Last week’s election here in Iowa has ignited quite the firestorm. All of the typical races (governor, senators, congressmen) took a backseat to the judicial retention vote. For those of you living under a rock (spoiler alert) all three of the Iowa supreme court justices lost their seats. The retention vote came as quite a shock to most people, even the people who voted no on retention. It’s stirred intense conversation across the state, even the nation. I’ve had a couple of conversations with friends and coworkers, and wanted to take some time to write out why I voted no.

To start out, I voted no on all the judges up for retention. This includes the three supreme court justices down to the lower court justices. That’s the what, now here is the why. Judicial arrogance. Those in favor of retaining the justices have said that it’s wrong to not retain judges based on just one issue. Not only is this presumptuous, it’s short-sighted. The reason I voted no on retention is because I don’t believe that the end justifies the means. How you arrive at a conclusion is just as important as the conclusion itself. Even if I agreed that their ruling on DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) was right (which I don’t, and we’ll get to that later) you can’t circumvent the whole legislative branch by using justices to make laws.

Now this is where it gets tricky. Those in favor of the justices striking down DOMA argue that the justices were just doing their jobs by ruling that DOMA was unconstitutional. They say that DOMA took away the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry. That’s simply not true. DOMA didn’t take away rights at all. Those rights (the right for two people of the same gender to marry) have never existed before. It wasn’t as if Iowa and the rest of the United States were in the throes of gay marriage and DOMA came along and took that away. DOMA was a bi-partisan bill that sought to clarify that marriage is between one man and one woman. People understood what was coming our way, and DOMA was put in place to say, “Hey, just so we’re all clear, one man, one woman, that’s marriage”. People may not agree with DOMA, but the fact is that it didn’t take away pre-existing rights, and it was passed with bi-partisan support in the legislature.

Why is that important? Because what the justices did was not merely strike down an unconstitutional law, but the replaced it with a new law. It wasn’t like DOMA required the LGBT community to wear purple armbands in public, and the justices struck down that law. They struck down the ban on gay marriage and made gay marriage legal. They made a new law. If your going to make and enact a new law, that has to go through the legislative branch. Making new laws by declaring old ones “unconstitutional” is all the rage now. What started with Roe vs. Wade has snowballed, and now if you want to make laws you don’t sign up to be a congressman or senator, you become a judge. That is the judicial arrogance I’m talking about. It’s this attitude that they know better than the American people do, so they’ll make our decisions for us. The end doesn’t justify the means, and the fact that seven people can overturn a bill passed with bi-partisan support should concern you. The constitution was designed with a system of checks and balances, and even if you agree with overturning the ban on gay marriage, it’s clear that there aren’t enough checks & balances in place when justices can make new laws on a whim. What last week’s election had to say about this whole situation is not merely that a majority of iowans do not support gay marriage, but that they were willing to exercise the only check and balance they felt they had left at their disposal, their vote. You may not agree with with the outcome of last week’s election, but you have to respect the process. The three justices who lost their jobs didn’t, and that’s why they were handed an early retirement.

For if you live according to the flesh YOU WILL DIE, but if by the Spirit you PUT TO DEATH the deeds of the body, YOU WILL LIVE.

Romans 8:10 (ESV)

This verse is the story of my journey. Its the story of my past, and will inevitably be the story of my future. I am living proof that it is wholly possible to come to Christ and yet still live according to the flesh. There are two paths: death now and life after, or death now and after. I came to realize that Christ was my savior when I was in the tenth grade. I had always grown up in church, I knew about the bible, I sang worship songs and I occasionally prayed. But while I was externally religious, I was internally devious. That part of my nature had not disappeared. Indeed, it was waiting for the right opportunity. My journey is one all too common in the american church. One of attempted behavior modification. I say attempted because behavior modification can never produce holiness. Only God can. Behavior modification (or the more historic term ‘legalism’) almost completely destroyed me. It was through my involvement in the Church of all places. It’s taken me a couple of years to recover (I’ve detailed that journey extensively on this blog). What is clear to me now is that only God can save.

What’s ironic to me is that I grew up singing all these songs about how I’m a sinner and I need Jesus. Yet, practically, even as I was singing those songs I believed I could live the Christian life on my own. I could force myself to become holy. The reality as I have come to experience it is this: I only have the power to destroy myself. We live in such a humanistic culture that says to us, “You can do anything you set your mind to”. It’s a lie. We as humans are capable of one thing on our own: Death. Physical death, emotional death, relational death, and ultimately, spiritual death. Look around, can we honestly say that the human race is better off than it was 2,000 years ago? I get it, none of us wants to need a savior. We don’t even like it when someone pays for our food at a restaurant. But we all NEED a savior because none of us innately has an ability to restore life other than Jesus.

And its not like this is that complicated. There’s a difference between complicated and difficult. Grace is an easy concept but hard to practice. Romans 8:10 is telling us that a life of behavior modification is death. Pure unadulterated death. However, it goes on to say that if we put to death the flesh and live by the spirit, we will indeed live. This is grace. To live by grace means to understand that we could not save ourselves, and as a result, we have a duty to give up our “rights”. Our rights to pleasure, our rights to prosperity, our rights to privilege, our rights to live as we please. As Paul says in one of is letters, we are to share in Christ’s crucifixion.

Its not easy, but its also not complicated. The call is clear: Pick up your cross and put to death the flesh. It won’t be easy, in fact, it will be impossible. But thats exactly why God promised to carry us onto completion.

Well, to say its been a while is a gross understatement…

I don’t know if anyone reads this blog, or if this is displayed anywhere else, but I had an itch to blog and figured I’d scratch it.

Today the Iowa supreme court decided that it should rewrite our constitution to allow same-sex marriage. I’m sure there are lots of ongoing discussion about this politically, but im not concerned with politics, im concerned about morality. It matters to me what God thinks about all of this.

A couple of years ago, I went on this idealist road trip to doctrinal hell. Its a place where Jesus loves everybody, where the things we don’t have answers for, you just make excuses for. I actually had a blog post on same-sex marriage where I argued that the Church shouldn’t try to hinder same-sex marriage. I was dead wrong. God is very clear about what constitutes good stewardship of the sexuality he has given to us. One man + one woman = marriage = family. Everything outside of this setup is sin, its outside of God’s plan. Pornography is sin. Extramarital sex is sin. Premarital sex is sin. Lust is sin. Homosexuality is sin. Incest is sin. There are some things that the Bible doesn’t mention specifically, homosexuality is not one of them. Its quite clear in its presentation of God’s opposition to anything outside of marriage between one man and one woman.

Does sin anger anyone anymore? Today’s supreme court decision was saddening. But I think what upsets me more is when Christians call this day a good day. You know, I get it. We have friends who are homosexual. Homosexuality is very confusing, a lot of times it involves abuse of some sort, its not black and white. This shouldn’t surprise us, thats just the way sin and evil are. Righteousness is simple. Follow Jesus. Sin always makes things confusing. I know this may offend some people, but when we as Christians tell people living a homosexual lifestyle that its ok to live that way, go ahead and date someone of the same sex, we are enabling people in their sin. We are being accessories to murder. Let’s just think about this for a minute, what are we telling people when we tell them, “Well, we know that fighting off homosexual tendencies is hard, so God will understand if you pursue that lifestyle”? We are telling them that homosexuality is stronger than God is. Thats a lie straight from hell. God is way more powerful than any sin or temptation. What we should be telling people is that yes, we know its hard to fight off temptation, especially of a sexual nature, but God IS more powerful, and God wants to deliver people from sin. Thats why He sent His Son to die in our place.

We need to wake up. This isn’t a game. I’ve struggled with lust/porn ever since I was a teenager. A lot of guys do. Just because something is painful and hard to persevere through doesn’t mean we just give up and that its ok with God. We do ourselves and our friends caught in these traps such a huge disservice when we just make excuses. Jesus didn’t make excuses, He offered people a way out. He forgave people and told them to stop sinning. We need to do the same. We need to extend God’s grace to people, but then we need to speak the truth in love. “I know its hard, I know you struggle with this, but God has made a way out for you, stop sinning!” Our culture needs to hear the truth of God’s word, and they need to hear it in love.

This is our task. We must not shrink back from the Bible. We have to know the heart of God. And we have to communicate that to our culture. We are ambassadors, handpicked by God to persuade the people of the nations of the world to join God’s kingdom. Paul tells us in ephesians that we are not waging war against flesh and blood, but against the demons and satan. If you can’t see the intense spiritual battle playing out right now, open your eyes. More lives will be lost unless we suit up and learn how to fight. In Romans, Paul tells us that creation was subjected to futility, by God, and that all of creation is waiting for the day when God will set everything right. Let’s fix our eyes on our God who will come back to this earth and establish his kingdom. On that day, there will be justice. Sin will be done away with. No more abuse, no more disease, no more tyranny, no more failure, no more disappointment, no more evil. As Christians, may we never tolerate sin, but always long for the day when it will be completely destroyed by our great God. That great and awesome day is coming, but until then, we’ve got to take a stand.

¹²Behold, I am coming soon, and I shall bring My wages and rewards with Me, to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own work merit.

¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (the Before all and the End of all)

-Revelation 22:12-13 (AMP)

This will be my last blog post on this particular blog, once again, if you want to know where the new one is, just let me know and I will let you know where it is.

Since I have been reflecting on my last post and the comments that sprang up, and because after all, it is thanksgiving, I thought it was necessary to have this post be about the positive things I experienced while I was involved with GCM. When I first left GCM I didn’t think it was possible that there was anything good that came from my experiences. But I think that was just because for the first time in a quite a while I was giving my mind and heart freedom to vent about things that I had stuffed down. I think deep down I felt victimized. But I should also add, that I was a willing victim. This has been something that has been hard for me to admit. I really just want to blame other people for all my baggage and issues. But really, I put myself in those situations. I could have decided to leave at any time, but I chose to stay. I still think there are unhealthy conditions, but if I’m honest with myself, I chose to stay in those conditions. So, really, if I’m going to point my finger at someone or some entity, I might as well start with myself, because a lot of of the pain I experienced was in some way self-inflicted. This really has to do more with my last post, but I thought it was an important clarification that I needed to make. Ok, on to the good stuff…

Paul in Romans tells us that “all things work together for the good of those that love Him…”. And so I found myself feeling convicted because from that passage its clear that nothing in life can be all bad. God will use any situation and bring some good out of it, so surely there were some good things about GCM and so I began to ponder that and at least try and come up with a few. So here goes!

Ok, the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the positive experiences I had with GCM are the people I met. I seriously have met so many people who genuinely love God and others. I don’t know if I’ve ever consistently seen so many people who are ready and willing to sacrifice their time, energy and resources for those around them. Nate voluntarily gave me a significant financial gift to me when I was in desperate need of financial help. Tony and Kirsten let me stay with them for a semester even though they knew that I was coming out of a pretty hectic time spiritually and did not have totally steady income. Even beyond those experiences that directly affected me, seeing the generosity of others in the Rock was really inspiring. I worked with Dan Cox for awhile, Dan’s servant heart and his generosity amaze me. Unfortunately, I think those types of sacrificial hearts are rare today, but I found it in abundance in Ames.

I think there are a lot of things that GCM champions that are good things. One of those is loyalty. I do think its true that in our fast-moving modern world, the Church has become affected by a lack of commitment from its members. It was cool to see a church who was trying to build strong families and communities. I think there is a balance to everything in the spiritual life. And I think that most of the time when I disagreed with GCM, it wasn’t over what they were doing (generally) but about how they were going about it. But I honestly really did appreciate the emphasis GCM put on having strong families and communities. It was refreshing.

I also really liked GCM’s approach to picking pastors and other church leaders. The idea of picking someone from within the church that the congregation knows makes so much sense! Once again, I think this is a balance issue as well, because all though I think it is good to train pastors up from within, I also think seminary training can be a good thing and can be really helpful in giving church leaders a strong foundation. But nonetheless, I think GCM got it right in this area.

I don’t think you could ever accuse GCM of being idle. I think thats one of the things that attracted me to GCM in the first place. It just seemed like there was such a strong push to be putting your faith to good use. I think that is really evident in the strong desire to be sending off church plants. I’ve been a part of churches in the past where the extent of missions work was when our church had a week long missions conference. But GCM really wanted to be on the front lines! And thats where I think the church should be. There were some things I disagreed with in how they went about planting churches, but as far as their desire to plant churches and to spread the gospel, I think they are right on the money.

So, to wrap this up, Yah, its clear to me that GCM is just not a good fit for me. I need a place where I feel free to be who Christ has made me to be. But my experience wasn’t all bad. And I know it has grown me up in ways that other churches wouldn’t have. I’ve met some amazing people that I hope to remain friends with. I hope that if your a part of GCM or if you aren’t, you experience the fullness of God’s love and mercy.

goodbye friends

Hey All,

I probably should have done this before my last post, but I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this…Im switching to a new blog address. So if you want to know where to find my new blog address leave me a comment. If by some strange chance you enjoy reading my blog and I don’t really know who you are, you can email me at tj.lyttle@gmail.com so I can email you the new address. Thanks!

-TJ

So I before I begin this post allow me to make a few important disclaimers:

1) For those of you who were unaware I have stopped attending Stonebrooke/The Rock.
2) This blog entry and subsequent blog entries may contain my reflections on why I left GCM, and its possible some might find some or all of those thoughts offensive. I realize my blog is still listed on the Rock’s website, and its not my intent to offend people. However, blogging is a really good outlet for me, and I asked about a month ago to be taken off the Rock’s rss feed.

Ok, on to the blogging…

Its been about two months since I decided to leave GCM. I feel like one of those stress relievers. You know the ones that you squeeze and once you let go they slowly return to their normal shape? I feel like I’m starting to return to my normal shape. I’ve thought long and hard about the last three years: the good, the bad, and the impact of both of those on my life. In some ways I feel like I wasted three years. In other ways Im thankful for the lessons I’ve learned, even if they were really painful trials to go through.

A friend of mine told me recently that there are two types of Churches. One kind of church tries to force people into their mold of what they think a Christian should be like. The other type of church comes along side people and helps them realize how to reach their fullest potential in Christ. I feel like I was part of a social control movement. Looking back I can see how I gave up on a lot of my hopes and dreams, and even parts of my personality/character so I could fit in and be accepted by my community. While I’m sure that a lot of my immaturity was worked out of my system, I’m also sure that I threw away pieces of me that God gave me just to be in compliance. While its true that Christ bids us to come and pick up our cross and die to ourselves, I don’t think he wants us to be mindless servants with no personality or joy, and unfortunately, for me, I think thats what my time in GCM led me to become. Since the time I have left GCM I found myself regaining what I lost. Some of my old hopes and dreams, and some new ones too. Its been so refreshing to truly believe that anything is possible and God could actually use me to do great things! It fills me with such hope and excitement, some days I have a hard time containing it! Joy is such an essential part of a healthy Christian life, and I’m glad to see it return.

Looking back I think the number one motivator for me while I was in GCM was fear. I was afraid of my community being embarrassed or ashamed of me. I was afraid of being rebuked. I was afraid that no one respected me, liked me, or really wanted to be around me. This fear paralyzed me, and I think that when we react based on our fear we are a lot more likely to sin, and this is backed up by my experience. I found myself trying to adhere to all these strict systems of conduct. I failed miserably, over and over again. I think one of the biggest examples of this is the whole courting system that GCM embraces wholeheartedly. It seemed like the courting thing was pushed so hard to try and keep people from making mistakes in relationships with the opposite gender. But it seems to me that its not the method you use to find a spouse, but the person who is doing the searching. I think responsible, mature people will be responsible and mature if they are dating or courting. Immature people will be immature even if they are courting. I think the biggest problem I had with courting is that it encourages fantasies. Because inside the system of courting its inappropriate to really get to know the person of the opposite gender that you are attracted to, you just imagine what they are like. At least this is what I did. I really just wanted to spend time with that person and get to know them, but that wasn’t an option. And in the three years that I was attracted to them I was convinced that it was God’s will for us to be together, and looking back I see that I deceived myself. I wanted it so bad, I just lied to myself and after a while, I thought it was the truth. I understand there is a good principle with the whole waiting aspect. But waiting years for a relationship adds way more tension to community life than is necessary. About a month after I left the Rock and had finally decided to give up on the attraction that I had, I met this amazing girl at a party my sister had at her new apartment. I was really attracted to her, and she was really attracted to me. We were honest with each other about our feelings and now we are dating. Were getting to know each other, and having a lot of fun doing it. I didn’t go through screeners or ask 5 of my leader’s permission. I prayed about it and asked her. It was so…easy. And it seems pretty clear to me that it is God bringing us together. It all reminds me of this passage in Colossians 2:

20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21″Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

I think this really sums up my experience. I was trying to follow all these rules and please all these people, but it resulted in me sinning…a lot. Granted, that sin was deep inside of me and needed to be exposed. But my point is that things like courting have no value in restraining sin, they are just man made systems, which may work for some. But what works for everyone is grace, which God gives freely.

And thats why I’m remembering how to smile. I’m remembering how to accept grace. I’m not worried about being a perfect leader, or trying to impress the girl I’m attracted to. I’m not afraid. I feel such freedom to be who I really am and to let God change my heart. I truly feel like God could actually use me, and whats more, that He wants to use me. Im not telling God what He can and can’t do with my life based on my narrow agendas, I’m simply asking Him what He wants me to do, realizing that it could be anything. And its filling me with such a peace and freedom that I haven’t felt in such a long time.

The last several months have brought on a lot of changes into my life, and to be honest, they are all changes I never thought I would even consider, but here I am, and I have considered them. What I’m about to say may come as a shock to some, or may be expected by some. This is just my attempt at being honest and explaining whats going on and why its going on.

I believe that God is leading me to step back from my involvement with the Rock and Stonebrooke. This is hard for me to say, because for the last 3 years I never really thought that was an option. I just always assumed I would always be connected with GCM. I poured myself into my ministry team (Linden) and was really banking on the idea I would spend my life with the people on the team, at least to some extent. I really planned my life around the team and the people on my team.

However, none of my plans were really centered around God or were directed by God leading me. I made the plans I had made in large part because I felt those were the plans I was supposed to make. I feared rebuke and social disapproval should I make other plans. Loyalty is a really big deal in GCM, so I just chose to pour everything into Linden, looking back, it didn’t seem like there was another plausible choice. There were a lot of choices like this that I made. The ministry team, courtship/waiting, deciding what opportunities I would take based on their location, etc. Hear me out, I am not trying to bash GCM. I made my own choices, GCM did not force me to make the choices I did. And while I think a lot of the advice I followed while being a part of GCM is good advice, its not necessarily God’s advice. I think I have been guilty of following seemingly good advice, but not God’s advice. Its become apparent to me that GCM is just not a good fit for me. I have a lot of gifts, talents and desires, but most of them are not very compatible with GCM. I think this explains why I have felt so much friction and tension while being a part of the Rock. And so I think its best to step back and learn how to listen to God’s voice and God’s voice alone.

Although my time in GCM has been difficult and at times painful, I’ve met some people that I care about deeply. I really have come to love so many of you. I just feel that God has a different place and perhaps a different role for me to be in. I believe GCM is full of people who genuinely love God and want to serve Him with all they have. I just want people to know my decision is not based on bitterness, or relational issues. Its strictly based on how and where God is leading me. And it seems that for a time, God has led me to ames and to the Rock, and within the next year or two, He will probably lead me away from Ames.

So allow me to reiterate that I really do love the Rock, and its because I really do care about you guys that has made this decision a hard one to make. Just because I will be stepping back does not mean I don’t care about the Rock, or that I’m not serious about following God or anything like that. I’ll still be around the ames area for at least another year. I’m still planning on taking another trip out to the Rosebud reservation this thanksgiving. It just means my involvement with the Rock will be a lot more casual.

As for whats next, I’m currently trying to find a new job in the Des Moines area. I’ve applied to Wells Fargo and will continue to apply to some other places. I’d like to move to the des moines area probably at the end of the next summer at the latest. Most of all I’m just trying to hear what God wants from me. I really want to know what God wants me to do with my life. I just want to be satisfied in God and God alone. And as we all know, to really pursue such a desire requires great sacrifice. I’m saddened to find myself leaving, but I am filled with hope because as I step out into the unknown I am finding the peace of God. I pray you all are experiencing that same peace.

-TJ

I’ve been listening to a Rich Mullins song lately. It just hits me so incredibly hard each time I hear it. I think thats mostly cuz I feel like the words that Rich wrote and sang in this song perfectly describe the journey of my life, especially in these last few years I have been in Ames. I’ll post the lyrics and then elaborate on what they mean to me.

“Growing Young”

 

I’ve gone so far from my home
I’ve seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
‘Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart

 

And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young

 

I’ve seen silver turn to dross
Seen the very best there ever was
And I’ll tell you, it ain’t worth what it costs
And I remember my father’s house
What I wouldn’t give right now
Just to see him and hear him tell me that he loves me so much

 

And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms

 

And when I thought that I was all alone
It was your voice I heard calling me back home
And I wonder now Lord
What it was that made me wait so long
And what kept You waiting for me all that time
Was Your love stronger than my foolish pride
Will You take me back now, take me back and let me be Your child

 

‘Cause I’ve been broken now, I’ve been saved
I’ve learned to cry, and I’ve learned how to pray
And I’m learning, I’m learning even I can be changed
And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young
Growing young

 

-by Rich Mullins

What can I say? I just really identify with this song. I feel like I have traveled so far from my home, from God. There are a lot of secrets I wish I had never known. I have been wondering if Jesus could have retold the story of the prodigal son to have the prodigal son demand the father’s inheritance and leave for the far-off country so that he could be a better Christian. I feel like thats my story of the last few years. At some point I decided to leave God’s side to strike out on my own to be a better Christian. Or maybe it’s that I had never really found “home” in the arms of God.

I look back at the last three years and I feel a sense of sadness about what I’ve lost. I used to have such passion for God. Lately, I haven’t had much passion. I used to have hope and dreams, some of which were inspired by God. But at some point I think I learned it was prideful and selfish to have my own hopes and dreams, that or it was just too painful when those hopes and dreams got crushed. Sometimes I think its appropriate to look back and mourn the loss of Godly dreams and innocence. I think right now, for me, is a time of mourning in a sense. Im just realizing that there are certain hopes and relationships and my life that may never be resurrected. Its painful to realize that you put your hope in something else besides God, and that it got you nowhere. Its painful to realize that you loved and cared about people, but you’ll never get that back.

But at the same time, I think its also important to look to the future and to have hope. The story of the prodigal son wouldn’t have been a good one if the prodigal son had just mourned his losses and never decided to return home. I love the line in the song where Rich says,

“And I remember my father’s house
What I wouldn’t give right now
Just to see him and hear him tell me that he loves me so much”

I think this is the place I’ve finally come to. The realization that there is NOTHING that will give me joy besides God. Today I was praying and I just asked myself this question: “What truly would make me happy?” I went through my standard set of responses, all of which the world would say are things that give us happiness. Wealth, marriage, sex, friendships, etc. As I sat there trying to convince myself those things would make me happy, I felt a hollowness inside of me. It finally hit me that none of that stuff will ever give me joy. Only God can make my life meaningful and joyful. I would be better off being single for the rest of my life and having God than to be married to the most beautiful, gracious woman and not have God.

I’m growing young. Its clear to me that the older I get the more I need to act like a kid. A kid who is completely mesmerized by their Dad, and wants to be just like Him. I’ve decided this is the only thing thats actually worthy of my time and energy.

 

Ok, so for those of who you who live under a rock or just don’t know about whats been going on down at the statehouse this last week, a Polk county judge ruled that Polk county’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and removed the ban. You can read up on this at the Des Moines Register’s article found here.

This topic really reminded me of a while ago when I did a series of blog posts on hot-button topics such as abortion, the war in Iraq and gay marriage. For compare and contrast purposes, you can revisit my previous blog on gay marriage here. I think I still maintain some of the sentiments I expressed in the earlier blog, but I also think I have adopted some different ways of looking at the issue. I’ll present my ideas, and hopefully it will spark some good conversation.

Ok, in my original blog about same-sex marriage I argued that the Church should be a support the gay-rights movement. I said this firstly to be controversial (whoopsadaisy) and secondly because I think the Church needs to do something to show the homosexual community that we don’t hate them and think of them as inferior to ourselves. But I really have to be honest. When I heard the news over the radio that a judge had lifted the ban on same-sex marriage, my stomach turned. There was something about it that was just depressing to me. I think as much as I want to be culturally relevant and want people to like the church and God, there are just some things that are irreconcilable to the Gospel. I think the reason I got knots in my stomach when I heard the news is that homosexuality is sin. There I said it. There really isn’t any way around it. I think I, and perhaps large sectors of the American Church have a problem with calling a spade a spade. We try and rationalize everything away, and in doing so, we just coexist with sin. And maybe thats why in many cases churches have been rendered so useless.

Heres what I think. I think marriage is a sacred thing and as such, should be under the control of the Church. I don’t think the government should define and control what marriage is and isn’t. That goes for heterosexual marriage and homosexual marriage. It shouldn’t give special privileges for marriage, no matter what type of sexual orientation the couples have. People have long bashed the church and screamed bloody murder because there has to be “separation of Church and State!”. Ok, firstly, they are taking that phrase completely out of context. Our founding fathers wrote that phrase because they had experiences where the church and state where the same governing body, and bad things happened, like mass executions because someone disagreed with the church and therefore the government. But nonetheless, people today use the phrase to suggest that Christianity or its practitioners should not be allowed to play a role in politics. Well if there must be such a strict separation of Church and State, shouldn’t there also be a separation of the homosexual agenda and the state? Shouldn’t there be a separation of of secular humanism and the state? Apparently the only other thing being proactively separated from the state besides Christianity is common sense.

As Christians we need to realize this one very important fact before we take to the streets to reverse the ruling on same-sex marriages. We in many ways created the monster that is the gay-rights movement. If we hadn’t completely shunned the homosexual community, they wouldn’t have felt as if they had no rights. There wouldn’t have been struggle and they wouldn’t feel the need to retaliate against the church. There has been some legislation attempts floating around that would make it a “hate crime” to say that homosexuality is a sin. Now I’d like to think there are enough sensible people in politics to see that this legislation is ridiculous, but I’m not going to bet the farm on it. I think Christians tend to make two faulty assumptions regarding the Church and politics. One is that we just need to completely abstain from politics, the other is that our nations political system is the only way to make positive change. Laws can’t change peoples hearts. But changing people’s hearts can change laws. We as followers of Christ should be active politically to champion justice. But we also should be out loving people with all we have, because when we do that Christ truly will be made complete among us.

I’ve always believed that the more I love God the more I will want to spend time with Him and serve Him and those around me. I’m not so convinced anymore. After 15 years of following Christ, I don’t really jump at the chance to read the Bible, pray, or serve. I’ve just been waiting for this experience where I really want to do what God wants me to. But my only experiences have shown me that I really only want to do what I feel like doing. Last night I came across this verse in the Message:

13The Pharisees objected, “All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on.” 14-18Jesus replied, “You’re right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I’ve come from and where I go next. You don’t know where I’m from or where I’m headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don’t make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn’t make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God’s Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me.”

John 8:14-18 (MSG)

This really blew me away. Jesus basically says I don’t make judgements like you guys do, and EVEN if did, I wouldn’t base those judgements on my experience, but on the character of God.” I think that if Im waiting for some experience to totally validate and motivate me to serve God and others, its not going to happen. But if I understand the character of God and base my actions on that, serving and loving God and others is the obvious choice. Maybe thats why the Bible is so important! Without it we would have no clue about God’s character and the validity of God’s testimony.

I’m not belittling the role of experience in the Christian life. I am post-modern after all. But maybe its not the most important thing. After all, where does faith come into play? It’d be like if instead of Peter trying to walk on the water like Jesus did, He just waited for the water to freeze over. That’s not faith, its cowardice. Faith shouldn’t be a by-product of experience, experience should be a by-product of faith. I think Jesus is calling me to leave the narrowness of my experience, and join Him in the liberation and freedom of trusting God. After 15 years, its probably about time.