I probably don’t love something or someone very much if I’m not willing to be misunderstood and maybe even slandered for its/their sake.

Consider that the love of God in Jesus is manifested in part by the Creator of the universe submitting to chronic and ongoing misunderstanding and defamation by his creation.

It’s just kind of awful watching the extent to which Christians can be so terrified of guilt by association that they infinitely parse the terms of their love. Clarity is good; this obsession with reputation, often glossed as a righteous concern for sound doctrine, is not.

I can say this (especially the last tweet) because I’ve been there, and acted that way, and probably still do in lots of ways, and it is a small and ugly part of me.