Bigotry Test – Step 1 of 2
When you scroll down you are going to find a list of anatomical terms that your doctor would use to discuss the health of your body parts and their functioning. When you see the words, take note of your automatic response. Do you feel like you have control over your eyes and where they look or do your eyes automatically turn away or focus on specific words without your being able to look around at others? How does your body react? Do you feel relaxed, do your muscles suddenly tense, do you involuntarily pull away? Do you feel calm, embarrassed, disgusted, shameful or something else entirely? There is no right or wrong Reaction, what matters in life is what you choose to do as the result of that reaction or, in other words, how you choose to Act. Just be present and take note of what your reaction is so that you can then move on to the reflection questions. Here we go, time to scroll down…
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Virgin, penis, vagina, clitoris, erection, ejaculation, sexual intercourse, sex, orgasm, conception, pregnancy, married, unmarried, uterus, birth, placenta, breasts, nipples
What was your reaction? Why are you reacting that way? Is that how you want to react? What impact is your reaction having on other people around you? If you could change how you react, what would you want to change? How can you go about making that change happen?
Bigotry Test – Step 2 of 2
When you scroll down you are going to find a list of terms associated with gender. Do you feel like you have control over your eyes and where they look or do your eyes automatically turn away or focus on specific words without your being able to look around at others? Do you feel relaxed, do your muscles suddenly tense, do you involuntarily pull away? Do you feel calm, angry, confused, disgusted, or something else entirely? There is no right or wrong Reaction, what matters in life is what you choose to do as the result of that reaction or, in other words, how you choose to Act. Just be present and take note of what your reaction is so that you can then move on to the reflection questions. Here we go, time to scroll down…
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Straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transvestite, queer, 2-spirited, asexual, cisgender, intersex, non-binary, pansexual, questioning
What was your reaction? Why are you reacting that way? Is that how you want to react? What impact is your reaction having on other people around you? If you could change how you react, what would you want to change? How can you go about making that change happen?
RESULTS – Scroll down to see your results
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If you took the opportunity to note your physical and emotional reaction and took the time to work through the questions then congratulations, you REASONED through your beliefs. You won’t always come to the same conclusions as others and may still disagree with someone strongly on certain topics, but if asked why you think and react a certain way or believe a certain thing you are likely able to elaborate on the thoughts you have chewed over. Having reasoned through these two topics you likely do not struggle with bigotry in the areas of virginity or gender identities. You may still struggle with prejudice, discrimination, or hate so rather than settle happily with not being bigoted, I encourage you to continue on your personal journey of self-reflection and understanding, engaging with other people in conversations to broaden your perspective and give you more food for thought.
If you saw no value in reflecting on your reactions and passed the opportunity by or you could not even make it past the lists of words because your emotional reaction was so strong it prevented you from being able to pause for reflection, you failed to REASON through your beliefs which is the core indicator of bigotry. You have less conscious awareness and control over how you behave. Your interactions with people are more instinctual and based on input you have ingested but not digested to discern what to keep and what to throw away. When bigotry is part of the picture for you then the chances of you also struggling with prejudice, discrimination, or hate are also quite high. I strongly encourage you to go back and do the two steps over again to start your journey of becoming a reasonable person who can elaborate on your own thoughts rather than continuing to regurgitate whatever influences have fed into your life up to this point.
Bigotry and the Bible
Here is another opportunity to practice reasoning through your beliefs. I have consistently found that Christian bigots have little or no knowledge about the science of Bible translation and that a large contributing factor to their not asking questions about or questioning the Bible is because they have been taught that to do so is Wrong. This becomes particularly problematic when bible verses are often considered the weapon of choice when entering debates to ‘correct’ people or try to ‘win them over’.
If I may, here is some food for thought. Part of our faith as Christians is believing that the Word of God is TRUE, has ZERO ERRORS, and is incapable of being wrong (ie. the inerrant Word of God). When God speaks to someone this would absolutely be true. Here are some questions to help you explore how the Bible fits into the picture and what that means for how you live out the instructions you find there (by the way, it was Al Wolters, an acclaimed scholar and professor at Redeemer, who introduced me to the need to understand bible translation and to learn how to ask good questions! He had read the Dead Sea Scrolls in person and Harvard had been after him for years.):
- Are the inerrant Word of God and the Bible the same thing?
- Where has word-by-word and phrase-by-phrase translation made critical differences in the translation of a bible passage?
- Where has the insertion of English grammar into translated texts that don’t use the same grammar rules resulted in critical differences in the translation of a bible passage?
- What translation of the bible do you refer to?
- How is the translation you read different from other translations?
- How many different translations do you refer to when trying to understand the heart of the text?
- How is an NIV bible printed in 2021 different from an NIV bible printed in 1950?
- What mistakes have bible translators made while translating the bible into a new langugae and does that mean that the bible had errors or remained the inerrant Word of God? (Contacting bible translators for speaking events and asking them to address this question is a great way to learn more!!!)
- Is the Bible the inerrant Word of God which will accomplish the purpose God has set out for it to do, or is God’s Word inerrant and will accomplish what He has set out for it to do and the bible requires more scrutiny as a book that humans have had heavy participation in the creation, cultivation, translation, and interpretation of?
- Which is preferable? To know God more or to know more about God?
- Do you ever read the bible hunting for God to say something to you because sitting silently waiting to hear from God is uncomfortable?
Assignment: Find a bible passage that speaks directly (or so it seems) to the subject of sex being for marriage only, sex only being for a man and a woman, or any other subject of interest to you that you have felt strongly enough about you’ve spoken up about it to someone else. Read that bible passage in five different translations. Do you find the different approaches to translation shed any additional light that reading only one translation would not have provided? What questions do you have as a result?
If you were wondering something, God knew that already so why not be honest with Him and ask away.