Throwing Stones

One scene in the movie Saved shows Hilary Faye and some friends attempting an intervention and exorcism on their friend Mary. Mary rejects their rather overzealous "help," and as she walks away, Hilary Faye throws a bible at her saying angrily, "I am filled with Christ's love." Mary picks of the bible that smacked her in the back, turns around and says, "This is not a weapon!"

The bible is not a weapon.

And yet, we, both conservatives and liberals, manage to turn it into one as our passion for our church gets the better of us. Disagreements become arguments, arguments become fights, fights become wars--all verbal, but as damaging and as dangerous as fists and guns. Bible verses become verbal stones in a stoning of evil sinners.

Sometimes that violence does become physical. There have been times when I have been physically attacked by people shouting quotes from Genesis and Leviticus--attacked by people using fists and by people throwing real stones. I was lucky. People I know have been hospitalized. People I knew have been killed.

Eventually, you learn that you must defend yourself. You learn by example, so you pick up the stones and hurl them back. Which only escalates the situation.

David Ould has posted a piece titled "We're All Murderers" on the Stand Firm site. Here is a quote:

I'm sick and tired of this consistent accusation. It's uncharitable. It's just a lie. When have we ever done the same? Name just one piece where we accuse one of our worthy opponents of wanting us dead. "oooh, that nasty Susan Russell - she's just waiting for the moment she can stick a carving knife in the back of Greg Griffith". It's ludicrous. But it seems to be perfectly acceptable over on the other side.

David, you are now enduring what gay men and lesbians have been enduring for years and years. It hurts, doesn't it? It's not fair, is it? I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But part of me, God help me, part of me is glad that you are experiencing just a small portion of what I and others have been put through by "good Christian folk"--some of whom frequent and comment on the Stand Firm site. The bible hurling and the insult matches hurt, and part of me wants to yell, "An eye for an eye..."

The Anglican blogosphere has reached a point where both sides are quick to take offense, quick to point out the faults of others--real or imagined, true or misreported. The comments start flying fast and furious. Before long the comments are barbed, and then insulting. Some of them get downright nasty. Just because they are deleted by blog owners does not mean they were not said, it just means that most (but by no means not all) of the blogosphere has not seen them.

At some point the stone throwing became a habit. At the same time we have all become so accustomed to stones being thrown at us that we do not take the time to read, ponder, and pause before responding. We no longer distinguish between genuine insult and rhetoric. Everything is a stone to be defended against and thrown back. It is such a habit that it is no longer clear who cast the first stone. Casting the last stone becomes the most important thing. Tit for tat. An eye for an eye.

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and the whole world would soon be blind and toothless.
--Mahatma Gandhi

So how do we learn to stop throwing stones and use them as building blocks instead?

Peace,
Jeffri