Saturday, October 21, 2017

Call Sinners To Repentance. Is It Possible Today?


My ecclesiastical home, the UMC, once burned with passion to convert sinners. But sometime in the not so recent past, we abandoned this "intolerant" view of people and embraced what a humanist culture lauded as tolerance. And we did so for a lot of good reasons. Bigotry, racism, sexism, economic realities, language differences all demanded a change in the culture - and the church - from intolerance to tolerance. Jesus ate with sinners. Tolerant? Correct?  And so should we demonstrate assertive tolerance. But tolerance of another's view, life choices, religion, etc. is not the same as endorsement. For example, like Jesus, we need to welcome sinners: addicts, fornicators, whoremongers,  thieves, lying preachers, adulterers, even murderers. But we cannot "tolerate" this as an acceptable deviation from the norm. Like the wheel of a car depends on some tolerance to function properly, too much and the wheels run off the car, and possibly someone is severely injured or killed. Our ecclesiastical tolerance has, in my opinion, reached beyond a safe and functional tolerance or variance. The wheels are coming off. But almost no one seems to notice. Our attitude has become, "Live and let live" [J.C.F. Schiller]
However, people are still lost and broken, perversion still enslaves souls, homes are still destroyed, addictions still rob folks of life, the enemy still destroys, children are still enslaved, church folk still contribute to childhood sexual slavery and so much more. 
But we are a tolerant lot. Open Doors, Open Minds, and Open Hearts, our defining core values today.
Who will call sin a sin and sinners to repentance, other than for the PC value of tolerance and the hideous sin of intolerance? I am afraid, "Tolerance is only another name for indifference" [W. Somerset Maugham]
"He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free," was once our core value. Now: why can't we all just get alone? The Savior bruised the head of the serpent.  Quite intolerant. John 3:16 exists because of God's love being intolerant of our doomed and damned lives. "Red and Yellow Black and White, they are precious in his sight." We sang it but didn't live it. So we MUST be tolerant. But the Lord who loves us all hates sin so much the only remedy was the cross. Is that the cross Jesus called us to bear. If so, does it call us out of our pretentious vestments, prosperous pulpits, useless committees and boards, archaic and irrelevant worship, endless continuing education, and passionless living to seek and save the lost? No. We will remain content with "Openess," whilemthe church and the world fall into the grip of sin. The church!s sin: passionate tolerant irrelevancy.  But we do have nice vestments and pretty flowers in the altar. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, to seek and save the lost. But that is so intolerant, to "label" anyone as a sinner or lost. However, I am grateful the Holy Spirit is unfettered by our PC limitations. He still convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgement. And I get to see the captives being set free!


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