Decisions, decisions

August 13, 2007 by David.

I came across this article today:

Church cancels gay vet’s memorial

To be blunt, it ticked me off. One of the things I’ve become hyper-sensitive to is the increasing tendency of churches to subtly judge people while masking it in the disgusting phrase “hate the sin, love the sinner.” I want to remind these people that the man that God himself called “a man after God’s own heart” (King David for those who’re wondering) was also an adulterer, a conspirator and reigned over one of the bloodiest reigns ever held as a King.

Somehow, the people of the church believe that chanting the incantation of “hate the sin, love the sinner” absolves us of the actual act of judging somebody. It doesn’t. It’s a lazy way of saying “I’m going to judge your life and your circumstances but still pretend to show Jesus’ love to you at the same time. So long as it doesn’t make me uncomfortable with what I believe.”  It’s a cop out. And I’m tired of it.

I’m not commenting about whether or not I believe homosexuality is a sin. That’s another topic for another day. And I’m not commenting on whether a church has the “right” to do what this one has done. This commentary is about the underlying current that is quickly eroding the church.

The idea that we are separate from “those people” is a corrupt, power-mongering, self-righteous viewpoint that is not grounded in the examples that Christ set. Apparently, the church didn’t want to appear to “condone” the lifestyle of this veteran. It didn’t want to give any credence to his life choices. In other words, since this man engaged in sin, the church did not want to have anything to do with honoring him. Forget the fact that he served his country proudly - he was gay, and because of that, we want nothing to do with honoring his bravery.

It makes me want to vomit.

Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of the fact that Jesus was surrounding himself with “those people.” It was the pharisees that would be the ones muttering “we refuse to condone those actions” or “they aren’t following the law.” It was also the pharisees that Jesus himself had very little patience for. He certainly spent no time with them, if he could avoid it. In fact, the group of people that angered Jesus the most was the pharisees. It wasn’t the prostitutes or the lepers or the tax collectors. It was the people who found judgment to be their realm.

And yet, with Jesus clearly showing us what he thought of those who would judge (”let he who is without sin cast the first stone”), we still find ourselves mimicking the one group of people He had a clear disdain for. How stupid are we? We call ourselves Christians but can’t find a way to follow the most basic principles ever set?

The irony in all of this is the fact that I’m judging these people. That fact is not lost me. But, I hope that my judgment is coming from a similar place that came from Christ when he struck back at the pharisees.

I look forward to the day when the church will fully return to the principle that Jesus himself set - to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Decisions, decisions…

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