Wednesday, February 01, 2006
An elist that I belong to recently started a rather ugly discussion on homosexuality. Evidently Brian McLaren posted some comments on Homosexuality that have ignited a firestorm on the list. The person posting some of his comments was clearly trying to use his comments as a way to discredit the emergent, postmodern church. Here are my thoughts.
Lately, my thoughts are increasingly that these types of discussion groups do little more than allow us to fight with each other. There is a clear axe to grind on the list against the postmodern emergent movement. The great frustration for me on this is that once again we are burying our heads in the sand while the world burns. A dear friend and brother talked me out of leaving the group or I would have. I have a hard time with most of what is discussed here.
As far as why homosexuality is the big problem and the great divide, I have a theory. It's the sin we're not committing. All those other things will step on someone's toes but we can feel good about ourselves because "at least we're not gay." The worst sin in the world is always the one we're not committing. We humans apply degrees to sin so that we can feel better than others. My prayer is that if gay people come into my church that they would find the only thing that can set them free, the love of Jesus. I preach truth and sin and repentance and I don't sugar coat but I do speak the truth in love. I'm an ex-drunk and I tried to quit many times, only one thing worked. Loving people took a drunk into the church and showed him the love of Jesus. He called us to be fishers of men, but too many "church people" are Gorton's of Gloucester fishermen. We expect the fish to jump into the boat while it is tied to the dock, cleaned, boxed and cry-o-vac sealed for freshness. Real fishing is messy and hard work and requires us to go where the fish are. All most of us want are nice church people, so we become the church of the revolving door with consumer Christians jumping from church to church trying to find the church that makes them comfortable and happy. Our church buildings become bushels and the world around us just gets darker and darker. There has got to be a better way.
I love the church, but I am concerned for her. The religious people of His day rejected Jesus because he didn't act like them. Today I think we'd do the same thing. He can't be Jesus, he doesn't dress right. He can't be Jesus, he hangs with the wrong people. He can't be Jesus, he's not interested in my peace march. He can't be Jesus, he likes contemporary music. He can't be Jesus, he likes hymns. I think I am going to stop trying to figure out why others are not like me, stop trying to convince others to be like me and spend my time trying to be like him.
Lately, my thoughts are increasingly that these types of discussion groups do little more than allow us to fight with each other. There is a clear axe to grind on the list against the postmodern emergent movement. The great frustration for me on this is that once again we are burying our heads in the sand while the world burns. A dear friend and brother talked me out of leaving the group or I would have. I have a hard time with most of what is discussed here.
As far as why homosexuality is the big problem and the great divide, I have a theory. It's the sin we're not committing. All those other things will step on someone's toes but we can feel good about ourselves because "at least we're not gay." The worst sin in the world is always the one we're not committing. We humans apply degrees to sin so that we can feel better than others. My prayer is that if gay people come into my church that they would find the only thing that can set them free, the love of Jesus. I preach truth and sin and repentance and I don't sugar coat but I do speak the truth in love. I'm an ex-drunk and I tried to quit many times, only one thing worked. Loving people took a drunk into the church and showed him the love of Jesus. He called us to be fishers of men, but too many "church people" are Gorton's of Gloucester fishermen. We expect the fish to jump into the boat while it is tied to the dock, cleaned, boxed and cry-o-vac sealed for freshness. Real fishing is messy and hard work and requires us to go where the fish are. All most of us want are nice church people, so we become the church of the revolving door with consumer Christians jumping from church to church trying to find the church that makes them comfortable and happy. Our church buildings become bushels and the world around us just gets darker and darker. There has got to be a better way.
I love the church, but I am concerned for her. The religious people of His day rejected Jesus because he didn't act like them. Today I think we'd do the same thing. He can't be Jesus, he doesn't dress right. He can't be Jesus, he hangs with the wrong people. He can't be Jesus, he's not interested in my peace march. He can't be Jesus, he likes contemporary music. He can't be Jesus, he likes hymns. I think I am going to stop trying to figure out why others are not like me, stop trying to convince others to be like me and spend my time trying to be like him.
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