^“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:15-16, NIV)

I did not believe it was just okay to be in my Christian fellowship circle just sharing the love of Christ expecting hearts to be transformed. I felt I also needed to share the Truth of Christ and His Word to a broken world. So, I set out to write a column in the Pitt News regarding homosexuality.

I was told by the Pitt News that I broke the number of letters to the editor for one column. It did not stop there but other columnists decide to right ‘hate columns’ expressing their disgust and distaste with my column. The backlash was severe in terms of ‘hate columns’ being published by the Pitt News instead of just letters to the editor. I was not upset at all with the Pitt News because people read the column and were given opportunity to express their own views. After that, I was still a columnist for then for 3 more years. As the hatred was getting out of hand, the Pitt News finally wrote in the News room, “Moratorium on Anti-Ramesh’ columns.

Should I be afraid to take the heat for Living the Truth and Proclaiming the Truth?

I was willing to take the heat because of my love for Jesus Christ and the students I wanted to minister too.

My student leaders of IVCF saw the amount of hatred that was published towards me and wanted to do something about it. They took the initiative because they believed ‘Living the Truth and Proclaiming the Truth’ is not just limited to fun, food, and fellowship  with each other but building fellowships, making disciples, and engaging the campus in all its ethnic diversity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ had to go beyond just a small group and large group meeting. We had to be Christians who came out of our shell and be in the world but not of the world as Jesus said.

So, the president of our chapter got together the leadership team to stand with me with the support of our staff worker. They decided to have a panel discussion called ‘Homosexuality and Christianity: Is there a Compromise?” Ramesh C. Reddy, campus minister of IVCF & Pitt News Columnist Against Homosexuality v.s. Michael Mazza, English P.hd candidate & Pitt News Columnist For Homosexuality. It was sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship-Pitt.

Because of the volatility of the topic, everyone had to sign in and show their ID before entrance into the panel discussion. The panel discussion was attended by 6 Pitt News Columnists and candidates from different seminaries including Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. It was a very well done panel discussion. It became standing room only attended by more than 90+ people with no more room to hold more.

What touched me the most was when members of Rainbow Alliance, the LGBT support group on campus shared at the panel discussion that they don’t agree with me but they know that they are loved by me.

If my student leaders, my staff worker, and I remained silent, thinking we don’t want to be hated but only loved because we are sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we would not have had that discussion and dialogue.

If Rainbow Alliance had shared that they saw hatred in me instead of love, our message and mission would have been lost too.

I share this with you because we should never take the fear of hatred because we live the Truth and Proclaim the Truth to keep us silent. Nor should we ever do anything that makes people think we hate them. They should only see that we hate the sin.

Our student leaders made an impact and continued to make an impact. When the Student Government Board was embroiled in a scandal at the time, our student leaders were against the scandal but also scheduled a meeting where we could pray for the Student Government Board (SGB) and called the campus to come together to pray for the board. The president of SGB was so touched that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship students would do that. The same Pitt News that had published anti-Ramesh columns also published editorial commending InterVarsity Christian Fellowship leaders for coming together to ask the campus to pray for SGB.

At the time our standards were very high who our leadership would be too. We only took leaders who were Pro-Life and adhered to a strict leadership application because as student leaders and staff workers we believed that our private lives affected our public ministry.

This also reminded me of what a pastoral candidate shared about leadership. He shared that if leaders he chooses for ministry are seen posting facebook pictures of themselves in bikinis making it their profile picture, he would ask them to step down from leadership because as leaders we need to be role models for the youth in all aspects.

Going back to IVCF, we never were shy in addressing issues such as homosexuality, abortion, etc but we always did it in love. We had made a name for ourselves on campus because we were also willing to be hated for the sake of love.

 I am not with IVCF anymore after serving 7 faithful years there and loving it. I still love IVCF but I am not sure whether the staff now or willing to address controversial issues as they were then.

I was blessed to be part of a wonderful staff team and a Great Lakes East Regional Team and WVU/WPA team in Fred Bailey, Thomas Grosh IV, Kent Walley, Paul Hassell, Sean Wightman, Amy Wightman, etc. I share all this with you because it really aches my heart when I hear Christians say that sharing the Gospel alone should be enough to transform hearts without speaking against immorality, etc. They fear speaking out against sin will diminish their witness. But sharing the Gospel should not just address Jesus dying for our sin and coming back to life to save us. It should address all facets of life including immorality, etc.

From experience, our student leaders, staff, and myself learned that speaking out against sin in love has more of a witness to people then just sharing the love of Christ without the Truth of Christ.

We were all reminded of Jesus’ words even while we were being persecuted with words.

‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. (John 15:18-21, NIV)

I had students come up to me and say that they do not agree with my columns but love to read them because they were very thought provoking with reasons instead of just ramblings. Anyone can say that something is wrong and leave it at that but there is no discussion or dialogue in that. Neither is there growth to challenge our own thinking to be able to defend it better or give up that view if it cannot be defended with Scripture.

I ask you now dear friend, is it better for you to experience hate or love, why or why not?
Dear friend, your answer to this question should not depend on yourself but on the One who loved you so much that He was willing to be hated so His love can transform and change your life. His love is what carried Him to the cross to pay the penalty for your sin in a world that is filled with hatred many times towards the things of God. His blood was shed for you to deliver you from sin. He loves you so much and wants you to be in the world but not of the world.

If you always answer it is better to be loved than hated, you are missing out on living the Truth and Proclaiming the Truth. If you are always loved by everyone and never hated for doing right, you need to ask yourself, ‘Am I really living as Christ wants me to and what He wants me to do?’

Christ never promised that we will be loved by everyone if we follow Him. On the contrary, Christ promised that we will be hated because we will be in the world but not of the world. We will be speaking the Truth in love proclaiming it and living it. There will be people who are threatened by it because we are attacking the status quo.

Will you give in and not speak out against evil so you can feel loved by everyone or will you speak out against sin such as abortion, gay marriage, etc, even if it means you will be hated?.

If you speak out in love then that is great but if you speak out in hatred, you have brought hate upon yourself for not promoting Christ and His biblical principles but promoting Satan and his hatred.

It is okay to be hated for doing the right thing for the sake of Christ but not for the wrong thing. What members of Westboro Baptist Church do is despicable and takes away from the witness of Christ.

Is Christ calling you to speak out against a specific issue but have you remained silent fearing you would stifle your witness about Christ?

If so, ask the Lord Jesus for help where you can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with love but also speak out against evil knowing only the Lord Jesus can transform hearts but wants us not to remain silent.

We need to remember that being a follower of Christ will not be easy. Whoever asks you to become a Christian and tells you everything will be okay is not giving you the whole Truth. Things will not always be ok but we will have the Lord Jesus on our side to get us through life. He will give us Eternal Life.

We should never back away from telling someone they are doing wrong because we feel that we may be hated. Let us learn from the Master's example.

We are called to be Ambassadors for Christ. One of the responsibilities of an Ambassador is to speak on behalf of the one he/she represents. We represent Jesus if we claim to be His followers.

May you never allow persecution or hatred from others prevent you from proclaiming the Truth and speaking in love to others concerning their sin or evil. Allow the Lord Jesus to guide you.

Jesus did not allow persecution to hinder Him from fulfilling His responsibility He knew He had.

What are you called to do? What do you know that you should be doing?

Don't allow fear, intimidation, or persecution to hinder you from fulfilling God's call in your life and being a faithful Ambassador. The Lord Jesus will take care of the rest.

Do you have someone who is an unbelieving person? Does that person make fun of your beliefs?

Do not give up! Be faithful, available, and teachable and our Lord will lead you. Your duty is to present the Gospel by being a sower and allowing the Lord to bring forth the fruit. We should always be open to dialogue and discussion on any knowing God’s Truth will always prevail. We should not fear man but only God. Reverence for God leads to honor and life! Amen!

I also love a youth pastoral candidate shared regarding gay marriage and abortion when he said, ‘He will never disregard the youth or children who maybe favorable towards gay marriage or abortion, but dialogue and discuss with them what the biblical view is. In discussion and dialogue is where we also have opportunity to defend our faith and what we believe in. He also shared about children or youth who are favorable towards earrings for men, tattoos on their bodies, spiked hair cuts, etc. that they will be loved dearly but there would also be a discussion from a biblical perspective. These are the types of pastors to be of churches that I love because they do not shy away from controversial issues as pastors but address before congregations, etc.

I also love how Pastor Sandeep Thomas and I have been able to dialogue back and forth in our writing regarding a column that he highly recommended concerning President Obama but I totally disagreed with. As a pastor, he is very busy and could have ignored my responses but has always taken time to respond. In the responses, I have been challenged but also it has given me ability to test what I believe in with Scriptures and has only strengthened my defense of what I believe in. If I am wrong then I agree with Pastor Sandeep. Both of us raise interesting points but those points would be mute if either of us curbed discussion or did not want to read the other person’s column or view thinking ‘I am not going to bother reading Ramesh’s or Sandeep’s’.

I wish I had that opportunity four years ago in 2008, like I have with Pastor Sandeep, when I was writing columns but was refused dialogue and discussion so all I could think of was, “How could certain pastor/s then even think about supporting President Obama who is for abortion and gay marriage?

In discussion and dialogue is where we not only understand each other but show that we are loved because others have taken the time to understand us even if they don’t agree with us. I hope we all make time to dialogue and discuss with those we do not agree with instead of shunning them or their view aside. We maybe hated for our view as I shared but we can also be loved for standing up for Truth.

May you experience love through hate when you ‘Live the Truth and Proclaim the Truth!’ Amen!

“Hated Although, Truth Emphasize!” (H.A.T.E)/”Is it better for you to experience love or hate, why or why not?”

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for the message you gave your brothers. Thank you for not coming into the world to just be loved but to proclaim the Truth and the Live the Truth. Thy Word is Truth. You are the Way, Truth, and Life. No one comes to the Father except through you Oh Lord, you remind us. Help us Oh Lord never to back away from testifying against evil to protect ourselves. Forgive us Lord when we are afraid to speak the Truth in love thinking we may lose the opportunity to share your love with others. We thank you Lord when we do what is right in your sight, you will take care of the rest. You want us to do everything in love. When we do things in love and are still hated, you are so proud of us and remind us that you were hated first. Help us Oh Lord to find our strength and hope in you. It is terrible to be hated because there is so much happiness in love. Yet, us being hated when we stand up for you and stand up for morality becomes a part of us. Please help us to share the Gospel but not stop there thinking sharing your Gospel transforms lives so we need not speak out against morality or legislate morality. We know apart from you there is no morality for all Truth is your Truth so come and help us please. Thanks for the strength you give us to stand up for you for I can do all things you ask me to do with your help you strengthens me. Thank you for dying for my sin, shedding you blood on the cross to save me. It is by your Blood that I am given new life. I turn my life over to you and ask you for your help Oh Lord. Thank you for your help. In Your Name I pray Jesus! Amen!