Church

I just ran across this item about two curious decisions in the Presbyterian Church (USA) Court system. In two separate instances, pastors were accused officiating or blessing same-sex marriages. They were charged and tried, and both acquitted.  I wasn’t even a little surprised.  What surprised me were these quotes - one from on of the judges explaining their decisions:

“Since church and state define marriage as between a man and a woman, she cannot have done what she was accused of, the court ruled yesterday.

‘It can’t be an offense to the constitution to attempt to do the impossible,’ said the decision, read by the Rev. Stewart Pollock, chairman of the Permanent Judicial Commission of Pittsburgh Presbytery.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“That court refused to find California minister Janie Spahr guilty of performing same-sex marriages on the grounds that the church constitution defines marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman. Thus, Spahr couldn’t have performed same-sex marriages because there is no such legal thing, even though she called the ceremonies marriages.

‘One cannot characterize same- sex ceremonies as marriages for the purpose of disciplining a minister of the Word and Sacrament and at the same time declare that such ceremonies are not marriages for legal or ecclesiastical purposes,’ the top court said in a complex and mixed ruling.” (Louisville Courier-Journal)

That is the type of argument people use when they know they’re guilty. That’s the kind of argument Jim Carrey used in Liar Liar. It’s not how Christians ought to conduct themselves.

I don’t believe in denominational courts and constitutions, anyway. Baptist Faith and Message is about as strict as I’m comfortable with. But if a denomination does have these systems in place, they should use them to honor God and honor the commitments they’ve made. Not weasel out on technicalities.

Mark Driscoll @ the Resurgence:

Furthermore, in some sense, every Christian is to be a teacher who imparts biblical truth into the lives of others. For example, Colossians 3:16 is directed to an entire church: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

I think too many people pass this work off to others - their ministers, Sunday School teachers, and small group leaders - saying they don’t know enough, or it’s not their role.  But we all share this role, and not knowing enough is no excuse…learn it.

Finally a post that isn’t in the Politics category:

But liberal religion has a dogma and it views the contemporary world through the eyes of this dogma. The dogma is all the more potent in coloring opinion because it is not known as a dogma. The dogma is that the world is gradually growing better and that the inevitability of gradualness guarantees our salvation.

Reinhold Niebuhr, Christian Century, April 22, 1926

I’d say that the same applies to the dogma of “tolerance”.  The ironies of this dogma are that (a) its advocacy typically involves a caustic intolerance for conservative ideas; and (b) it ignores the fact that tolerance requires some disagreement.  It’s not really tolerance if I agree with you.  It’s only tolerance if I disagree with you, but tolerate you (not necessarily your ideas). I hear a great deal about this “tolerance” from friends who identify with Emergent strains (yes, “strains” - like a virus) of the emerging church.

But this idea of tolerance falls right in with the mistaken notion of progress. It moves contrary to the gospel, and the command to contend earnestly for the faith.

"How can I win with just one voter?"

Some subpar reasoning from one of the prominent leaders of Emergent and progressive evangelicalism:

“I’ve only met one person in my travels in recent months who has said he is voting for McCain, and that was because he was an admittedly single-issue voter,” Mr. McLaren said. “Nearly all the vocal people I’ve met are enthusiastic about Obama. Based on the people I’m in front of as a speaker, I’d never guess the poll numbers are as close as they are.”

This is a pretty limited perspective. It would be like me saying, “I’ve only met two people in all my travels who were actually born in China.  Based on the people I talk to, I’d never guess there were a billion Chinese people walkin’ around.” Unfortunately for me, there are, in fact, a billion Chinese people.  And unfortunately for Mr. McLaren:

While national polls show Mr. McCain to be neck and neck with Mr. Obama, a survey from the authoritative Barna Group shows that Mr. McCain holds a commanding lead among evangelicals, with 61 percent to Mr. Obama’s 17 percent.

I find it hard to believe that he thinks he’s speaking in front of a representative sample of evangelicals.

Washington Times via Between Two Worlds

I was in the middle of another post, digging up some source material, when I came across this video:

I thought it was great, and spot on about confrontations.  And it applies to so much more than just race.  This is how you should confront someone when you think they did something rude, inappropriate, vulgar or selfish, among other things.

The big application I see though, is for conversations about sin. (continue reading…)

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