Mars Hill Forum #40: ALCU Lesbian Claims to be Happy, but Anger and Confusion Erupts
John C. Rankin
[excerpted from First the Gospel, Then Politics …, 1999-2004, Vol. 2, not published]
In one of my two Mars Hill Forums with Episcopal Priest Carl Hansen (on March 17, 1997: “Is Homosexuality a Gift of God?”), in Monterey, California (and alluded to in my February 11, 2002 testimony before the Connecticut State Legisalture), it was a large audience made up mostly of evangelical Christians.
But also present was a locally well known lesbian attorney, involved with the ACLU. She came up to the microphone at the end of the Q & A, not to ask a question, but to make a statement. The first thing she said was how happy she was as a lesbian, and with such a caustic and unhappy edge, that it caused much ripple effect in the audience. Then she challenged some of my facts and returned to her seat in the rear of the auditorium. I then gave reason why my facts were solid, but in an open-ended fashion where I invited her to supply me any further information to try and show me otherwise. But she was back in her seat and did not wish to further interact.
It seemed apparent to me that she was trying to get me to be caustic in some capacity, in response to her caustic challenges, so that I could be dismissed as a hypocrite or otherwise. So I changed the tempo and said something like this to her, “If your life were ever in jeopardy, and I were in position to risk my life on your behalf, I would not hesitate. Why? Because you are made in God’s image, loved by him, and because that is what Jesus did for me on the cross.”
I was told, by those sitting next to her, that she left that evening in real confusion. She had come to the forum with anger in her soul, directed it at me, and had need for me to reciprocate with anger, so that she could feel self-justified in opposing the Gospel. But instead, I respected her as a woman made in God’s image, and instinctively reflected the power to love enemies, as God’s grace has worked in me thus far. The reversal of the reversal, and I pray it was the confusion of her demonic tormenters that was thus evident, opening the way for the love of God to touch her soul.
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