After watching the two minute video below, I posted this quick note:
Why did he leave out bestiality, polygamy, and pedophilia? Inerrancy is not a slippery slope, but this sure seems like one.
As one who had a friend who died of AIDS, sees myself as no less fallen than gay people, I nevertheless still think it is a sin. The church has not ministered well to gay people which is a serious problem, but the course correction is not to condone the sin.
Several years back I had a conversation about spiritual growth with a close friend. Ben was bemoaning the fact that churches generally give little input to parents on getting their teenagers ready for adulthood.
I agreed with Ben, but told him there is an underlying problem–the dominant model of Christian growth in so-called conservative churches is behavioristic. In other words, we mainly focus on people keeping their spiritual noses clean, and the way we do this is by having them jump through various hoops (read programs) we are have set up as indispensable.
These programs (they no longer feel like ministry) tend to promote disembodied principles rather than appreciating the metaphor of a journey or pilgrimage. Granted, there are many invaluable principles to remember, but the Christian life should not be reduced to them. Complexities which get reduced to simplicities where it is not warranted are labeled by philosophers as “reductionistic.” It seems evangelical America is guilty of a dangerous form of spiritual reductionism.
A journey or pilgrimage with its many twists and turns takes into consideration the uncertainties of life. It also underscores, as Will Willimon likes to say, “a richer, thicker Chrisitan life.” It further reminds us, as John Bunyan did so well in The Pilgrim’s Progress, that every Christian’s path of growth has challenges and opportunities for growth which are unique. And that is indeed a refreshing truth amidst cookie-cutter approaches to Christian growth!
A few weeks back I preached a sermon on Ecc. 1 and 2 in three consecutive services. The average age was about 65. Departing from my notes, I closed the third service by reminding all of us of the truth in Ecc. 9:4 that it is better to be a “live dog rather than a dead lion.”
You can hear my sermon here:
I am sure many of you will remember the famous anti-Vietnam song which was first sung by The Temptations.
Syria got me thinking about whether the song was correct in saying war is good for “absolutely nothing.”
It is maddening navigating with wisdom in a chaotic, confused, and fallen world.
No doubt there are issues of justice and charity to grapple with when it comes to grotesque events like the war in Syria, but what are we as Americans to do?
I am not so sure our overall philosophy (do we even have one?) of military might is the right one.
I am not a full-blown pacifist, but I do think we get involved militarily in far too many wars. Precious resources, most prominently human life, get squandered far too often.
Perhaps a debate about our overall philosophy is due, an extended conversation where Americans from all parties meet at the table of ideas. Naive I know to dream about such things, but anything shy of it seems to perpetuate the problem we regularly find ourselves in: a selective and inconsistent strategy that has us calling on the military when there are other non military options which should have been employed.
What do you think?
