Politically Correct Christianity

Recently I was at a meeting of Christian singles and the subject came up about a survey of Christians that showed a serious majority believed Christianity was not the only way to heaven.  What surprised me was that some members of the group there at the meeting held the same view.  Some even held other views on homosexuality and sex outside of marriage that were not in keeping with the traditional Christian views that such behaviors were outside of God’s best plan for us.  They justified their positions on these issues by saying that God made homosexuals or that humans have changed over the centuries. I found that position of what I’ll call “Politically Correct Christianity” to be surprising…especially since they said it was even apparently being preached from some mainstream pulpits.

I have repeatedly said here on this blogsite that we need to recognize that we all fall short of God’s expectations for us.  Lying, stealing, murder, adultery, etc. are committed by most all of us, and we still consider ourselves Christians and heaven bound.  Those who are homosexuals or follow another faith or are having sex outside of marriage are no worse than I am and are welcome in my church.  But for me to say that there is no mistake in what they do is un-Biblical…just as wrong as saying that what I do that falls short of God’s expectations is not wrong.  We have an obligation to at least try to live into the expectations of God.  Saying they are no longer “sins” is not the answer.  Part of showing love to one another is the “tough love” of correcting when something is wrong and is done for the benefit of the one corrected.  Yes, I know that many Christians are prone to the idea that “Grandpa God” is just all loving and never would punish anyone, but that idea just doesn’t agree with anything Jesus said.  I’m going to let God be God and do what he deems proper.  I have enough trouble being myself, I don’t need to try to be God and make up my own rules and outcomes.

A very good friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous put it this way much better than I can:

“I agree with you, first we must let God be God.  When a person expresses a belief that conflicts with accepted biblical truth, it has to do with what they want rather than what's in God's word. For a Christian to say that God lets anyone from any faith into heaven, trivializes Jesus' sacrifice for us, ignores the righteous judgment of God, and asserts self-centered disobedience.

We are all disobedient. What's amazing is that the only sin that God regards as unforgivable is the absolute rejection of God and his offering of forgiveness through Jesus. We must realize how petty, selfish and independent we are. We must humble ourselves and cease to believe that we know better than God. We must not believe that we have all the answers and do not need the instruction of God's word. We must not try to redefine God's word in an effort to persuade ourselves that we're obedient.

The Bible stresses that the day will come when we'll say that what God has said is wrong, is right, and what God has said is good is wrong.  That seems to be happening now.  I struggle with both issues of homosexuality and sex outside marriage.  For a long time, I've believed that I should tolerate, but not accept, homosexuality.  As Christians, I think that we are not supposed to become comfortable with behaviors that are accepted by current culture but are offensive and unacceptable to God.  I have Christian friends who say "what does it matter" or "I don't care" in regards to homosexuality.  But doesn't Paul make it clear in his writings that the church should be intolerant of behavior that is in opposition to the will of God and which might make the church useless to God? Yet there are many churches that no longer honor the male/female relationship, instead demanding a different definition of marriage. Aren't they attempting to change God's word with the intent of making the church an all-welcoming, all embracing, all tolerating entity?  I don't think the purpose of the church is to be all-inclusive or embracing of all philosophies.”

We are charged to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  That means no matter what their falling short of God’s word encompasses.  But our faith is supposed to change us as much as possible, and to deny that is to destroy our faith and make a mockery of it.