A dabba doo time, we'll have a gay old time!

It is sort of sad that the word “gay” has lost its original meaning. Not that I don’t think it can’t have two meanings, it’s just that when my kids watch the Flintstones or sing “Deck the Halls” they look at me quizzically. We had a thorough conversation about the whole thing the other night.

Perhaps you read about the two girls who were expelled from their Christian school for claiming to be lesbians. Just for fun click here, and here, and here to read three very different perspectives of the same incident.

Let’s not tackle the whole gay and lesbian issue here today, but let’s ask another question, shall we? Apparently, gleaning from our three articles, the girls were expelled for violating the code of conduct at the school. The girls’ parents filed a lawsuit (one that may be headed all the way to the California Supreme Court), but the lower courts found in favor of the school, since it is a private institution.

Let’s not tackle who’s legally right either.

I think it’s fair to assume that the school officials view the girls’ revelation as sin, right? For argument’s sake, let’s agree. I still have a problem. Here's my question:

What CHRISTIAN school expels two young girls for struggling with sin? Wow – if the Christian college that I attended had expelled every student that sinned during the four years I was there, not only would there have been no one in its hallowed halls (me being the first to go), but I would bet that there wouldn’t have been professors or administrators hanging around either. I mean no disrespect to anyone I went to school with or who taught me – they were (and are) some of the most beautiful people I know – but they were not without sin.

I read a great interview with Anne Rice – you know, the vampire author (Lestat) who used to be an atheist who is now a Christian – and she talks about her journey from devout atheism to devout faith. She quite honestly discusses her difficulty in loving enemies – loving anyone as Jesus does. But then she said, “The more I study this...the more I realize as well that what drives people away from Christ is the Christian who does not know how to love.”

O SCHOOL! What a great opportunity to show love to these girls, to help them work through their thinking. Their minds may never be changed, but sometimes young people experiment in all kinds of ways, for all kinds of reasons. Help clear the air with righteousness, not pollute it with rightness.

The argument that the rest of the school community needs to be protected makes me even more nuts. They have not protected the other students, they have reinforced every young Christian’s propensity to hide sin and they have nurtured the pretending that develops when the “innocent” see the “guilty” shamed for their choices. If you attended that school, and you were struggling with deep issues you couldn’t figure out, what would you now do?

And who knows? It’s best to remember to 1Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. (Heb. 13:1&2). The lesbians are certainly strangers in that community, aren’t they?

Thoughts?