Struggles for Christ
Submitted by Bach on January 25 2002 15:30:30
My post the other day was really "part one" of what should be a long series of thoughts... I'm getting to "part two" today, we'll see if it goes any further than that. Although I did write my thoughts down as a result of the recent tensions here, I did not intend for them to be specifically directed at any singular incident. I felt convicted to say what was in my heart, even though it might make some uncomfortable.
From Forgiven: It is the task of the church to preach the gospel and to encourage her members to move onwards with God. In doing this it is seeking to articulate and reinforce the message that God is seeking to give to the individual. Ideally the work of the church should be exactly that - to bring specific challenges to people exactly where they are; in practice the reality of church life today is that we are seldom close enough to one another to be able to do that. Because the Holy Spirit is with us, and very really present at CBF, we can boldly state that God has commissioned us to proclaim his Gospel message in a special way. We proclaim that message to the Church and to our fellow Christian BLs, as well as to nonChristian BLs and others. God calls us to challenge those within the Church, and those outside it, to love their neighbour - to love boylovers - as much as they love God.
From Forgiven: The holy spirit has bought conviction - now we must offer assurance that despite those sins the person is accepted. The extreme case of this is where in fact there is no work of conviction at all - the person joins / continues in the church because they are all such nice loving people, doing such excellent social work, my children would do so well at the church school... If we love God and our neighbour then we must share the truths that God has revealed in our lives. We are called to tell others of our struggles and our victories. We have a Christian duty to challenge our brothers and sisters in the Church who have lost their convictions. Loving our brothers in Christ does not mean not burdening them with our sexual struggles - it means confronting them with their own fears and prejudices. Love implies relationship, dialogue and real effort. When I told other Christians of my attraction to boys, I had to love them enough to be patient with their questions, and they had to trust God enough to know that I would answer them honestly. From Dakota: If I decide that another person's opinion, whether he be Christian or non-Christian, is not consistent with God's teaching, am I not judging him? Even if I don't ask or expect him to live by that standard because he is not a Christian, am I not still passing judgement? But if I were to not state my position, thereby not offending anyone with my beliefs (or judgements?), I would not be true to my own beliefs, and would actually be lying if I let him believe I didn't think anything was wrong with his beliefs or actions. This is a paradoxal tension. I use the word "paradox" because when I read the Scriptures I find this kind of juxtaposition coming into play in more than one place. Christ was offensive. He absolutely went against the religious authorities and practices of his day. To suggest that love=inoffensive is not consistent with my reading of the Gospels. I think that what I was hoping to convey in the previous post was that if my reference is love, then I am working in a "positive frame of reference". We seek to be truthful with our brothers in Christ because we feel a barrier when we are not able to share our full personhood. How did Christ make his "standards" known? It seems to me that Jesus' style, and Paul's style were quite different in this sense. It is a contrast that I am seeking to resolve in my own journey.
To help us deal with this tension, I think it's helpful to ask, "Does this action bring glory to God?". In my own journey, telling fellow Christians of my attraction to boys made a positive difference in my life, and theirs. Other BLs may not have that experience. I know of some BLs that shouldn't share about their attraction in their church context, and I have no problems with that. In the same way, if we are participating at BoyChat or elsewhere, we should meditate on our reasons for participating, and what we hope to achieve, and whether these goals are bringing glory to God. There is much work to do - many of our brethren are searching and longing for meaningful lives.
From Chris: I believe in my heart that we who are Christians out on the fringe of the social circle are actually today's version of the Gentiles of Jesus' time. I agree! But I think we need to guard against playing the victim in this drama. We shouldn't let ourselves fall into a mindset where we become "the persecuted". God has given us this great gift, this vision to see the world with different eyes. We are to use this gift to lift up others who are on the fringes of Christianity. As God gives us strength to grow and share our journeys, I believe that he will use us to help the Church discover how better to love, with God's help. May the Holy Spirit fill us all with the Peace of Christ, Bach |
Follow ups: