Thursday, June 12, 2008

Love the Sinner - Hate the Sin? How's that Working for Us?

Kudos to Mr. Bill Mefford, director of civil and human rights of the General Board of Church and Society! And may God continue to bless him as he gives voice to the multitude of silent people who simply want to live for God in God's love and sharing that love with others. He wrote the article, "Love the sinner, detest what they do? Not a proud moment for this evangelical" for the UM Reporter. He is also a self-proclaimed evangelical, people I generally shy away from for the very reasons he stated in his article. Specifically,
The truth is that too many evangelicals deny the power of Christ to redeem and transform all of us who have fallen short of God's glory, by denying homosexuals the right to fully serve and contribute in the United Methodist Church. The truth is that too many evangelicals do not love homosexuals and do not wish to see homosexuals experience the love of Christ. Otherwise, they would view homosexuals attending and serving in the church as an exciting opportunity and not as a threat.

Way to go Mr. Mefford! For too long we have stood behind the theological and poliltical labels that woeful fall short of describing the beauty that God created in the divine image and called "good." To paraphrase Galatians 3:28: There is no longer conservative or liberal, there is no longer evangelical or progressive, there is no longer democrat and republican; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

The truth is, if any of us was as all-fired perfect as Rev. Eddie Fox seems to be, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come, because apparently there are other Messiah's already here! My question for Rev. Fox is what sins do you hide in your closet? "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23) Where would we be if we needed to be perfect before we could go to church, serve in the church or go into the ministry.

Don't you think its about time we quit the bickering and began reaching out with the love of Christ?