves, and fall on the mercy of Christ.  After we are saved, I believe the above scriptures reveal that God wants us to live a life of humility.  If someone isn't humble, God is able to bring them down (Daniel 5).   

     In light of that, I believe it is perfectly fine to have a sense of healthy accomplishment when you achieve something.  If someone gets a good grade on a test and says, "I'm proud of myself," I don't usually think of that as the kind of arrogant pride that God hates.  But even this kind of basic pride should be in doing the right thing...accomplishing something (and of course, still giving the glory to God), not because of who we are sexually attracted to.  The left claims that one's sexual orientation is something the person is born with and that they have no choice.  I personally believe everyone has a choice, but that aside for a moment, if a person has no control, why be proud of it?  They did nothing to make it happen.  There is no sense of accomplishment or achievement in it.  Why be proud?  There is no reason to be proud.  If they choose that life, that is their decision, but having parades that stop traffic and essentially saying, "Look at me, I have same-sex attraction!" is really over-the-top of self-centeredness.  There is a whole world that doesn't care, just as they don't care about anyone else's sexual desires. 

     Don't be fooled by all this talk of diversity.  Those pushing for it don't want it.  They want to control you, and your beliefs.  Don't let them!  A person who truly values diversity will value people, and want to have respectful conversations and discussions.  God Himself really does want diversity.  He created all people in His image, but each one unique.  He wants people from all nations to know Him.  Revelation 7:9 says that there will be people in Heaven from every nation, tribe, people and language.  I would say God loves diversity much more than our society claims to.  Imagine Christians all over the world, praising God in their own language, and with the feel of their own culture.  How that must bring joy to the heart of God.  

     There is another problem with Pride month, beyond the arrogance of it.  This worldview is saying that people are defined by their sexual desires.  That is so twisted.  We are so much more than that.  We are human beings, created in the image of God.  That is where our identity rests.  I love the 1993 song by Petra, Marks of the Cross.  The lyrics say: All our identity rest in the knowledge of who we're created to be. We are His workmanship, made in His image, For all of creation to see... You are not defined by who your best friend is, whether or not you are married, who you are attracted to or anything else another person has any part of.  You exist on your own.  Needing another person to define you in any way is codependency, and is very unhealthy.  It devalues you for your own worth.  God says you are priceless--worth the life of Jesus Christ!  Don't cheapen it by defining yourself by other fallible humans.  

     Furthermore, we are also not defined by any other habit of ours.  I am part of a recovery ministry, and at each meeting, we say our names, our position in Christ, and then our area of struggle (or victory).  For example, I say, "My name is Janelle.  I'm a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I am working on my struggle with anxiety and depression, and have victory over codependency."  We are not our struggles.  We are not our sex lives.  I think it is a disservice to someone to celebrate their sexual activity, instead of who they are as a human being.  God says He has loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).  That is worth celebrating!  

     In conclusion, I am disappointed that my favorite baseball team is devaluing human beings by reducing them to their sexual attraction.  I am disappointed that this decision on their part facilitated me being insulted disgustingly by leftist lemmings who just repeat the rhetoric they are being told.  But I am not really surprised.  We live in a world that has been at odds with God since Genesis 3.  One day, Jesus will make all things new, and right (Revelation 21:5).  All I can do is say with the Apostle John Come quickly, Lord Jesus.