Humility Is Disarming In This Culture
Thursday, May 14, 2009 Labels: evangelicals, sin 3 commentsWritten by Dave Burchett
Once the word gets out that I am a practicing “evangelical,” I get lots of comments about the church. I hear about hypocrites in the church and about national leaders whose lives fall far short of their rhetoric. A lot of the comments are true. So how do you handle those accusations? Ideally you can reach a point where you can explain the Christian theology of original sin and that redemption is only because of Christ and not because of works. But the old bumper sticker argument that “I am not perfect . . . just forgiven” is not a compelling defense for those who don’t understand the gospel and who witness the daily shortcomings of Christians.
I thought about a church in my town that decided last fall to own up to their failures. They made a bold decision to confess in humility and see what might happen.
The headline in an ad that ran in The Dallas Morning News screamed out in big, bold letters:
We Were Wrong
We followed trends when we should have followed Jesus. We told others how to live but did not listen ourselves. We live in the land of plenty, denying ourselves nothing, while ignoring our neighbors who actually have nothing. We sat on the sidelines doing nothing while AIDS ravaged Africa. We were wrong; we’re sorry. Please forgive us.
That is a powerful and sobering admission. I was shocked. And I was greatly encouraged by the courage and the humility needed to admit such an embarrassing message to the public.
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I can't help but think that part of the reason we are struggling against the homosexual community is because too many churches refuse to take a biblical attitude toward sex and marriage. A lot of churches are quick to forgive serial divorces and adultery, but treat homosexuality as something that is far worse when, in fact, the Bible draws no distinction between the two as capital sexual sins in the Old Testament.
Churches need to teach the Torah as much as the Gospel so that their congregations can learn what grace actually means. I think when they are forced to hear that adulterers were executed alongside homosexuals, it might change a few tunes.
We admit those things, and more, every Sunday in our corporate confession of sin.
I think it would do us all to realize that sin is our condition and not something that we step into and out of like so much doggy stuff.
But then again, this really isn't so much about us, but the One who came and "died for us while we were yet sinners."
Ahhhh the church, and organization of sinners, is going to struggle with sin. Even though they may be redeemed, to say there is no struggle would be a lie.
I agree that it takes guts to fess up when there's fessin' to be done; sometimes that will feel like the easy part when faced with making changes.
In the end, I believe they did what God wanted them to do, and if I was lived there and looking for a church, I would check into that one.