By David Outten
MTV host Dan Savage recently “apologized” for vulgar remarks made about Christian students at the National High School Journalists Conference. Christian students walked out on his talk when he told them they should “learn to ignore the parts of the Bible that are [BS].” When some students walked out, he said, “It’s funny, as someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-a** some people react when you push back.”
In his “apology,” he equated his mistake with what he considers a mistake Christian conservatives make when they say that they can love sinners and hate sin. He says that’s insulting to gay people. Savage was raised a Catholic and attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary North. He now considers himself an atheist. In 2005, he was “married” to another man in Vancouver, Canada. He hosts the MTV sex advice program SAVAGE U. He goes from college to college speaking with students and promoting free promiscuous sex.
Savage is famous for starting the gay promotion project on television and elsewhere, “It Gets Better,” with his “husband.” He’s also known as a strong opponent of “bullying.” However, several times he’s had to offer apologies for his own bullying remarks. In a 2006 interview, for instance, he said a political candidate he opposed should be “dragged behind a pickup truck until there’s nothing left but the rope.” In 2011 on “Real Time With Bill Maher” on HBO, he said, “I wish all Republicans were [expletive deleted] dead.”
Savage criticizes the Bible, saying conservatives choose to attack homosexuality while they “ignore” what the Bible says about divorce, virginity, adultery, and slavery. He advocates ignoring what the Bible says about homosexuality.
Muddled Thinking
Many students who hear Savage’s opposition to the Bible will take to heart his message about Christians ignoring what the Bible says about slavery as a sign of hypocrisy. He quotes the verse “Slaves obey your masters” as an endorsement of slavery. He should know better.
Jesus Christ never told anyone to go buy a slave. He and his disciples did tell current slaves to obey their masters. That said, true freedom form slavery was bought by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As Galatians 3:28 says: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” It’s clear Jesus came to set free those who are enslaved by sin.
Savage is critical of Christians who oppose homosexuality but permit divorce. Jesus discussed this with the Pharisees in Matthew 19:1-12. He said God made mankind male and female and that when a couple is married they leave their fathers and mothers and become one flesh. Jesus says no one should break this divine union, but that, because of the “hardness” of man’s unrepentant heart, Moses permitted it. He adds, however, “Anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Jesus Christ’s teaching here is indeed a strong condemnation of divorce, but it doesn’t call for divorce to be outlawed. It actually ties divorce to adultery. Jesus once forgave a woman caught in adultery but then said, “Go and sin no more.” Thus, he loved this sinner but hated her sin and commanded her to turn away from such sin.
Savage is wrong if he thinks Christian conservatives condone divorce. They’re repulsed by it. It’s seen as a great tragedy. But, just as we should love all people but hate homosexual sodomy, we should love those who are divorced while hating divorce. Also, Christians should work as hard as possible to help restore threatened marriages before divorce occurs.
There’s a huge difference between saying “I’m divorced” and saying, “I’m gay.” The divorced person doesn’t live with the attitude that they’re looking forward to their next divorce. They tend to look on their divorce as a tragedy in their life. The “gay” person considers their behavior proper. They don’t want to consider their behavior tragic. They don’t want others to consider it tragic either. They want it to be considered a noble and beautiful behavior publicly.
Jesus considers even lust tragic. He considers it a form of slavery. He came to set free those captive to pornography, fornication, adultery, incest, and homosexuality.
What the Bible refers to as sexual immorality isn’t limited to homosexuality. The reason it may appear that Conservative Christians are more opposed to homosexuality than to fornication or adultery is that the “gay rights” movement is seeking legal recognition that their sexual immorality is actually moral and beautiful, not just legal. There is no civil rights movement for adulterers. There are no promiscuous high school students trying to get their many fornication partners put on their family’s health insurance because their “relationships” deserve legal recognition as a “modern family relationship.”
Homosexual Christophobia
Christians are no more afraid of homosexuals than Democrats are of Republicans. The fear that Christians have is not that they’ll be sodomized in a dark parking lot. It’s that gays want to teach their children and grandchildren that what the Bible says about sexual immorality is bull manure. Christians are upset that activists like Dan Savage are using our legislatures, our courts, our schools, and the mass media to promote free promiscuous sex with no consequences and demonize Christian who oppose this kind of immorality. Christians are concerned that popular movies and television programs are spreading ideas like, “There is no such thing as sin. Lust all you want. Have whatever kind of sex pleases you. Christians are just a bunch of sad hypocrites who should be dragged behind pickups until all that’s left is the rope.”
The real issue is not really a phobia about being physically attacked. It’s a fight for public opinion and votes. It’s a fight for the worldview of the next generation.
Homosexual and other hedonistic activists like Savage are the real neurotics suffering from imagined, irrational fears or phobias. Their phobia is a Theophobia – and a Christophobia – about God-centered and Christ-centered people who live by the objective historical, traditional standards of the Holy Bible, which is the Word of God instead of the laws of bigoted, hateful left-wing radicals and libertines. Savage lives in fear that the efforts made to presenting homosexuality as normal, beautiful, and healthy will be defeated by a revival of Biblical Christianity.
Savage is no doubt thrilled to have a president who last year declared Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. He’s probably pleased that Mitt Romney might do the same thing. He’s no doubt overjoyed with shows like MODERN FAMILY that present a gay couples as delightfully “normal.” He sees his views growing in public opinion polls. But, he knows the danger.
The danger to his ideology is not that some Christian students were bold enough to walk out of his lecture because they didn’t accept his obscene message. The dangers is that students in the same meeting who weren’t bold enough to leave didn’t necessarily side with him either. In fact, some of them probably appreciated the stand taken by those who left but just weren’t bold enough to join them. This shows that the culture wars over homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion, and other hot-button issues are far from over. Otherwise, why would the national “news” media still be working overtime to demonize any politician, like Rick Santorum, or religious leader who takes a biblical or conservative stand in the culture wars?
The High Ground
Defending homosexuality is like defending vulgarity. There are people who demand the right to spew foul language and regularly take the opportunity to do so. They’re not on the moral high ground. They’re in the gutter.
Freedom of speech is vital for the protection of open public debate, but when that freedom is abused, society becomes a less and less desirable place to live. That said, Christians can debate activists like Dan Savage without resorting to obscenities, insults, and threats.
In the final analysis, Dan Savage’s clearly has staked out the moral low-ground. This can be seen by his use of obscenities to attack people who disagree with him. Savage can call the Bible bull manure, but he’s really selling lust and bondage while his opponents are selling purity and dignity.
The so-called “Sexual Revolution” has been an unmitigated disaster. More than one million people engaging in homosexual acts have died from AIDS. America’s welfare roles and prison populations have soared with the “acceptance” of free, promiscuous sex. Millions of babies have been aborted. Millions of children have been born to single mothers with no father in the home. The modern family has paid dearly for this rampant sinfulness. Thus, the sexual revolution Savage apparently loves is the leading reason there have been more divorces, more broken families, more gang violence by children without fathers in the home, and much more human suffering.
Christianity promotes saving sex for a faithful marriage between one man and one woman. Christianity promotes two loving parents of opposite sexes raising their children together. Christianity calls for God’s truth, clean language, purity, modesty, humility, justice, civil debate, integrity, self-control, patience, kindness, and honesty.
Savage may be given the opportunity to speak at national public school events. He may have his own program on the popular youth network MTV. But, even if he were elected president of the United States, he still would be taking the moral low ground.
Christians have the moral high ground. The question is, Will they defend it? Or, will they let Dan Savage and those who agree with him fill the hearts and minds of vulnerable children and grandchildren with deceitful, irrational, hateful humanist attacks on the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God’s people?
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