TRUTH AND LOVE IN AN UPSIDE DOWN WORLD:



TRUTH AND LOVE IN AN UPSIDE DOWN WORLD:

Reflections on a Visit to Barnes and Noble Bookstore

Samuel Ling

The weather has been unpredictable in Birmingham, Alabama at the end of February, like it has been in the rest of the country. I have not visited this southern town for over ten years; this time, like the last , I come as a missionary to share my ministry vision with a large, mission-minded church in my denomination. In between the breakfast Bible studies, lunches and evening gatherings, I had a lot of time to visit Birmingham’s bookstores. And I did.

I visited two used book shops. One was located inside an antique mall, and had quite a number of evangelical titles. I bought several at very reasonable prices, including John Stott’s Involvement (volume 2), which deals with social and sexual relationships. Since I already own volume 1, it is good to complete the set. The other used bookstore was a beautiful little place called Alabama Booksmith, where authors (e.g. philosophers) were highlighted with calligraphed lettering in each section. Since many books dealt with the South and the Civil War, I did not find too much there which interested me. But I did leave a history book on the Middle Ages published by Yale University Press.

The place to do window-shopping, and to get some studying done while sipping coffee, was Barnes Noble. It was in a new mall, and the coffee house in the bookstore is situated on a hilltop. The view was beautiful. Like most other Barnes and Nobles and Borders Bookstores, it had sections on (western) philosophy, Christianity, inspiration, and New Age/eastern religions. Like many other bookstores, the Christianity section featured academically respectable volumes by Catholic, liberal Protestant as well as evangelical authors. A major work on the history of Christianity, for example, was written by a Catholic.

As I walked past the children’s section, my eyes fell on a little brochure. The title caught my attention: “Closing the Book on Hate Crime.” I stopped – I rarely stop in the children’s section – and tried to decipher what this was about. It was published by the Anti-Defamation League, and listed books recommended for children and young people, on fighting hate crime.

I have heard of the Anti-Defamation League before. During my 12th grade year, I attended an all-boys’ high school in Philadelphia which was had a Jewish majority. The B’nai Brith, a Jewish organization, had done a lot to remind America that the Holocaust must not be repeated. They operated the Anti-Defamation League. Needless to say, books like Ann Frank’s Diary (a Holocaust story) were on this list published by the ADL.

As Christians, we are citizens of the kingdom of God. Yet we are to care about the abuse of our neighbors. I had appreciated the need for Christians to do more to promote racial harmony. Ten years ago, I learned first-hand from Lt. Governor David Lam of British Columbia, how he spent a lot of time promoting racial harmony. Dr. Lam is famous not only for donating large amounts of money to Regent College and to the University of British Columbia; he and his late wife also donated time and resources to promote inter-racial harmony, and the welfare of Canada’s native peoples.

However, on that day at Barnes and Noble, my curiosity was piqued. What was the Anti-Defamation League up to these days? Has there been any recent development? I looked down the list, and sure enough, a title caught my eyes. My heart sank. The title was Heather Had Two Mommies, the story of a child with two lesbian parents. I had heard of Heather Had Two Mommies almost ten years ago. Now the gay-lesbian lobby groups had allied themselves with the Jewish anti-hate-crime platform.

I wonder, how many Mommies and school teachers will pick up this pamphlet, published by Barnes and Noble, which runs one of the largest internet bookstores? How many Christians – and Birmingham is home to many many churches – will read this pamphlet, and begin to buy these titles? How many teachers will receive it in their mailbox at the public schools? How many Asians will join African-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Native Americans … and gay-lesbian Americans in expressing their social conscience? And how are our children growing up? What values will they hold dear, as Christians, as deacons and elders, as Sunday School teachers?

People continue to come in and go out of the bookstore; children, mothers, senior citizens, businessmen meeting someone at the coffeehouse. Neighbors going through a normal day. Jesus told us, the sum of the commandment is to love God and to love our neighbor. But how? Does love of neighbor have anything to do with love for God’s Word and his standards?

March 6, 2001

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