Respect vs respect

 

Some words are just over-used these days, like the word 'amazing'. It's amazing how many things are 'amazing'. See? Overusing a word, especially a verb, just takes the effect right out of it. The exclamatory form of a verb is reduced by overuse. 

Another word that is really overused is the word 'respect'. 

The online dictionary puts the verbal form of 'respect' as such:

verb (used with object)

9. to hold in esteem or honor:I cannot respect a cheat.

10. to show regard or consideration for:to respect someone's rights.

Because of its overuse, I usually capitalize the word if I write it, applying it in its original form. 

A policeman, advancing towards gunfire in an active shooter event, deserves Respect. A fireman, running into a burning building to save an occupant, deserves Respect. A WWII vet, relating how he charged the beach at Normandy while others were being mowed down around him by opposing fire, deserves Respect. 

When you are in another country and a Customs officer is grilling you, they command Respect. Depending on their personality, they may not even deserve it, but they get it nonetheless by their position and its direct relation to you.

Those kinds of Respect are either admiration and esteem, or the submission to someone who has the power to change your life - especially for the worse - in an instant and at a word.

You respect the right of someone to wear the opposite sex's clothes. Unlike the policeman, you don't admire it. Unlike the fireman you don't aspire to it. Unlike the D-Day vet you don't venerate it. Unlike the Customs officer you don't submit to it. You only tolerate it. Notice the difference?

To respect another's rights may only amount to acknowledging their legal ability to act in such a manner. I may begrudgingly acknowledge the unfortunate legal right of someone to wave a foreign flag on our streets and scream and yell at the top of their lungs for the murder of all Jews, but do I 'respect' it? Not on your life. With extreme reluctance and opposition I acknowledge the perverse legal right of someone to call themselves "a minor attracted individual", but do I 'respect' it? Not a chance. Not for one second. 

Legality and morality can be mutually exclusive. If a morally vacuous person makes something legal, does it simply then become moral? Of course not. Lawfulness is not always righteousness. If the government suddenly rules that it is legal for a selected minority to legally be able to steal from stores or even private citizens, does that make it a moral right? Of course not! Whenever or wherever there's a victim, a moral line has been crossed, even if it was a legal one.

Allow me to put all of this another way. Let me put it the way that makes me regard Respect or respect the way I do; through a Biblical lens. 

Would God have Respect (my capitalized view of it) for the policeman, the fireman, or the Normandy Vet? 

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

That verse puts it in no doubt. Yes, He most definitely would. 

The Customs officer? Well, that's debatable.

Would God have Respect (my capitalized view of it) for the people calling for the genocide of Jews? Speaking in regards to the nation of Israel and the Jews:

Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

No, He most definitely would not. God never changes, and is the same today, tomorrow, and forever. 

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

God doesn't change for us. We change for Him. If we do not, on Judgement Day we will fervently, mournfully wish we had done so.

So, would God have Respect (my capitalized view of it) for the people wearing the clothes of the opposite gender? 

Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

The answer can't be a more obvious and resounding "NO!" The Bible may be regarded as 'hate speech' by those in opposition to it today, but it will be regarded as God's Word and law against those same people on Judgement Day. That's one frightening thought. 

So, would God have Respect (my capitalized view of it) for people in homosexuality?

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

'Abomination' appears to be the strongest word of judgement God reserves for acts or objects He fervently despises. So the answer was, is, and will remain, "No".

Lastly, would God have Respect (my view of it) for the people calling themselves "minor attracted individuals"? 

Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Look out! God just warned that it would be better to be at the bottom of the ocean below the depth of the Titanic - or even the Bismarck - than to face Him for harming a child. Sexual sin is regarded as the worst kind of sin, so sexual sin against a child puts the offender in the greatest threat category of Judgement and eternal punishment. As God never changes, neither does the outcome of putting oneself on the wrong side of that fiercely stern warning. You never want to wind up on the receiving end of God's just and righteous wrath!

So, there's the kinds of Respect, or respect there are. Now you know why I capitalize the one, and very purposefully leave the other one be.