Adopting a First-Rate Mind

The British author A. A. Milne said:

“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.”

And all God’s people said, “Amen.” Those Brits do have a way with their own language.

In the latest assault in the cultural war against gay/lesbian rights, 16 states are considering legislation that would prohibit homosexual couples from adopting. Having made gay marriage the bellwether issue of the 2004 election, it appears gay adoption may settle into that role in the 2006 election. That means another James Dobson moral tsunami is headed for our shores. Get the kids off the beach – this one will be ugly and dangerous, too.

By the way, “bellwether” is an interesting word. It’s defined as “1. a male sheep, usually wearing a bell, that leads the flock; 2. a leader, especially of a sheeplike crowd.” The sheeplike crowd will undoubtedly fall in behind a flock of bell-laden leaders on this issue. James Dobson and his band of angry prayer warriors will probably get misty-eyed over the idea of being a sheep leading a flock, what with their reputed affection for the Lamb of God. If only they could grasp the fact that all lambs are sheep, but not all sheep are lambs.

Well, you can see where I’m going on this issue. Actually, I don’t know exactly where to go on it because I just don’t get it. What is it about homosexuality that brings out the ugly, vitriolic responses consistently heard from the religious right, aka the religious wrong? Labels like ‘homophobic’, ‘bigot’ and ‘intolerant’ don’t adequately answer that question. There’s something deeper – these people have an insatiable need to speak for God; a need to act in the name of God; a need to be seen and heard as an image of God – all of which is just a cast stone away from a need to be God. May God help them.

All Christians should concede that judgment is the domain of God. Therefore, when judging others on moral issues they have to consider themselves as God’s agents, having no personal responsibility for their judgment, but just “passing the word” from God’s mouth to our ears. They’re taking the name of the Lord – the only question is whether they’re taking the name of the Lord in vain, something that I understand upsets the Lord. I think they’d better be careful. They have become the modern version of the Pharisees – and the Lord had a few vitriolic words of his own for those zealots. I think they’d better think twice about the role they’re playing on the Temple steps.

I’ve read the New Testament more than 20 times, so I’m familiar with the limited Pauline commentary on the subject of homosexuality. Paul’s boss (i.e., the Lord) was pretty much busy with other topics like love, compassion, tolerance, sacrifice, service to others, not judging, etc., so he had to leave the tough stuff to the Brethren in the field. (I’ve also read the provocative commentary from Peter Gomes, a member of the faculty at Harvard Divinity School and author of The Good Book, about the possibility that the never-married Apostle Paul was homosexual.) I’ve only read the Old Testament three times, so I might not be as familiar with the earlier comments on the subject. But, it did leave me wondering a little about just how tight David and Jonathan really were.

Notwithstanding having read The Word a time or two, I’m still left befuddled by how this subject has managed to rise to the top of the issues list. I’ve been told that the Bible has something like 2,000 references to the poor and the mandate to help the poor. How in God’s name does a smattering of references to homosexuality, several of which are oblique at best, vault that subject to No. 1 on the Evangelical Hit-Back Parade? Why aren’t Christians literally a thousand times more upset about the plight of the poor in the world. I guess they’ve read that the poor will always be with us, so they’ve decided first to eradicate an infinitely smaller number of people who would like nothing more than to be left alone before moving on to the huddled masses who would like nothing more than to be seen and heard. That would be the same huddled masses that the Lord actually focused on and cared about, repeatedly, time and time again, over and over, day after day – you get the point.

Let me just conclude today by saying, may God bless us all with first-rate minds on the subjects that divide us.