True compassion starts with truth
By Andrew Rodriguez, Christian Post:
In my first op-ed addressing LGBTQ-affirmation in the Church, I ended with this statement: “True compassion affirms the reality of God’s design while offering competent help to those who desire it.” This is an understanding sadly lost in contemporary Christianity, let alone the whole society.
But it should be readily apparent. If an ER doctor encounters a patient with an arm unable to move, the doctor would be perfectly reasonable to assume the individual has sustained some sort of trauma, such as a stroke or a dislocated shoulder or other condition. And the doctor’s compassion would be demonstrated by his efforts to mitigate difficulties resulting from an immobile arm and to resolve the cause of the immobilization.
The doctor wouldn’t berate the patient with condemnation. “Don’t you know how to move your arm?!” (However, he would likely rebuke the patient for attempting to drive a car with only one functioning arm. The patient may not be responsible for causing the arm problem, but he is responsible for how he handles it.)
Nor would the doctor, as someone in a position to help, be showing compassion by offering some shallow platitude. “Aw, I’m sorry your arm won’t move. That’s sad, but such is life.” The doctor would especially not be showing compassion if he attempted to convince the patient that some people just simply don’t have arms that move and we need to labor to make the rest of society and the Church more affirming of arm-immobilized people.
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