A Personal Struggle

I have been attending a church for about two years now, and I have really enjoyed it.  Until very recently.

I love the music, the worship service.  The pastor is an excellent theologian, there are many exciting guest speakers.  There are many opportunities there, classes and activities and productions.  I helped with the youth program in the summer and seriously want to do that again.  I was baptized there, the church led me to my school which it is connected with.  We attend classes in the building they outgrew five years ago.  And I became an official member this summer.

And then Donald Trump happened.  What does he have to do with church?  Well, the answer should be nothing whatsoever.  But that isn’t the answer.

I can handle the fact that my political views are in the minority.  That I get.  I can handle the fact that this is a very conservative congregation, but until now, I thought that even though they were conservative they had room for other people.  Now I am not so sure.

I know that Evangelical now means a political movement.  It used to mean a person who proclaims the Good News, it comes from a Greek word, and this is actually the meaning.  A person who tells the world about Christ.  It also came to mean a person who believes in being saved by grace and faith, rather than by sacraments and good works.  It doesn’t mean that anymore.  Okay, fine. 

But then I watched a whole lot of people who should have known better vote a monster into office on the vague promise that he might appoint a Supreme Court judge who might vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.  Even though Roe v. Wade isn’t an issue right now.  Even though by the time any cases went through the court system for it to be an issue, this president would probably be out of office.  Even though the Supreme Court acts on legal grounds, not moral issues.

Okay, fine.  You guys don’t understand the judicial system, and you’ve made an emotional decision, and you’ve made a mistake.  You have ignored every other issue about this horrible person because you are passionate about one issue, and you say God can use an imperfect vessel as your write off.  God could have used the other imperfect vessel just as well, but okay. 

But then that excellent theologian stood in the pulpit and proudly announced that he had been on the Spiritual Advising Committee for Donald Trump with several other religious luminaries (at least one of whom I now know for a fact is frigging nuts) and they had been on conference calls every Monday for the last three months, and he hoped to continue to do so.

And the crowd went wild.  I felt like the whole church, and it’s a very large church, was rising up, folding in half and coming down on top of me.

For the last three months, while that man was spewing hate and lies, you excellent devout fellows had his ear.  What good did it do?   And now this excellent theologian was proudly leading over 20,000 people down the abyss with him.  Someone was in bed with the devil, I just wasn’t quite sure who it was.

It was a hard week after that.  I loved this church, but I just didn’t feel like I could be there anymore.  I can’t completely cut off from it.  Twelve hours of my degree plan come from working there.  They are gifting me money to attend the university.  I didn’t want to believe bad things about the pastor.  I didn’t want to.

So I went to a different church the next week.  It was like returning to an old friend.  The music isn’t as good.  They aren’t as joyfully worshipful.  But the message was exactly the message I needed to hear.

When I started school, I didn’t really know what I was after, except knowledge.  But it didn’t take long to figure out that my focus was going to be some kind of mission work.  I want to be with those who are really struggling, who really need help.  And that my job would probably not be at a megachurch.  Now it’s possible, I could work at a church in some capacity and do other work outside, at a homeless shelter, or a women’s shelter, or with a prison ministry, or dare I say it, with the LGBT community.  See, there’s the problem.  I don’t have a group of people I will not minister to.  I don’t have a group of people who are outside my realm of possibility, and that puts me at odds with the conservative church business.

And it shouldn’t.  And that’s what Craig Groeschel of life church talked about on Sunday.  That some people draw the line and they put the good people on one side and the bad people on the other, and Jesus crossed the line, and so should we.

So I will be attending life church from now on.  At least for a while.  I won’t cut myself completely from the other church.  And I will go forward knowing that God does use imperfect vessels, and that if things do get tough for Christ followers in the coming years, then I am busy being armed for the fight.   

And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" -- Mark 10:51 (ESV)

Let Us Act in Love

I have heard three sermons lately on the same subject.  Usually when that happens it means something’s up.  There’s something that needs my attention.  And this time there is.  All three sermons were saying that as Christians we have to speak the truth.  We have to call a spade a spade, so to speak.  And I agree with that.  But the spade this time was the whole transgender bathroom issue.  And I’m not sure I know what truth is in this case.

I have never spent any serious time with a transgender individual, that I know of, only know what I know from tv and radio.  I am not a Bible scholar, and I don’t know that the Bible addresses this issue, although I’m sure there are Bible scholars who could point it out.  I do know that the two verses that I try to keep foremost in my mind, God is Love and Judge Not, don’t allow me to disparage someone just because they have made choices I wouldn’t make.

But back to the speaking the truth thing, we should call a sin a sin.  We shouldn’t pretend for the sake of being nice or politically correct that we don’t believe the things we believe.

But not everyone agrees what a sin is.  I believe a sin is an act that hurts yourself or someone else or shames God.  Harming yourself or others is usually pretty obvious, and while there may be grey areas and wiggle room, it’s not too hard to figure out that punching someone in the face, using heroin or gambling away the kids’ lunch money are all sinful acts.  Shaming God is a little trickier.

But if I were ministering to someone I think it would be more beneficial to them to say Here is God, Here’s how much He loves you, Here’s what He wants for you.  Here is Jesus, Here is His Truth, Here’s what He’s done for you.  And not address any particular sin, and let the love of God direct them to less sinful behavior.

One of those Bible scholars might jump up and say But you can’t ignore Verse Such and Such.  No, I can’t ignore it, but I may not necessarily lean on it either.  Truth might not change, might not, but interpretation does.

And times change.  Society changes, what we need from God changes, our relationship with Him changes. 

Paul said women were to keep quiet in church.  It’s right there.  It’s in the Bible.  But women’s role in society has changed.  So now women speak in church.  And that’s not against God.  Things changed.  Our relationship with God changed as our needs changed.  And if you don’t think someone like Joyce Meyers has the anointing just because she was born female, you are not paying attention.

When the Supreme Court decided the Marriage Equality Ruling, a lot of people who wanted to oppose it chose verses from Leviticus particularly , as their support.  I don’t want to get into a debate about whether the Supreme Court has the right to determine the legal definition of marriage in this country.  They have, and they did, so that argument is over.  And I don’t like politics preached from the pulpit, and for what it’s worth, this is my pulpit.

Put that aside. 

Whenever someone quotes one verse to support their position, I always want to know if they’ve read the whole passage.  Everything that went before it and all the verses after.  Many verses can be misrepresented when taken out of context.

But when someone brings up Leviticus, I want to say Read the whole book.  Read all of it, and I promise you that at least once you will say Wait a minute, if not That’s just crazy.

Almost everything is a sin in Leviticus, and many of those sins are punishable by death.  I’m sure none of us would have a problem not offering our children up to Molech, whoever he might be.  We don’t have to worry about trimming our beards unless we’re Sons of Aaron, who are basically rabbis.  Tattoos might be an issue for some of us, but according to Leviticus, we can’t wear a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbow.

All sexual sins are punishable by death.  Men with men, having sex with your in-laws, bestiality.  All punishable by death, for both parties, including the animal who probably had no choice.

But let’s be honest.

If we are going to write laws according to Leviticus, which we can’t because we’re not a theocracy, Verse 19:34 ends the whole Immigration Debate.  “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”

Oh, you say they aren’t talking about Mexicans crossing the border illegally, and I’m gonna say My point exactly.

So, you say How can you, who profess to be a Christian, dismiss the Book of Leviticus.

Here’s how.

I am a Christian of the New Covenant.  The Old Covenant, the one that Leviticus was part of, is gone.  The Israelites couldn’t do it, and there is no longer a need for symbolic and ritualistic purity.  There is a new covenant.  And the new covenant says that the Law will be written on our hearts.

And my heart tells me to act in love.  And love says to accept people as they are, and listen to their point of view.

Return to me and I will return to you.  Malachi 3:7