The link between the Message of Christmas and whether Calling Someone a Nerd is a 'Hate Crime'?

I recently was interested to see this title of a YouTube video clip of a ‘Good Morning Britian’ broadcast in my ‘recommended viewing’. The title caught my attention and its content was VERY interesting indeed:

Here is an example of why trying to go down the route of ‘hate crimes’ and criminalising the calling of people certain terms or names is a plan that will never satisfy, and is fraught with confusion and potential disaster. It not only turns people into what some call ‘snowflakes’ (as the current term is). It doesn’t build courage and resilience, and it prevents the opportunity to turn what was meant for evil into something good. It withholds the opportunity for people to learn to live above the negative intent of others, and have joy-filled and happy lives despite what others try to do to you.

Furthermore, here in this video clip, while one psychotherapist campaigns for making it a hate crime to call someone a ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’, the maths teacher and self-confessed ‘geek’ sees it as a badge of honour!

What some might use to shame, he receives as a compliment - a badge of honour.

This is a great lesson on the fact that turning something from shameful to honourable is more powerful than trying to make a law against the ‘shame’ action.

While the homosexual movement has used this idea in a bad way to turn homosexuality from shameful to ‘honourable’ in society, we can use the same approach for derogatory terms used against us.  We can take them as a badge of honour. We can create an honour-shame reversal.

This is what the apostle Paul did when he said in Romans 1:16 that he was not ashamed of the gospel (which society wanted to make out was shameful in following a leader who was shamed as a criminal punsished on a cross), but he gloried in the cross because it was the ‘power of God unto salvation’. He walked in an honour greater than the shame thrown at him.  Thus he didn’t need to fear the shame and could embrace the honour.

In this clip, there is the same call - to embrace the honour that is greater than any shaming from others.  

But not only is the honour counted as greater, but the shaming itself can be counted as honour.

Jesus said ‘blessed are you when people revile you’ (Matthew 5:10-12).  

As we celebrate this Christmas, we celebrate the One who came to turn the world’s honour-code upside down.  He showed that we can have an eternal perspective, that honour is not defined or limited to this world and what some people think it is. He entered the world in a lowly way, was misunderstood and reviled on this earth by most, and was shamed by a true ‘hate crime’, yet spoke of forgiveness, hope and endurance, with an assurance that his honour was not determined by popular opinion but was secure in the hands of his Father for eternity.

Because he endured the worst hate crime of all time, we can live above any hate levelled at us.

As Christians, let’s live in the light of the gift of our true honour in Christ. We can be secure in our identity in him, without the fear of insults, shaming or persecutions from others. And lets give thanks with great joy because…. such a gift is only possible because Jesus was born into this world as a tiny helpless baby on that first Christmas day.