Cabarrus Cheap Seats

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:14-16

Welcome Back

For the 17 days that I have not as much as touched this blog, plenty of things happened. I got all sorts of projects completed at work and at home, spent some time with the family, and got ready for the late July arrival of Baby Thibault. I read a lot of blogs, kept up with the news, and even caught a few of Harold Smith’s mindless rants while I enjoyed my hiatus. There was, however, one news article which caught my attention: N.C. Baptist toughens policy against gay members

We are Family

Let me clear up a few things before I really start torquing people. I am not gay and I am not Baptist. So, I’m approaching this as an outsider. I’m also not trying to take a “holier than thou” approach to this situation. The reason I’m not gay is, has, and will most likely always be obvious to me: I’m a guy that likes women and we’ll just leave it there.

The reason I’m not Baptist is that throughout my life, I always found myself at another church (Wesleyan Methodist, Methodist, Assembly of God, Non-Denominational, etc.) - I chalk that up entirely to happenstance. The reason is that there are a good number of Baptists that I deeply admire and respect; and who have challenged me professionally, personally, and spiritually. So many, that it would be difficult for me to make sweeping generalizations. Because the Baptist Convention is the largest Christian organization in North Carolina and the third largest in the Southeast - it’s important that other Christians appreciate how this affects outreach efforts and perception of Christians nationwide. Also, this policy should be looked at against the New Testament.

The Deadliest Sin?

First off, there is a certain amount of clarity about this in the Bible: homosexuality is a sin. Romans 1 covers that pretty well. There are those who would like to water that down and I’ve heard some different perspectives. However, there are a plethora of other sins with varying degrees of damaging consequences. For some reason, you don’t hear the North Carolina State Baptist Convention attacking the evils of child abuse, alcoholism, adultery - all of which I’m sure are more prevalent in any given congregation than homosexuality. However, a statement of full repentance from these specific sins are not enumerated in any statement necessary for membership.

To counter this, The reasoning given by board President Don Warren is that they “…are not aware of any other sin that has a national organization that promotes its happening beginning in kindergarten and first grade”

Really?

Kids in church don’t pick up sinful behavior like greed by watching their parents passing the offering plate without putting in their tithe? I’m sure that every Christian home is free of movies that promote extra-martial sex and don’t have one example of a protagonist resolving anger in a violent way? And I know that no church would ever tolerate any parent who may have made an empty threat and therefore lied to their own children.

Modern-Day Pharisees

Most churches are just collections of Christians who were raised as Christians, whose parents were raised as Christians, etc. We want to sit next to people who look like them. So, we build community centers in the middle of bad neighborhoods and send money in to “take care of others”. We drop a $5 in the offering plate when the missionaries speak. We volunteer in the bake sale to raise a little money to fix up some part of the church. We do what we’ve been told we’re supposed to do - and not a bit more. Most Christians don’t get all cleaned up to go to church on Sunday to sit next to someone who makes them uncomfortable. We don’t really welcome those who are truly hurting, whose lives have been consumed by the strive that is full-grown sin.

How might the policy of keeping out the undesirables be implemented? Well, I saw a video from the United Church of Christ which may explain how it would work:

The State Baptist Convention policy on gays may be incongruent with the Spirit of the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles; but it fits in pretty well to Christianity as it is generally practiced around here. Most church growth comes from families which already have a Christian tradition. More churches are closing than opening. We don’t like to get asked to actually participate in outreach or to volunteer; but would rather remained cloistered in padded pews and middling piety. So, we get the leadership we deserve. The leaders of most denominations appear to make preserving influence a priority than seeing that their congregants are equipped to do the work of God. We are called to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth…instead, we’re fighting this faction or another to gain influence under the auscipes of millions of congregants who earnestly want to do right by their church and by their God. This power to change our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world is literally dying on the vine as resources are being wasted on infighting, schisms, and politics - the church leaders who let this happen will answer to God for their negligence. Instead of being agents of the Gospel, we are becoming conscripts in a contrived “War of Values”.

It’s easy to read this article as a non-Baptist and tell yourself, “Well, that’s just the Baptists”. It isn’t. We, as Christians, are experiencing a crisis of leadership that is costing not just us; but our communities. Unless Christians face the reality that we live in a dying world and congregations are inspired to make sacrifices of their time and resources to support outreach efforts and invite those who have been recently shunned from our fellowship - within a generation our church buildings will be sarcophagi of a once hopeful church and monuments to a past dedication to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.