disappointed....

Riding home in the car with Joe and Joey the other night from church and Joey asks, "I know that people call other people bad names, and I know not to repeat them, but what do they mean?".
I told him that it was ok to tell me what he heard and he said that a boy from swimming had called him this: F A G G O T. (He spelled it). To be honest, I was ready for much worse.
I explained to him that some people say swear words because they aren't very smart and don't have a very good vocabulary. Then I explained that the word could have a couple meanings but the kid was saying that Joey was like a girl (I didn't even want to get into the homosexual thing cause we haven't talked about s e x). I know, not correct, but it was the closest thing I could find without going down a slippery slope that I'm not ready to ride. One thing I did explain is that it is just a word. And it means nothing. It's not worth arguing, fighting, or hurt feelings.
All the while my heart is breaking for kids today. Why the need to berate someone for that? Blame the Christians all you want for doing hateful, hurtful acts in the name of Christ, but He does NOT command us to do these things. Those acts are committed because we are all human. And humans are sin-filled beings. (Which leads to a very tough question from Joey: Why did God create humans to have sin?)
SIN is SIN. Why don't they call each other thieves, murderers, slanderers, adulterers, etc? I don't understand it.
Sometimes I catch myself wondering WWJD. I know, silly, crazy, over-used WWJD. But, the funny thing is, if Christ were here right now, he'd be hanging out with the thieves, homosexuals, adulterers, murderers, etc. And not just trying to convert them. He would genuinely love them. I think that we all forget that the most important commandment is "to love one another". And as Joey says, "that means everybody".
Huh, it's funny what a 3 year old Sunday School lesson on Zacchius can do to a person. Silly song is still running through my head.....