Justin's Lengthy and Unsolicited Opinion, Episode Two

Justin’s Lengthy and Unsolicited Opinion, Episode Two- now lengthier, and with anecdotes!

Well, really episode five hundred and something, more likely, but I’ve just started numbering them, so we’ll go with two.

A Tale of Four Christians

Yes, there is an actual story here, but first some background and scriptural stuff.

The genesis of this essay lies in a comment from my friend Ori’s FB wall where he reposted my first L&UO regarding homosexuality and the Church. It was a great discussion, but I eventually walked away due to internet argument fatigue (yes, even I am susceptible). One of the commenters there opined that shunning open and unrepentant homosexuals would be an appropriate and scripturally sound policy on the church’s part.

This individual’s argument, troubling as many of you may find it, is not without basis in the Bible. Amongst other passages, 1 Corinthians Chapter 5, Romans Chapter 16, 2 Thessalonians Chapter 3 and 2 John Chapter 1 all indicate that followers of Christ should avoid the socializing with unrepentant sinners.

The low hanging fruit would be to point out that the church, to avoid a great big plank in its own eye, would also have to ferret out and shun everyone who hadn’t repented of greed, drunkenness, idolatry (and keep in mind, there are far more subtle and varied forms of idolatry than dancing naked around a golden statue), and all other forms of sexual immorality. That argument hardly proposes a solution, though, and this fellow’s opinion might be that the church should do just that, so let’s not linger here.

Tangentially, it is important to note that some of these passages refer specifically to other Christians who are flagrantly immoral, and not necessarily unbelievers, in 1 Corinthians 5:12 (ESV), Paul writes, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?”

In 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 Paul notes of sinners, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” And in Galations 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” I don’t think I need to number the occasions Jesus reclaimed those who were lost. Clearly, grace abounds.

I do not mean that these scriptures contradict each other- they don’t. I mean (and this should be no surprise to anyone who is trying to live a Christian life outside a hermitage) that there is always a tripartite tension between standing up for what is right, allowing room for those that have strayed to return to the fold and trying not to stray yourself in the process.

I believe this is God’s intention for Christian life to balance and strengthen our own faith and convictions with patience and compassion for others. You have to do all three at once or you’re not doing it right. Pro-tip: None of us is doing it right, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing your best.

Which brings me to Lassen Union High School, just before the turn of the century.

As a teenager, I was utterly assured that the collection of Hebrew mythology known as the Bible was no more real than the fantasy novels I devoured and not as fun to read (except for the stretch from Joshua capturing the promised land to the reign of Solomon, those chapters make Game of Thrones seem tame).

If there was an intelligent Prime Cause, a possibility I grudgingly conceded, why would He/She/It favor some random Semitic tribe of sheep herders with the ONLY spiritual truth over, say, the ancient Egyptians or the Athenians or the Han Chinese? It seemed too random to countenance.

Being in love with the sound of my own voice (some things never change), I was not shy about my opinion on religious matters.

The first eponymous Christian of this tale is a girl I will not name. We traveled in many of the same circles because of honors classes and other nerdy school things. We were, if not friends, then friendly acquaintances.

Right up until the day she told me with smug assurance that I was going to hell, as were all my other atheist, agnostic and Mormon friends and family. There was no sorrow, no regret, no hint of empathy, not even the faintest echo of, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” just the self-righteous satisfaction that she was the elect, favored by God over her fellow man. In retrospect and fairness, I’m sure I had antagonized her as well in that conversation, so she probably deserves a little more slack than I’m cutting her, but that was the impression I received.

Regardless, have you any idea how easy an interaction like that makes it for a prideful young person to dismiss your beliefs? Oh yeah, not only do you believe some bronze age nonsensical fairy tale with talking snakes and donkeys, you’re also a bunch of uppity A-holes.

The second and third Christians I will name. They are my dear friends, Jake Hosier and Stacy Reger. They were far from my only Christian friends. In fact, I remember a few theological discussions with Anthony Prince, who is now a pastor, and my friends Joseph Turner and Beau Haertling were never ashamed of their Mormon faith. That’s hardly an exhaustive list of Christian friends in my high school.

But Jake and Stacy were the closest friends I had in that phase of my life. Jake stayed at my house so frequently that my parents might as well have had joint custody of him. Stacy is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a sister and was my confidant through the now-trivial problems of adolescence as well as the genuinely dark days that followed high school.

When the subject came up, and when you’re that close it does pretty frequently, neither gave up an inch on their faith. Neither of them nerfed the scripture to make me more comfortable. Neither of them made me feel like they loved me one iota less for not sharing their belief.

Predictably, I’m the fourth Christian from the title. Why I came to accept Jesus in college after an adolescence of unbelief and merry debauchery is another story. Suffice it to say, I had a personal, internal and revelatory experience in which God made it clear to me it was time to accept or deny Him. I accepted Him, and I struggle to keep accepting Him every day.

Afterwards, I saw the hypocrisy of painting Christianity with one broad brush because of the Self-Righteous Girl and her ilk when I’d had many Christian friends who were absolutely wonderful to me, despite my unbelief and the fact that I was, well, am, a smartass, opinionated little jerk sometimes.

As I said, grace abounds.

Furthermore, I recognized that those friends, and especially Jake and Stacy, were given to me as examples of how to interact with friends and loved ones who do not believe without compromising my faith. Even though I was never swayed during those teenage conversations, their conduct and words stayed with me, laying a piece of a foundation I didn’t know existed. Truly, they prepared the way of the Lord.

All this to say, when you interact with others, you don’t know what’s going to stick. My brothers and sisters in Christ, only God can save a soul, it’s true. But when you face the maker of Heaven and Earth, would you rather be the one who planted a mustard seed or gave an unbeliever pause to consider Christianity in a more positive light through your deeds and words, or the one who pushed them away through being a self-righteous douchebag?

Sin is sin, in a spiritual sense no one sin is worse than another, but my spiritual state was arguably much worse than a homosexual Christian’s. I wasn’t just engaging in sinful behavior, I was in utter and total rebellion against God. And yet those who had patience and empathy with me, without surrendering their own faith, were the ones who mattered in the end.

So am I saying we can ignore all those pesky passages about staying out of the company of unrepentant sinners?

No. It’s the Word of God, we don’t get to ignore any of it. We wrestle with every jot and line or we’re not being faithful.

Yet another pro-tip, all of us are unfaithful sometimes, just repent and get your ass back on the wagon. Read the bible, most of the folks depicted in it made a career of doing just that.

Third pro-tip, the scripture is inerrant, your understanding of it is not. That’s why I say we wrestle with it, always invoking the aid of the Holy Spirit.

Two things to consider here- whether we’re talking about homosexuality or some other sin, many people have not accepted Christ and your shunning isn’t going to have much effect on them, if anything, it will simply make any steps towards faith and salvation more difficult.

And two, all followers of Christ have ongoing sin in their lives. Every last one of us, it’s why Christ’s intercession is foundational. Try as we might, we cannot earn our salvation. Kick out everyone who has a sin they haven’t repented of yet and the sanctuary is going to be mighty empty come Sunday.

So when do you shun? In my opinion, you shun when you have talked, and ministered, and reproofed and loved as much as you possibly can and there is nothing left for you to do in that person’s life. When that person becomes a temptation or a poison, which is not to say merely a challenge, to your faith. When the only likely result of your relationship is damage- then you shun.

It’s not an easy answer, it requires case by case judgment and we, as “rational” Westerners, break into hives at such subjective criteria, but if you do not engage with unbelievers and Christians whose interpretation you disagree with, you’re not doing much to spread the Word.

And engagement isn’t just flinging bible verses from across the room hoping that they’ll stick. It’s relational and requires actual empathy, not just judgment. Don’t ever change God’s word in an effort to be popular or PC, but don’t forget that you are talking to another human being and, whether they have acknowledged it or not, another child of God. No matter how screwed up they are, God loves them and would have them come home. You can't lie to get them there, but a browbeating or cold shoulder may not move them along the road, either.

Yeah, I know, the guy who killed people for ten years for a living is lecturing you on empathy. Empathy was the primary reason I took and kept that profession as long as I did in the first place, but that is yet another essay.

Finally, even if you're really good about this, even if you are extremely careful about separating sinner from sin in your dialogue, people are still going to call you stupid, backwards, ignorant and bigoted for holding to the scripture- but you will know you're doing your best to love God and love your neighbor. More importantly, God will know.

Thus ends the rant. I’m no theologian, but I hope I have given you something to think about and maybe a small chuckle or two along the way. Peace be with you.