I was watching the news coverage on the tragic death of Jamie Hubley, the teen who committed suicide after battling depression and the bullying and abuse he received from being gay. They interviewed his father, Allan Hubley. The first words that came out of his mouth during the clip was “He had dreams…and we had dreams for him…”
He had dreams.
Had.
But now they are no more. Snuffed out, trampled on, buried.
The news said he took his own life. The truth is that his life and his dreams, were taken from him. Not by disease. Not by accident. But by hate.
Hate did this.
Jamie Hubley had the incredible courage to be open with is sexuality and tried to help others like him by forming a club at school. Hate took that courage and ridiculed it, abused it, and shredded it to bits, just like the people who destroyed his posters for the club at school.
Hate did this. And there is one thing I have learned about hate. It is taught. No one is born to hate.
In the wake of Jamie’s death, we in the Church cannot simply shrug our shoulders. We need to look down at our hands.
Because there is blood on them.
I have been part of the church for most of my adult life. No where else have I seen such ability to hide, deny and cover up hate. Sometimes with spiritual and religious language.
Only in the church do we get away with such ludicrous language like: “we are to hate the ‘sin’ but not the ‘sinner’”
What happens when you can’t separate the two? Have you ever tried saying THAT to a gay person?
Similarily, in the church we cover up and get away with racism, sexism, religious and moral elitism, and other forms of hate, all in the name of God.
In the past few days, I kept waiting for a strong statement from the “Christian circles” saying that as Christians, we cannot allow hate to go on. We cannot allow the tragedy of Jamie Hubley to happen again, and we need to examine our attitudes towards homosexuality and other forms of hate. There was, there still is an opportunity for the church to show leadership in this. But not a word was spoken.
Shame on us.
With blood on our hands, on Sundays we continue to celebrate the Eucharist, remembering the blood that dripped from Jesus’ hands on the cross, teaching us to love, and not hate.
Shame, Shame on us.
Meanwhile, we watch the life and dreams of Jamie Hubley crushed by hate, buried at our feet, with our hands dripping from his blood.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The church does have a role to play however, the primary way to deal with children especially teenagers is come alongside parents in order to help, guide, instruct, and rebuke them.
Every time we hear about bullying and other issues, society automatically blames the media, school system and society as a whole.
What we need to do is first and foremost rebuke parents for doing a lousy job in raising their children. They ought to be the first and the last to take the blame for everything that happens.
Then let’s talk about the role of the church in stopping hate, as a secondary and a third matter.
-Josh
I doubt rebuking will accomplish anything, and in fact that is fundamentally against Jesus’ teaching of love.
In the issues of “outsiders of society”, Jesus’ standpoint is very clear. In the short years that Jesus walked this earth, it is well-documented in the bible that he spent a lot of time caring and knowing the ones that society rejected. (eg. immoral woman, tax collector, etc…) Jesus never blamed anyone for all the sins in the world, instead he spent his time trying to reach out to those still trapped inside it, we should be doing the same.
Church was meant to be the light of this world, not the court of judgement. We have no power to rebuke anyone, that’s God’s job. What we’ve been appointed to do is to love (even our enemies) as Jesus taught, something that will always be a daily challenge for us all as we were all born as selfish beings.
Thanks for a great read Alfred, I will reflect upon myself where I can increase God’s love in my life.
What a great message! Thanks for your sharing.
I always believe we don’t have the right to judge the sinner, only God has the right to do the judgement. If we can love others same as we love ourselves and our families, then there will be no more hate!!