"The meeting of Sheep Lodge 625 will come to order! Apparently, we have a special guest visiting with us tonight. Sherwood, would you like to introduce your friend?"
"Sure! This is Bessie, and Bessie is a cow, of course. But she's not visiting. She wants to be a member of our lodge!"
"A member?" someone cried. "But she's a cow! This is a sheep lodge!" Someone seconded the contention.
"Now, now, let's all just calm down," said the lodge president. "It's wonderful to have you, Bessie. And I think I speak for every true sheep here when I say your membership in our lodge would be an absolute blessing! The Pig Pen doesn't allow cows. The Chicken Coop doesn't allow cows. We would be the most inclusive lodge on the farm! Everyone will see how non-judgmental we are!"
Several sheep walked out. But the others cheered. From the back of the room, one proposed, "In honor of Bessie and her fellow cows, I think the bylaws should be changed. From now on, we should all speak in cow, so no one feels excluded."
"What a fabulous idea!" said the president. "All in favor say MOO!"
A unanimous MOO burst from the flock. "What an honor!" Bessie exclaimed. "But you really don't have to do all that."
Nevertheless, the bylaws were changed. They were changed again the following week when Millie the mouse showed up. "In honor of Minnie and her fellow mice, I think the bylaws should be changed to make cheese our official snack!" Several sheep and even a few of Bessie's friends who had joined cried out, "But this is a sheep lodge!" The dissenters walked out. But a unanimous MOO, and cheese was indeed the official snack of the remaining sheep, cows, and mice.
The week after that, Penny the pig joined the group. "In honor of Penny and her pig friends, I think the bylaws should be changed to include mud baths at every meeting." Some of the mice squeaked, "Mud baths! Sheep don't take mud baths." Some sheep walked out, taking cows and mice with them. But those who remained took another vote. MOO! Mud baths, cheese, and speaking in cow were now written into the bylaws of Sheep Lodge 625.
On and on, species after species. Within weeks the sheep lodge was no longer full of sheep; there were all sorts of creatures milling about doing things unnatural to their design and not really knowing who they were supposed to be. No longer were the laws of the lodge exclusive to sheep but made concessions and demands of every type of animal. Rather than sheep celebrating their unique qualities within their organization, telling others how good it is to be a sheep (as they'd once done), they moo'ed and tried to stomach the cheese and rolled in the muck.
"This place is worse than the rest of the farm!" some sheep began to cry. "At least out there, you could distinguish friend from foe. How long will it be before the wolves show up looking for a place?"
Even Bessie the cow, Millie the mouse, and Penny the pig took umbrage. "This doesn't look like a sheep lodge at all! We didn't come here to be like everyone else; we came here to be like sheep. But you all look worse than the farm! What would the farmer say if he saw?"
In the lodge, sheep were forced to be something they weren't for the sake of inclusion. In the lodge, identity for all was lost because assimilation with the rest of the farm became a priority. In the lodge, truth was exchanged for a lie, and things natural for things unnatural. In the lodge, love was not pure but self-seeking, and the body suffered. In the lodge, all were welcomed but none were held accountable. And the lodge itself looked worse than the rest of the farm, because rather than transform their world, they accommodated their world.
~ Romans 1:22, 23
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