Sylvia Thompson
A dearth of Christian leadership
By Sylvia Thompson
In his report "Left alone to defend marriage" (Faith and Action Web site, 3/28/2013), Rob Schenck advises Christians as to how we should proceed. He speaks of the new reality, which includes same-sex couples, married and otherwise, who are parents to children. He offers that those in Christian ministry must reach out to these couples with "a new language" to convey timeless truths.
Mr. Schenck describes himself as a "missionary to the nation's capital." My questions to Mr. Schenck are several. "What exactly are you going to tell those homosexual couples to whom you reach out? Will that 'new language' perhaps have to be taken from some place other than Holy Scriptures (which are not at all appeasing to those couples)? And if you are avoiding Scriptures (or at least the ones that make no bones about where God stands on this issue), why would you profess to be Christian? Why bother reaching out to them? Will you con them into thinking that you want something other than to rescue them from that lifestyle?"
A statement in a similar vein appears in the March 2013 issue of the American Family Association publication AFA Journal. The article is titled "Is America Becoming Less Christian?" In supplementary text from the editors titled "Stay grounded, alert and informed," Christians are directed to prepare their children to live in a "pluralistic culture with numerous religions and worldviews."
The same article quotes Ross Douthat, identified as a conservative author and columnist for the New York Times (which gives me much pause). Mr. Douthat joined the chorus with this statement, "Christians need to find a way to thrive in a society that looks less and less like any sort of Christendom – and more and more like the diverse and complicated Roman Empire...."
The Roman Empire was not complicated for first-century Christians. They were treated like hell for the very reason that they did not strive to thrive in Roman society. Had they done so, they would have been left alone, just as churches in Nazi Germany were left alone if they toed the line. Likewise in Communist China. And they most certainly did not "find a new language" to convey what Christ had told them to say. All they needed was the ability to speak the languages of the people around them, and God fixed that problem at Pentecost, 33 CE. If the language from Scriptures was unsettling, it is because its intent was to alert the listener to the gravity of his circumstances.
The current rush to capitulate by church leaders results from the latest maneuver from homosexual activists and their minions on the Left to force upon the culture an acceptance of homosexual behavior. Problem is, the creator of sex and sexuality (the God of the Bible) has made it ever so clear that He will never accept homosexual behavior, or any other sexual behaviors outside of His norm, sex between a man and a woman – and more specifically, married sex. It matters not one iota how many of our relatives have chosen the lifestyle. Two of mine have already died of AIDS.
This God of the Bible also will never be swayed by "cultural trends," especially not rotting trends. He simply allows the culture, no matter whose culture it is, to be destroyed (think Greece, Rome, Israel).
I fully expect the kind of behavior coming from homosexual activists and the Left. It's no different from any other behavior of defiance against Almighty God. And as He has dealt with defiant humans (and spirit creatures) since the beginning of time, He will deal with these people in His own time.
What I did not expect and find quite disheartening is the capitulation to the evil swirling around us that I have heard lately from proclaimed Christian leaders. The nine unelected judges who consistently dictate their flawed will upon America's culture have not even dealt their next blow, and leaders are already goading the flock to accept the unacceptable. Especially is this defeatist attitude unsettling, because the end-game of homosexual activists and the Left is the criminalization of Judeo-Christianity. Christianity is the primary impediment to unbridled, cultural hedonism. The Left's goal is the creation of laws that will have all who are not playing the appeasement game imprisoned or eliminated.
Too many Christian leaders have been hoodwinked into thinking there is love with no judgment. They are afraid to mention the judgment part of the equation, and as such, they do a disservice to all who listen to them. Common phrases such as "love the sinner and not the sin" can cause utter confusion. I am a student of the Bible (meaning simply that I've studied it in-depth) and that phrase is perplexing to me. I know "to love my enemy," but my enemy may not practice sin.
Yes, all of us sin, by virtue of our being human, but all of us do not practice sin, as practicing homosexuals have chosen to do. Or practicing adulterers, practicing bestials, practicing pedophiles, or those practicing incest – to name a few of the "sexual" sins. Likewise, drunks or addicts who refuse to seek help to stop their behavior, which God condemns.
Another puzzling phrase is "never judge." Judgment is essential for a follower of Christ. Discrimination (judgment), from a biblical standpoint, is required to distinguish good from evil, and right from wrong. More specifically, good people from evil people; right thinking and behavior from wrong thinking and behavior. The admonition that Christ gave against being judgmental has been stretched way beyond its intended limits, in my view. Primarily because it relieves the "non-judger" of confronting and facing down evil.
Christ's resounding cry was "repent"; stop doing what is condemned. Nowhere does it say that He accepts people who refuse to stop doing what He condemns. If you want to call that harsh, so be it. That's the way it is. I call it just.
Despite church leaders' attempts to make God's enemies in this country feel less threatened by Christ's message (by "finding a new language" to communicate with them or by treading lightly around minority religions), the Left's goal will always be to render Christianity illegal in this country. And when those church leaders have helped them to achieve that goal by their tepid response to those enemies, whatever those leaders will be practicing in the midst of those enemies will not be Judeo-Christianity.
© Sylvia Thompson
April 4, 2013
In his report "Left alone to defend marriage" (Faith and Action Web site, 3/28/2013), Rob Schenck advises Christians as to how we should proceed. He speaks of the new reality, which includes same-sex couples, married and otherwise, who are parents to children. He offers that those in Christian ministry must reach out to these couples with "a new language" to convey timeless truths.
Mr. Schenck describes himself as a "missionary to the nation's capital." My questions to Mr. Schenck are several. "What exactly are you going to tell those homosexual couples to whom you reach out? Will that 'new language' perhaps have to be taken from some place other than Holy Scriptures (which are not at all appeasing to those couples)? And if you are avoiding Scriptures (or at least the ones that make no bones about where God stands on this issue), why would you profess to be Christian? Why bother reaching out to them? Will you con them into thinking that you want something other than to rescue them from that lifestyle?"
A statement in a similar vein appears in the March 2013 issue of the American Family Association publication AFA Journal. The article is titled "Is America Becoming Less Christian?" In supplementary text from the editors titled "Stay grounded, alert and informed," Christians are directed to prepare their children to live in a "pluralistic culture with numerous religions and worldviews."
The same article quotes Ross Douthat, identified as a conservative author and columnist for the New York Times (which gives me much pause). Mr. Douthat joined the chorus with this statement, "Christians need to find a way to thrive in a society that looks less and less like any sort of Christendom – and more and more like the diverse and complicated Roman Empire...."
The Roman Empire was not complicated for first-century Christians. They were treated like hell for the very reason that they did not strive to thrive in Roman society. Had they done so, they would have been left alone, just as churches in Nazi Germany were left alone if they toed the line. Likewise in Communist China. And they most certainly did not "find a new language" to convey what Christ had told them to say. All they needed was the ability to speak the languages of the people around them, and God fixed that problem at Pentecost, 33 CE. If the language from Scriptures was unsettling, it is because its intent was to alert the listener to the gravity of his circumstances.
The current rush to capitulate by church leaders results from the latest maneuver from homosexual activists and their minions on the Left to force upon the culture an acceptance of homosexual behavior. Problem is, the creator of sex and sexuality (the God of the Bible) has made it ever so clear that He will never accept homosexual behavior, or any other sexual behaviors outside of His norm, sex between a man and a woman – and more specifically, married sex. It matters not one iota how many of our relatives have chosen the lifestyle. Two of mine have already died of AIDS.
This God of the Bible also will never be swayed by "cultural trends," especially not rotting trends. He simply allows the culture, no matter whose culture it is, to be destroyed (think Greece, Rome, Israel).
I fully expect the kind of behavior coming from homosexual activists and the Left. It's no different from any other behavior of defiance against Almighty God. And as He has dealt with defiant humans (and spirit creatures) since the beginning of time, He will deal with these people in His own time.
What I did not expect and find quite disheartening is the capitulation to the evil swirling around us that I have heard lately from proclaimed Christian leaders. The nine unelected judges who consistently dictate their flawed will upon America's culture have not even dealt their next blow, and leaders are already goading the flock to accept the unacceptable. Especially is this defeatist attitude unsettling, because the end-game of homosexual activists and the Left is the criminalization of Judeo-Christianity. Christianity is the primary impediment to unbridled, cultural hedonism. The Left's goal is the creation of laws that will have all who are not playing the appeasement game imprisoned or eliminated.
Too many Christian leaders have been hoodwinked into thinking there is love with no judgment. They are afraid to mention the judgment part of the equation, and as such, they do a disservice to all who listen to them. Common phrases such as "love the sinner and not the sin" can cause utter confusion. I am a student of the Bible (meaning simply that I've studied it in-depth) and that phrase is perplexing to me. I know "to love my enemy," but my enemy may not practice sin.
Yes, all of us sin, by virtue of our being human, but all of us do not practice sin, as practicing homosexuals have chosen to do. Or practicing adulterers, practicing bestials, practicing pedophiles, or those practicing incest – to name a few of the "sexual" sins. Likewise, drunks or addicts who refuse to seek help to stop their behavior, which God condemns.
Another puzzling phrase is "never judge." Judgment is essential for a follower of Christ. Discrimination (judgment), from a biblical standpoint, is required to distinguish good from evil, and right from wrong. More specifically, good people from evil people; right thinking and behavior from wrong thinking and behavior. The admonition that Christ gave against being judgmental has been stretched way beyond its intended limits, in my view. Primarily because it relieves the "non-judger" of confronting and facing down evil.
Christ's resounding cry was "repent"; stop doing what is condemned. Nowhere does it say that He accepts people who refuse to stop doing what He condemns. If you want to call that harsh, so be it. That's the way it is. I call it just.
Despite church leaders' attempts to make God's enemies in this country feel less threatened by Christ's message (by "finding a new language" to communicate with them or by treading lightly around minority religions), the Left's goal will always be to render Christianity illegal in this country. And when those church leaders have helped them to achieve that goal by their tepid response to those enemies, whatever those leaders will be practicing in the midst of those enemies will not be Judeo-Christianity.
© Sylvia Thompson
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