Thots On Churches That Sin

It’s missed the news stations across the country.  It’s even missed most of the Internet “Christian News” sites like Agape Press and CNSNews.  But the Baptist Press News site didn’t miss it.  There are still major Christian groups taking a solid Biblical stand against embracing sinful behavior in the name of embracing the sinner who practices it.  And that’s just what the book of 1Corinthians was all about – how to love the sinner and hate the sin.

What’s the issue?  The SBTC (Southern Baptists of Texas Convention) recently removed a church that was embracing homosexuals (that’s not so bad) while affirming their lifestyle (that is what’s so bad).  

They departed from the clear biblical teaching before they did that, though, by accepting a woman as pastor.  That’s the result of poor “hermeneutics” – Bible interpretation. You see, God wrote the Bible and Jesus declares that not one jot or tittle (Hebrew punctuation marks) will pass away before heaven and earth does.  That means that not only are the concepts of Divine origin, the words and the PUNCTUATION are as well!  I’ve always said that the Bible declares an elder or pastor to be “the husband of one wife.”  You show me a woman who is the husband of one wife, and I’ll show you a woman with another problem!  God meant “husband” when He said that.

I know that many disagree with me on this, but in so doing, it is not ME you disagree with.  It is the clear teaching of the Scriptures.  We are warned to “rightly divide the Word of truth” in 2Ti 2:15.  That necessarily means there is a way to “wrongly” divide the Word of Truth.  There is no “private” interpretation of the Scriptures, either (2Pe 1:20).  

I wonder why so many people misunderstand the concept “love the sinner and hate the sin.”  Then I realize it’s because it’s not popular, it’s not something the liberal media promotes, and it’s not something that can be done without help from Above.  Until the world and its media embrace the Word of God, it will never become a well-understood approach.  Until I understood that God had the power to separate me from my sins, I thought I WAS my sins.  I believed I was what I did.  If I stole, I was a thief and could not change.  Today, people believe that if you are a homosexual, you are gay and cannot change or be changed.  But the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is in the business of changing people – healing them not only from the guilt of their sin, but from the practice of it.  Jesus often forgave people, and then said to them, “Go and sin no more.”  

IF that church in Texas would only learn to preach that message – “Christ forgives you, now go and sin no more” – I truly believe that the SBTC would reinstate them, embrace them, and support them.  It would mean that the church would have to set the example by not merely preaching that message – but take the lead and do it: ask the Lord to forgive them for embracing a woman pastor, sinning no more by repenting and putting a man in their pulpit.

It happens all too often – when churches will not follow God’s recipe for leadership, they soon fall to all sorts of biblical compromise and ultimately depart altogether from the Bible.  It is an observable phenomenon that happens without fail.  I’ve seen it time and again.  They call it progress, but God calls it sin.  Such churches need to repent, ask forgiveness and “go and sin no more” as much as the people they are called to reach.