God invented the rainbow. He put it in the heavens following the worldwide flood of Noah’s day to be a sign of his covenant with humanity and his commitment to protect us from another worldwide flood. In other words, the rainbow is a symbol of his grace and mercy and the goodness of his promises.
Now regressives get absolutely outraged when symbols are co-opted and used by people they think have no right to them. This social sin even has a name: cultural appropriation. Here’s the definition: “Cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture.” (Emphasis in original.)
So wearing blackface is out. Wearing hairstyles that belong to a different culture is out. A white artist was pilloried for painting a portrait of Emmett Till. A British retailer was harpooned for using the checkered pattern of the Palestinian kaffiyeh for a playsuit. Kim Kardashian was once drawn and quartered for wearing a “bobby pin headband,” which is native to Caribbean women. (They call it a “doobie wrap.”)
White fraternities cannot serve tacos at a Cinco de Mayo event, nor may their members wear sombreros to the party. High schools cannot use mascots from Native American history, even if the mascots symbolize bravery, courage, and the spirit of a warrior. (I’ll stop defending the Washington “Redskins” just as soon as the Navajo Code Talkers do.)
So cultural appropriation is a thing now, and it’s supposed to be bad (whatever happened to “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?”). Regessives also say that when culture appropriation happens, offenders must apologize and give up use of the symbol.
All this brings us to the rainbow flag, now the universal symbol of homosexuality. In history’s worst act of cultural appropriation, homosexuals stole the rainbow from God and turned it into a symbol of sexual perversion rather than hope. Despite a direct order from the president, homosexuals are defiantly flying the rainbow flag at U.S. embassies all over the world.
Now the rainbow is, of course, God’s invention. He placed it in the heavens after the worldwide flood as a sign of his covenant promise to mankind never again to destroy the earth with a flood (which, by the way, ought to be a great encouragement to Al Gore, who wants us to believe he loses sleep over the prospect of rising sea levels inundating the globe, including the $9 million beach-front house he recently bought).
So in the culture in which it originated, the rainbow was (and is) a sign of hope and assurance and a symbol of God’s grace and infinite patience. “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:13, emphasis mine), a covenant in which God promises that “never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood” (Genesis 9:11).
In the hands of homosexual activists, however, it has become a sign of sexually deviant behavior. It promotes a lifestyle which God says is an “abomination” (Leviticus 18:22) and “contrary to nature,” a lifestyle which consists of “shameless acts” which will come at a terrible cost to those who engage in them (“receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:26-27).
All this is a rather stupendous and disturbing reversal. What once was universally regarded as a symbol of God’s providential care has become universally regarded as a symbol of sexual debauchery.
If you have any question about how completely homosexual activists have co-opted this symbol, imagine your reaction if you happened to drive past a church displaying a rainbow banner to promote vacation Bible school. You would naturally assume at first glance that it was a gay-affirming church.
Now maybe all the church wants to do is take kids on a journey through the flood story, with all the animals on the ark, and with doves and ravens and twigs and so forth. But it would almost be a waste of time and energy for the church to try to explain itself. It wouldn’t have enough money in its budget to clarify and explain and persuade. When people today see the rainbow flag, it doesn’t say “God” to them, it says “homosexuality.”
God quite directly and pointedly says it is “my” bow. It belongs to him. If somebody else has it and is prostituting it, then that somebody stole it from its rightful owner. Sounds like cultural appropriation to me. Gays stole the rainbow from God. It’s time to give it back.
