Friday, November 27, 2009

Another Thought-Provoking Post

This from Jon at Stuff Christians Like. He's got some great insights, especially in his Serious Wednesday posts. You don't have to agree with them all to get a lot out of some of them.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Deceptive Fundamentalism

As a pastor, I say very little about politics from the pulpit. In general terms, I decry the deceptiveness and immorality of many in our political system. In moral terms, I preach against things like abortion and homosexuality. But the followers of Christ are never called upon to change laws in their political system to make other people be moral. We ought to be salt and light in a dark world, but our primary role is bringing people to Christ. If enough lives are transformed by Christ, society will change. Thus, I use my pulpit to speak on and from Scripture, with social and political commentary only when a social or political issue concides directly with the passage of Scripture I'm preaching from.

That doesn't mean I don't have political views, nor that those views are not informed by my Biblical convictions. As an involved member in our society, this post caught my eye. For quite a while now, the advocates of global warming as a manmade phenomenon seem to me to have been acting more like steriotypical fundamentalists than most of the Christian Fundamentalists I know. I don't approve of what was done to gain the information revealed in that post - but I'm well aware that God sometimes uses one wrong to expose another.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

We Love Being Scared

The other day, a man came to talk to me. He was vastly concerned about the new hate crimes legislation signed into law by President Obama. His concern was that we would no longer be permitted to speak openly about what the Bible says about homosexuality. It seemed that he was worried that if we would get in legal trouble for speaking the truth, we might stop speaking truth.

I have come to the conclusion that we Fundamentalists like being scared more than horror movie junkies.

At a preacher's fellowship recently, we were warned that the government already has numerous concentration camps built and being readied for Christians. Any day now, secret police might come along and snatch us up for unspeakable torments and death. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. There were supposedly hundreds of these camps, but no one had seen one or knew where one was or knew anyone who had seen one or knew how all this construction had been funded. But it sure was fun to be scared by those elusive camps for a couple minutes before we headed out to eat fried things.

Now, I'm a cynic. I know that. I'm not even really ashamed of it. Although I give individual people the benefit of the doubt because that's what love does, on the whole, I believe that human beings are just plain messed up. I know that Christians in many places are abused, persecuted, and even killed. I suspect that if I live out my natural days, before I'm dead, we'll see that here in the United States. I'm not blind, and I can see the writing on the wall - we're heading into the limitation of free speech in the interests of protecting the feelings of special interest groups.

But I'd rather have truth than fear. The hate crimes legislation is, in my opinion, a betrayal of justice. All victims of crime should have the same legal protections, regardless of their gender, race, religion, and yes, even morality. To give some groups extra protections is to create an inequality in justice, for the unprotected now have less protection from violence than the protected. In that, I think this legislation is a foolish, short-sighted thing. (And why in the world is it still attached to a defense bill?)

However, this hate crimes legislation specifically states that freedom of speech is protected. I am free to oppose homosexuality, telling the truth about it as sin and a moral choice. I'm simply not allowed to go assault or steal from a homosexual - but if I break the law, committing an act of violence or theft against anyone, I should be prosecuted for that, anyhow. This legislation allows for extra penalties if I select a homosexual victim because he's homosexual, but typically, I think the penalties for violent crime are too lenient, anyhow. I'm sorry to drizzle on the fear-parade... but this law does not forbid us to speak truth. It merely adds extra penalties for things we shouldn't do anyhow. It takes blind justice and gives it a peep show sponsored by special interests - but it doesn't limit my free speech or the right to exercise my faith.

If we Fundamentalists intend to be taken seriously when we trumpet legitimate messages of impending doom, we need to be careful to get our facts straight and be able to support our statements. Truth needs to be more important to us than the rush of momentary fear. (Or the sense of bravery we feel when we determine to stand up to the scary thing, no matter the cost.)

The time will come when that bravery is needed. The time will come when some of these scary things will be realized, and that time is now for some believers around the world. But our weapon then is the same as it is now - truth.

Let's just be careful to speak the truth as accurately as we can. We don't need lies or misinformation. If we are to well represent He who is love and the Truth, we best do it with careful, loving truth.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Keeping Our Balance

Wisdom is the principal thing, God tells us in Proverbs 4:7. Principal means number one. Numero uno. The most important quality a person can develop. (Yes, more so even than faith, hope, and love - all of those are guided by wisdom and without wisdom will swifty go astray.)

But what does Godly wisdom look like? A high IQ? Lots of post-grad degrees?

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." (James 3:17-18) There's God's answer: real wisdom is first pure, then peaceable.

Fundamentalists have latched onto the first of those characteristics of godly wisdom. That's why I'm a fundamentalist - purity of doctrine and life is essential. That comes first. Any peace we have must be a peace in purity. Any unity must be a unity of agreement with truth, not an agreement to ignore truth.

Time and again the Scriptures tell us to separate from both wrong doctrine and wrong behavior. The refusal of the church at large to obey our Lord's commands about separating from those who preach a false gospel or live like the unsaved is one of the great blemishes upon the cause of Christ in our age.

Wait, the Bible says we should refuse to associate with people who live in blatant sin but call themselves Christians? "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat." (I Corinthians 5:11)

But what about working together with unsaved people for good causes? "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (II Corinthians 6:14-18)

But what about people who call themselves Christians, but believe that salvation works differently than what the Bible says - surely we can associate with them, even if we don't agree with them, so long as there is some benefit to it? "As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:9) "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." (Romans 16:17)

The wisdom that is from above is first pure - there can be no peace between the true gospel of Jesus Christ and any false gospel. There can be no peace between the righteousness of Christ and the filthiness of sin. The followers of righteousness in Christ ought not to fellowship with the followers of a different gospel or of unrighteousness, no matter whether the people call themselves Christians or not.

Different people draw the line in different places, but a line must be drawn, and that line must not be drawn short of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ - otherwise, we disobey God, arrogantly thinking our wisdom is superior to His.

But there is a second characteristic of true wisdom.

In this characteristic, many who call themselves Fundamentalists have failed miserably. Once purity is assured, peaceableness should be the next concern. Even in our purity, we ought to seek peace. The point of all that separation is not to inflict harm on those we separate from, nor is it to assert that we are better than they in ourselves - it is to restore the erring brother to right living and to bring the person who has misplaced faith to genuine salvation in Jesus Christ.

While many Fundamentalists point at the blatant disobedience of many evangelicals (particularly the so-called "New Evangelicals") to the commands for separation and purity, I fear that we have often just as blatantly disobeyed plain commands of Scripture. "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themsleves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." (II Timothy 2:24-25)

We have ignored for ourselves the warning that only by pride comes contention. We have excused our lack of gentleness with proclamations of purity. We have attacked our brothers instead of lifting them up. We have assaulted the people most in need of help. We have become the brawlers and strikers that pastors are forbidden to be. We insult, though Jesus condemned it. We act in anger, though we were told to put all anger and wrath away from ourselves. And in doing these things, we neglect godly wisdom. We have refused to seek peace, instead choosing to disobey our Lord and embrace conflict.

Many Fundamentalists find smaller and smaller things to argue, fight, and separate over. We went from separating over the fundamentals of the faith to separating over any major doctrine to separating over any doctrine clearly taught in Scripture to now separating over human interpretations and applications of doctrines taught in Scripture. In our prideful pursuit of purity, we have lost our balance. (Yes, I suspect that much of this is rooted in pride, because only by pride comes contention, and only through pride does it seem likely that men who know so much of Scripture would so plainly disobey the commands to be gentle and seek peace.) Too many no longer care about being peaceable.

Many Fundamentalists are bold speakers of truth. We need that. But we need to remember to speak the truth in love.

We cannot compromise our purity of doctrine or life - to do so would be to disobey our Lord. But we need to remember in our pursuit of purity to also seek peace and to be gentle. It can be a difficult balance to keep. But the wisdom that is from above has precisely that balance.