Diversity. Or Divergence?

Diversity is one of the “darlings” of the politically correct lexicon.

It’s also a concept close to God’s heart. Just look at His creation. In nature, no two snowflakes are the same. Not even identical twins are identical. So, Jesus must like diversity, too, right?

Well, that depends.

The Biblical notion of diversity accommodates the uniqueness of creation (those snowflakes, difference in races) while the politically correct version of diversity will accommodate aberration in creation.

Diversity as a reflection of God’s natural order differs radically from PC’s blanket acceptance of behavior that may contradict God’s design.

Jesus throws a wet blanket on the politically correct laundry list of acceptable lifestyles with statements like, “What comes out of a man makes him unclean. From within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside, and make a man unclean. (Mark 7:2-223).

“Inclusiveness” is also under the politically correct umbrella of diversity. The truth is that Jesus was anything but inclusive. He would not accept all roads leading toward a God of our own making. He said in Matthew 7:13 that “wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life.”

He also was rather exclusive with comments like “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me. “ (John 14:6).

Those words don’t sound too inclusive to me. And they didn’t sound too good back then to the politically correct police of His day, the Pharisees. They really got upset at Jesus with comments like that.

But, Jesus was inclusive about one thing. His Father’s love for mankind.  Of course, he then reminded people that He was that visible expression of God the Father’s love for mankind by being the payment for man’s sin.

Oops. There’s that word sin. Political correctness has a problem with that word, too, because diversity advocates freedom to live the way you want. Sin, though, infers that there is a right and wrong, a missing of the mark.

That means we aren’t as nice as political correctness would like us to believe we are. We’re just plain guilty. Period. It’s not news to me that I’m guilty. All I have to do is be honest with myself. Look into my heart and you’ll see all kinds of bad stuff.

In our current politically correct climate, exclusivity is antithetical to inclusiveness. The two just cannot get along. And diversity’s mantra is “Why can’t we all get along?”

Jesus came to say, well, that we all cannot get along. That’s the problem! Which is why He claimed that God sent Him to die. Man had to first get along with God before he would be able to get along with his fellow humans.

The good news is that Jesus accepts the judgment on our behalf. His payment wasn’t for any sin in particular. It was for the collective sin nature that keeps us from God.

Jesus, though dismissive of inclusiveness and diversity, is ultimately the answer to the politically correct mantra of everyone being able to get along.

Ironic, isn’t it?