Resist the Bullies, Part 3
The primary battle is a spiritual battle in the heavenlies. But this does not mean, therefore, that the battle we are in is otherworldly or outside of human history. It is a real spiritual battle, but it is equally a battle here on earth in our own country, our own communities, or places of work and our schools, and even our own homes. The spiritual battle has its counterpart in the visible world, in the minds and hearts of men and women, and in every area of human culture. In the realm of space and time the heavenly battle is fought on the stage of human history.
—Francis Schaeffer1—
Part 1 is available here.
Part 2 is available here.
In the wake of student protests at the University of Missouri and in other places where students have brought unfair accusations of racism and have made various demands of school administrators, Dr. Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, has written an open letter and posted it on the school’s website. Dated November 23, 2015 and titled “This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!” the letter reads in part,
This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable.…
I have a message for this young man and all others who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon is called a conscience.…The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness.…
If you want the chaplain to tell you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for. If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be the wrong place.
If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.…
Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place”, but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.
This is not a day care. This is a university.
Thank God for Everett Piper and His courage! Certainly his tribe needs to increase, but his is not the only voice crying in the wilderness. Dr. Carol Swain is a conservative law professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She also is black, but apparently some students can’t respect an articulate, black conservative. Swain has been the target of liberal student protests, but she counters protestors with clarity and resolve, saying they “don’t get to decide whose speech is more valuable than someone else’s.”
Drs. Piper and Swain have given us tremendous examples to follow in our quest to combat the bullying we’ve seen on the part of militant homosexual activists. You may recall that previously,2,3 we pulled back the curtain on numerous ways extremists in the homosexual rights movement use bullying to get what they want. We acknowledged that not all homosexuals take this approach, but militant gays do. How can we effectively combat the bullying? In the following list of 14 items, you’ll see some of the qualities evident in Dr. Piper’s and Dr. Swain’s responses to students who bully others to get their way. Other necessary qualities will be highlighted as well. Together, the items on this list hopefully will show us how to respond to unfair and unethical tactics from militant gays.
- Be confident. Refuse to be intimidated.
- Become informed and stay informed. Pro-family organizations that courageously speak out on homosexuality include Focus on the Family, James Dobson’s Family Talk, and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. The following organizations also speak with great credibility and authenticity on the subject, although more from professional and in some cases academic perspectives: The American College of Pediatricians, the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (Pfox). From cultural and legal perspectives, Peter LaBarbera’s Americans for Truth About Homosexuality is extremely informative and helpful, as is Linda Harvey’s Mission: America.
- Stand up and speak up.
- Stand up, but don’t stand alone. Be sure to network! Support and partner with pro-family organizations such as those we’ve cited above.
- Be consistent, and have a consistent message.
- Don’t just play defense. Take the initiative and get on the offensive. Dr. Everett Piper’s open letter addresses a subject different from the one we’re discussing here, but his approach is a wonderful example of going on the offense. Ben Shapiro provides another example of how to make the case for reality in this clip from HLN’s “Dr. Drew On Call.”4 Notice that Shapiro speaks forthrightly without being hateful—even though other panelists accuse him of hatred. Watch the clip and judge for yourself who really is engaged in hate. In addition, specifically on the issue of same-sex marriage, here’s a tremendous point made by the offense for the team contending for man-woman marriage: Chuck Colson said the argument made by advocates of same-sex marriage “is that to deny homosexuals marriage is manifestly unfair. But it’s not unfair. Gays and lesbians are not unworthy of marriage; they are incapable of marriage.” Marriage, you see, is what it is because of the differences between the sexes!
- Speak of reality, not just of the truth. The principles that are absolute and unyielding make up the truth, but reality is the hard consequence that hits when a truth principle kicks in. Here’s an analogy. If you jump off a 7-story building, you’ll hit the ground—that’s a truth. The ground you hit—that’s reality. Reflect on this example. The first item on this list of “Ten Arguments from Social Science Against Same-Sex Marriage” is the truth that “Children hunger for their biological parents.” Hear about the corresponding realities from several adult children of same-sex parents in this YouTube video. Learn even more about the cruel realities of counterfeit marriage at marriageisourfuture.org.
- Appeal to people’s hearts and emotions. Facts are important, but personal stories often will connect with people in ways that facts cannot.
- Remember we are fighting for the rights of innocent individuals who have no voice. Consider, for example, that same-sex marriage isn’t nearly as much about giving an adult the right to “marry” whomever he or she might love as it is about potentially depriving a child of a mother or a father. What about children’s rights?
- Show compassion and respect, not only to the victims of homosexual propaganda, but also to its perpetrators. It always should be clear that we deplore bullying of homosexuals, not just bullying by homosexuals. At the same time,
- expose their bullying! Kirsten Powers, a liberal, has written a book that does just this. It’s titled The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech. Listen to John Stonestreet of the Colson Center for Biblical Worldview interview Powers. Ben Shapiro makes the same case from the right side of the political spectrum in this video. Bullying exposed is bullying severely weakened.
- Be prepared to be accused of hate (see John 3:18-20; 15:18-21).
- Pray especially for pastors to take a bold stand on homosexuality and to help their congregations understand the need for Christians to collectively resist bullying by militant gays. To ignore this problem actually is unchristian and unloving, especially to those being bullied. Christians have a responsibility to defend those who are innocent and helpless (see Ps. 82:3).
- Never give up.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was a British citizen and a Member of Parliament. Against overwhelming odds, he fought against slavery, an institution that was very much a part of the fabric of his country at the time. Wilberforce was ridiculed and mocked, and his efforts were repeatedly rebuffed in the House of Commons. Yet he fought on—and not just in the legislative arena. He worked diligently to change England’s culture as well as its laws. In 1797 he wrote a book that was republished in 2006 under the title Real Christianity. Its original title was A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity.5
Eventually, Wilberforce saw the changes he’d work so hard to bring about. In 1807 the slave trade was abolished in Britain—but it wasn’t until Wilberforce was on his deathbed in 1833 that slavery itself was abolished. Three days after the law passed in the House of Commons, Wilberforce died.
Think of the hurt, harm, and heartache that Wilberforce’s work averted! Because William Wilberforce maintained a long-term perspective, he was able to persevere. It may be an oversimplification of Wilberforce’s life’s work, but essentially, he stood strong against the bullies of his day. So must we stand to resist the bullies of our day. As we do, we also will spare our country and individuals within it a great deal of pain, hurt, and heartache. May God give us strength and courage in this noble and worthy cause!
Copyright © 2015 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Notes:
1Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1984), 25.
3https://wordfoundations.com/2015/11/19/two-realms-of-american-life-rife-with-gay-activists-bullying/
4https://wordfoundations.com/2015/07/29/the-high-cost-of-denying-the-obvious/
5William Wilberforce, Real Christianity, paraphrased by Bob Beltz, (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2006), title page.
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