For Forgiven
Submitted by Bach on February 16 2001 11:10:31
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Hi Forgiven, I followed your thread with Ford down below, and I decided to bring my comments up to the top of the board in order to broaden any possible discussion. In this context [The context of The Fall, and Christ's redemption], the role of the church is to proclaim the possibility of forgiveness, and help people to live as they should in the kingdom that God is bringing into being. But it is all predicated on a desire to live as God requires - because that is what makes possible God working in our lives to change us as he wants. .... Meanwhile true holiness is extremely rare. As a result we have generally lost sight of what the extremes are really about, and we don't take them seriously. One of the responses to this is the commitment to being 'non-judgemental' - and as a result a lot that is wrong continues unchallenged unless it happens to be unfashionable (e.g. BL); adultery is a good example of something which hardly raises an eyebrow these days, despite the enormous damage that it does. I agree with most, if not all, of your assumptions in the post I linked below. I especially appreciate the paragraphs I quoted above. It seems to me that these are universal truths, despite the fact that as a "so-called liberal" Christian, you and I should be very far apart on what it means to apply "Biblical Judgement" on our brothers and sisters. It always amazes me when Christians rant about homosexuality and the "gay lifestyle", but seem to ignore the masses of churchgoers who engage in premarital sex... They have their blinders on. And this fact is the main reason I consider the church's objection to homosexuality to be more based in societal culture than biblical basis. Because when they choose to ignore teachings in the Bible... love your enemy, etc... they disregard Jesus' words, but when it suits them, they are ready to point to obscure and debatable passages to fit in with society's expectations. True prophetic teaching such as that of Dr. Martin Luther King don't come very often... In any case, I wanted to discuss judgement because I think your problem with "non-judgementalism" likely comes out of some misunderstandings about what I mean by the term... and I have perhaps never clarified my own positions... for instance, does the fact that I sit on the Free Spirits Committee mean that I condone everything that gets written on BoyChat? Of course not. But neither do I sit in judgement of participants at BoyChat. Why not? Because I believe that accountability happens in very specific circumstances where we are called to voice our opinions in a way which respects all parties who are involved in the communication. This faith community of CBF implies that we will hold our brothers accountable for their actions. Does this mean we will judge a brother who has committed a terrible crime harshly? I hope not. I hope that with God's Grace we can forgive and continue to support and love this brother, even as we do not condone his actions. Despite the fact that we are horrified by something he might have done, we do not judge him in the sense that God calls us to love him unconditionally, just as He loves us. [I will leave my references in the above paragraph cryptic for security reasons, please bare with me if you didn't understand.] When God talks about how we are to take the plank out of our own eye first, I believe he is setting up the frame of reference for how we are to judge others. This does not mean that we are indifferent to sin, but it *does* mean that we are called to continue to treat others with respect and dignity. If only the Christian Church would do that with boylovers... Christian Boylove Forum is an excellent place to use this kind of nonjudgement. We do not immediately jump on new posters, but rather welcome them into the family. And when we see brothers taking steps in directions that concern us, I sincerely hope that God calls us to intervene and express our concern. God asks us to be part of one another's lives so His Spirit and Grace can work in my heart and yours, making us ever more perfect from one Glory to the next. Peace of Christ, Bach |
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