There are great movements to try to take away the shame of poverty, mental illness, homelessness and addiction. Removing the stigma that often encourages folks to resist all efforts to help them is a good and worthwhile idea. However, the negative side effect is that even a negative emotion like shame has a purpose. Fear of shame makes the coward brave in battle. Fear of the Lord keeps us from sin among other things. Taking away shame also keeps people trapped in their current lifestyles.
At the Gospel Rescue Mission, we have made it known that we will not turn away anyone due to lack of space with one exception. Across the street from our current location, we have a youth center, and we also choose to serve children, so we are not able to care for level 3 sex offenders. As that message has gone out to the community, there is a new trend. When someone is offered a ride to the mission, they report they are sex offender. This label should be a statement of shame, is a shield against the actual help. What is interesting is that some of these are not sex offenders. When checking the registry, they are not on it. The stigma of being a sex offender has been removed.
A similar mindset can be seen in the panhandlers, the beggars. Here they have a place to go but since they are paid to stand with a sign on the corner, they do not seek real help. At one point in this nation, it was embarrassing to be a beggar. No longer we are told that we must not stigmatize negative behaviors. But is the behaviors themselves that are shame inducing.
Now let me be clear. I am not encouraging us to go and purposely shame folks into life change. What I am saying is that crimes should be shame inducing. When they do those things, our response must not be, “Well it will be ok.” No, we must tell them that we love them and as a result we know that they are better than that. You are better than acting like a liar. You are better than being a trespasser. You are better than the person you are when you struggle in your addiction.
We must lovingly confront behaviors that hurt our community. A local church complains about the people camping out and defecating in the bushes around the sanctuary. They are upset by the trash laying around. But have they gone out to talk with them? Have they said that they are not welcome to trash their property? No. However, they also have not told them that they are welcome to come worship with them on Sunday morning. They simply complain. So far simply complaining is not solving the problem. Yet that is exactly what most of us do.
