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A Sugar Hill, Georgia Pastor proclaimed that he was sorry to his community— sorry for the judgmental tone that comes from most Christians.
A Georgia Baptist pastor who pledged to apologize to gays, women seeking abortions, and couples who live together outside marriage during his March 30 sermon did just that – and then he offered an evangelistic invitation that would have been at home in any traditional Baptist congregation.
Was this done just to get attention?
The sermon garnered considerable attention in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution prior to its delivery and was covered by all of the city’s television stations. Pastor Richard Mark Lee said the apology for intolerance and “getting in the way of Jesus” was long overdue and was needed in a world polarized by the Christian church.
I don’t think that was the only reason, but if you read the whole article you’ll find that part of it is poll driven, part sincerity, and part as a means to bring people into the church.
I know that this is the current mode of thought among the Emergent Church circles that I read, and yet part of this concept appeals to me– the part that says that we need to reach out and meet people where they are. However, sin is still sin. Abortion still kills a baby. And if I say “well, it’s ok for them to abort, because they’re unsaved” should I also say “it’s ok for someone to murder or rape another, because they’re unsaved. I shouldn’t judge them.”
Somehow the logic seems a little flawed there.
Should we be sorry? Absolutely.
I love what this pastor did, and I completely agree with everything he said in his “confession.”
He’s not trying to condone sin. He’s trying to get the log out of his own eye before pointing out the speck in his brothers. Something most Christians don’t often do.
Amanda’s last blog post..The responsibility of knowledge
Jesus promised a murderer that he would join Jesus in the after life. We should not shun or judge those that don’t sin. We should not go out of our way to point out to them that they are disobeying God’s law. We should instead tell them about Jesus’s love and what he promised to those that follow him. Once they accept Jesus as their savior, they will change of their own accord if they are not following God’s will.
In one aspect I can agree with you. Christians aren’t to expect unbelievers to keep their standards. I don’t believe that Christian should be a voting block in politics– trying to enforce Christian morals on a group of people through law. However, this nation was a Christian nation with Christian morals. And the law was given by Moses not because anyone could live up to it, but because it was supposed to show people their need for a Savior.
So, the question that I come to is this: How can I show people their need for a Savior if I say that they are fine just the way that they are? If I love them while being homosexual and don’t tell them that I think it’s sin, am I being honest with them? If I love them when they get pregnant and stand by them when they go to the abortion clinic, and never tell them that I think that abortion kills the baby, am I partially guilty? an accomplice?
What I’m trying to say is this: We must love, but we must also be honest. When Christ met the woman caught in adultery and her accusers left, He showed love by not condemning her, but he should justice by telling her to go and sin no more. Certainly Jesus was concerned about the heart. Definitely He loved people. He also drove people out of the temple with a whip made from His belt, called the religious leaders of the day “white washed tombs”, “brood of vipers”, etc. There was a time and a place that Jesus took a stand against sin, and yet showed love to the sinner.
And that’s the problem I have with this church. Saying “I still believe all these things” and yet acting a different way is a mixed message. It sends the message that the church thinks you’re all right as you are– come here and you don’t have to change. It also implies that those churches that take a stand against sin are wrong. It says, “We’re the true church, and those guys aren’t.” Not exactly a message that speaks unity to the body of Christ– just the opposite. It says to the body that it’s more important what outsiders think about the body than the internal unity.
Remember what Jesus said about the church– They will know that we are Christians by the love we have for each other in the body. That’s where I think that we need a lot more work.
No, you shouldn’t be sorry. I’ll have nothing to write about if you all decide to be loving, caring, tolerant, forgiving, and accepting. Leave all that “liberal Christianity” stuff to the United Church of Christ or the Unitarians.
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