One of the jobs of the Christian, be he a pastor or a layman, is to reshape this world into the image of the next. Really, you could say this is the job of the Christian. "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." It's what our first parents were commissioned to do, and it's what we now continue.
There are many ways we go about accomplishing this. Reaching the lost and raising Godly families are, of course, foremost examples. In this, we change the world by changing lives.
Another part of this is changing the world by calling out its crap.
Every culture has blind spots. These are sins that are obvious to those outside of the culture, but aren't so readily identified from within it. For instance, we have no problem condemning slavery in the South or the mistreatment of women in the Middle East. That's because it's easy to identify the sin when it isn't your own.
But, of course, I'm not here to talk about the sins of other cultures. Let's talk us.
Specifically, let's talk about the #metoo movement.
(great, here we go... what could possibly be wrong with empowering women and condemning sexual predators?)
Nothing. Nothing is wrong with that. Those are both good things. Yes and amen.
Actually, the problem isn't the #metoo movement proper, but rather what it's exposed. Namely, the view that women are innately innocent creatures, devoid of all sin.
There's a lot of different ways in which this gets expressed. I've heard many people say that when these types of claims are brought forward, we should always accept them at face value - no questions allowed. Apparently, women never lie.
Now, that's an obvious foolishness. The case of Aziz Ansari provides us a deeper one.
For those of you who aren't familiar, Aziz Ansari is an actor and comedian who was just recently outed in the #metoo movement. An anonymous woman details the account of how she went to his apartment, got naked, and, well, you know, did stuff.
Apparently, she didn't really want to do it, but didn't feel right saying "no," so went along with it.
As you might imagine, Aziz has been utterly blasted for this. Her lack of enthusiasm should have clued him in to the fact that she didn't want to be doing it. Obviously, he was just using her for a good time.
And, actually, I agree.
Obviously he was using her for a good time. And, yeah, he probably knew she wasn't that into it. Regardless of the cultural hypocrisy here (viva la sexual revolution), what he did was morally reprehensible. It was, by biblical definition, a sin. Sex outside of marriage always is. He was clearly in the wrong.
But so was she.
(gasp)
Look. Scripture calls it out both ways. They both committed the same sin, albeit for different reasons. He engaged in it due to physical desires. She engaged in it due to social desires. One of those is not holier than the other. One of those is not more wicked than the other.
Women are sinful. They do evil things.
And you know that's a cultural blind spot, because just reading those words makes you feel all bristly and want to shout "MEN TOO!!!" Of course men too. But the statement would be equally true without that caveat. And if I said it just about men, there wouldn't have been need for the caveat.
The Bible calls sinners to repent of sins. Which sinners? All sinners. Which sins? All sins. Whether or not they're culturally acceptable is irrelevant. Jesus died for all because all have sinned. And if we fear to call women sinful when they are, then we're doing them a disservice. Telling someone they are right when they are wrong may be polite, even kind, but it's certainly not loving - especially not when eternity is at stake.
