A Difference of Opinion

Like many others, I became fascinated with the Sundance Channel special, "One Punk Under God;" a documentary account of Jay Bakker (the son of former PTL leaders Jim and Tammy-Faye Bakker) and the church he founded (Revolution Church).

A good bit of the story becomes centered on how it affected Jay's church when he decided to proclaim that homosexuality is not a sin. Specifically, funding started to dry up, speaking invitations started to disappear, and several members left. Internally, he and other leaders of the church began to argue about the issue, and some tension appeared. The decision was made to "agree to disagree" on this and several other issues.

I was intrigued by the story of this community of believers (I had read Jay's book a while back), so I made my way over to the bulletin board sponsored by the church. I have been in a wonderful dialogue with the people there ever since. It is an incredible community, filled with people who have a variety of different "takes" on things, including many different opinions about homosexuality.

There is a contradiction in the church in Midian that I have been thinking about since my exposure to Revolution. That contradiction involves how we deal with differences of opinion. Most of the time, when faced with theological disagreement, we shrug it off. When was the last time a member of a church was shown the door for believing in transubstantiation? When was the last time a member of the church knew what transubstantiation actually was?

The disagreements that seem to separate the Body of Christ much more often are sins of the flesh. Drinking, dancing, fornicating, the three big "no-no's" in many fundamentalist circles, are significantly more divisive, these days, than justification controversies or canon debates.

What happens when the fornicators, drinkers, and Solid Gold dance team shows up in the front pew and refuses to leave? What happens after you tell them to "sin no more" and they "sin no less." Where in the church's life does it need to be fully accepting of different opinions on personal holiness, and when does it need to clean house?

As is probably not too surprising, this problem isn't new. In fact, well before we started sweating the "emerging church" here in Midian, the Apostle Paul was dealing with the headaches from the Church in Corinth. Much of his first epistle to the Corinthians deals with this difficult balance between accepting and rejecting; exercising good judgment, without being judgmental; rebuking with love instead of loving to rebuke.

It is a delicate balance....Grace is freely-given to all sinners (whether they are good enough to keep their sins secret or not); but, true faith is also transformative ...if the faith is not challenging you to lead a better life, can it really be the Spirit that you are responding to?

In building a Christian community in Midian, we have to keep in mind both sides of that balance....

One side of that balance is in Paul's letter to the Corinthians states in chapter 9:

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

The other side to that balance comes in chapter 13 of the same letter:

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Keeping an even keel means guiding people to a true transformative faith with a spirit of love...and it is no easy task. It just happens to also be the single most important thing we ever do in life....