I want to share one very early report of efforts on the Day of Silence from Jordyne Krumroy, a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Jordyne was an early supporter of the Golden Rule Pledge and as you will see, used it as a springboard to mobilize Christian groups on her campus for outreach. Here is her report.
Yesterday was the Day of Silence. A national event where students on their campuses are silent for the entire day to bring awareness to the silencing of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students. This community has been daily silenced by the name-calling, bullying, and harassment simply because of their sexuality. Many Christians are confused about how to respond to this day because they do not agree with homosexuality, but they do agree that hatred based on it is not acceptable.
This year I decided to get involved. I went to Campus Crusade for Christ as well as Intervarsity Fellowship to present the idea of participating. They both said they wanted to participate but I was absolutely astonished when Campus Crusade said that not only did they want to support it as individuals, but as a ministry. When I heard this, my heart was pounding- it was a prayer come true.
I can’t give you a count of how many students from the ministries actually participated. It might have been one, or many. But to me, it was their sincere desire to do something that really hit me hard. I have long been frustrated with the Christian community’s response to the GLBT group. When Crusade called me, a little piece of anger towards the church was cast away.
Students at our school chose to participate by duct taping their mouths shut in complete silence, and when people asked why, handing them a slip of paper that explained. While I was more than fine with doing this, I wanted to do more. I wanted to make it clear that not only do I love them, but Christ does also. So I made my own slips, not to preach, but to break down the walls between the Christian and LGBT communities. The slips I made said this:
“Today I am pledging to be silent to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment experienced by LGBT students.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Luke 6:31
As a follower of Christ, I believe that all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve love and respect.”
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Behold, I say unto you, there are true christians among us.
9 comments:
How very refreshing!
I wonder if Hutch knows that passage?
Campus Crusade is AWESOME! As an LDS convert from Protestantism I have always find comfort and the amazing love of Christ that shines through these people as my brother and sisters in Christ. They are always very supportive of you regardless who you are, what your lifestyle is, etc. We have had an amazing opportunity to invite our LGBT friends to our meetings and supporting the LGBT community this semester at our campus too! It was an amazing experience to hear and understand, and to help the LGBT folks to also understand from our perspective- that we, Christians aren't bible-thumping folks but we are here to help and support them instead of judging them. It's OK to sin because we all sin differently in many different ways. No one gets away living a perfect life before God. You're better off a sinner than being a person who thinks you're righteous and do not sin. Being a homosexual is no worse than being a person who goes to church every Sunday then goes out there to tell people they're going to hell because theyve committed a certain sin...
Seems people are rejecting CoDE's message. Their tally of supporters on their website has been decreasing for a couple of weeks. At one point it was 261, then last week it dropped to 258 and today I see that it's down to 255.
Friday, 09 May 2008
At Sunday services for the next two weeks, I will be preaching from Romans 1:18-32 on
whether homosexuality is still a sin.
Please pray that many who are struggling with this issue will come and that lives will be changed!
Pastor Hutch
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I wonder if Hutcherson attended the "Crhristian... and Gay.." meeting at Tolt Congregational Church...
I wonder if there is an opening in his cosmology for tolerance, for the real love of Christ.
My heart goes out to all those he is bullying, including his family.
Let's see, Hutch is going to preach on Romans 1: 18-32
Romans 1:18: From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth.....
21:They know about God, but they don't honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark.
22:They claim to be wise, but they are fools.
31: They are stupid, unreliable, and don't have any love or pity for others.
32: ...they keep on doing evil things, and they even encourage others to do them.
Sounds like some good lessons for Hutch to think about to me!
The difference between 'whether' and 'why'...
From a more recent posting on the Antioch Bible Church website we find the following:
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Please keep praying for a great turnout for this Sunday's services for two reasons:
1.) It's Mother's Day! We want to honor all of our mothers.
2.) This Sunday will be the first of a two part series on why homosexuality is still a sin.
Pray that many lives will be changed.
Pastor Hutch
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So much for hoping the pastor had seen the light and was seeking to advance the teaching of tolerance and acceptance of ALL God's children.
"An open forum for parents and students of Mt Si high school to discuss academic issues."
WHERE ARE THE DISCUSSIONS ON ACADEMIC ISSUES AT MT SI HIGH SCHOOL?
Wow, a year later almost, I saw this link.
I am very interested in finding some people in the Sno Vally who are in sympathy with the Golden Rule Pledge. If the blog owner or any reader sees this, please contact Warren Throckmorton at warrenthrockmorton@gmail.com.
Can you please remove my name (the student participating) from this article?
Thank you
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