Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, recently publicly
admitted he is gay, according to an article in The Week Magazine (11/14/2014,
page 18). In a Bloomberg Businessweek
essay, he said, "While I have never denied my sexuality I haven't publicly
acknowledged it either ... Let it be
clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I
consider being gay one of the greatest gifts God has given me."
The comments were varied:
·
"Cook
send an important signal to young gay Americans still living in fear and demonstrated
how far our country has traveled on gay rights in recent years."
·
His
announcement "was blissfully mundane."
·
"No
one cares ... liberals act as if its 1950 and the townsfolk are ready to grab
their pitchforks and torches."
·
"If
anything, the Apple CEO should have spoken earlier, rather than stay in the
closet until He'd made his millions."
·
"Don't
expect more Fortune 500 CEOs to follow suit."
·
"Coming
out in ... Silicon Valley is one thing ... Corporate America is still dominated
by long standing stereotypes of gay men being weak, passive or inferior."
·
And
so on - there were many more.
Sports stars, movie stars, celebs of every
sort, newsmen, even politicians, have been coming out as gay for quite a
while. Each time they are met with
similar reactions. And, of course, there
are other reactions - often more negative - that don't get published. They can be heard in any office, bar, coffee
shop or even church parlor.
As I read these various comments, the question
that came to mind was, what if Cook had "come out" as a follower of
Christ? What would be the comments
be? So I re-read the article aloud to
Uni, substituting the word "Christian" or some appropriately related
word wherever "gay" was used.
We had a few chuckles.
I suppose the reactions would be quite
similar, some negative and some positive and some ho-hum. In some locations in America, the coming out
would be expected; isn't everybody a Christian?
Elsewhere in America, he would be the object of mockery and
derision. If he were in some other
profession his position would be threatened.
Of course, in some nations of the world,
coming out as gay or Christian would invite the death penalty.
Gays want acceptance and in many ways and
places they are accepted, though they're not there yet. They merely want what they feel various
ethnic groups have found. Isn't that
what Christians want for ourselves? And
we have it, though there appears to be a rising resentment of us here in
America.
Why are Christians accepted in America? Well, for one thing, Christianity dominates
our culture. Most Americans still
consider themselves Christians, so it's no big deal, is it?
But there are many who would object to any
public figure who openly professed Christianity. To many, "Christian" has become a
dirty word. It is equated with
ignorance, superstition, bigotry, right wing politics, etc. So we're either bland - who cares? - or we're
hypocrites.
Shouldn't our profession of being a follower
of Christ make a radical difference?
We're told in Acts 11:26 that "the disciples were first called Christians
in Antioch." Note that they
"were called Christians."
It doesn't say that they called themselves Christians. Apparently it was outsiders who gave them
this label.
And it was the ”disciples" who
were labeled thus. There's no reason to
think that Luke changed his definition of disciple from that found in his
gospel (see: Luke 14:26, 27, 33). Being a Christian does not mean being part of
an ethnic or cultural group or a philosophical school or a religious sect. Being a Christian means being a disciple - a
radically committed person who has placed his loyalty to Christ above all
else. It means being a person who
actively loves every one of his or her fellow human beings.
What would happen to the public figure who would
come out of the closet as one of those people?
Of course, it's possible that if a person was
truly living such a radical lifestyle, he wouldn't have to come out of the
closet. Everyone would already know what
he was.
"Let your light
so shine before men
that they'd see your
good works
and glorify your Father who is in the
Heavens."
(Matthew 5:16)
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