hypocrisy in the church? « Littletiger’s Weblog

Posted by: littletiger | April 11, 2008

hypocrisy in the church?

I was just reading a post by someone who I’ve come to respect as a blogger. Shush wrote a blog asking people what they believe about homosexuality ( http://shushnow.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/open-forum-what-do-you-believe-about-homosexuality/). It lead to an interesting discussion with my husband. We’ve been struggling with the idea of being in the world but not of it - an ideal that Christ calls us to do. And there were two questions that Shush asked that really fueled the discussion. They were:

If you are the member of a church body, do you agree or disagree with the sentiments expressed towards homosexuals in your church?
If you are a Christian or follower of a particular faith- if someone came to you expressing interest in your faith but was unwilling to leave a homosexual relationship in order to do so, would you still offer to teach them?

One of the other questions is: Do you believe homosexuality is a sin? This is the first question I really have to deal with. According to the Bible, homosexuality is a sin - the only sexual relationship that should occur should be between a husband and his wife. That being said, it’s a hard decision for me - I have friends who are gay and I don’t know that the relationships they are in should be condemned. It’s hard enough to find someone to love - but when that person is of the same sex, it’s even harder because society rejects the relationship. So I’m still struggling with the idea that loving someone can be considered a sin. But let’s go with the premise that homosexuality is a sin, this then leads to further questions in my mind.

Should churches allow people who willingly sin to become voting members of the church? In my mind the answer is yes, because as far as I know we all willingly and knowingly sin each and every day. So if someone refuses to stop their homosexual behavior (if they even can) should they be rejected because they continue their sinful behavior.

Let’s put this premise in less controversial terms. Suppose someone curses at least once each day - according to the Bible this is a sin - as a matter of fact - it’s one of the 10 biggies - so suppose that person decides to join the church - should the church reject that person because he continues to sin? And should we even rank sin - even though in God’s eyes all sins are equal and wrong. So with that thought - I guess we shouldn’t allow anyone to become a member of the church.

While my husband and I were talking, we were also struggling with the idea of hypocrisy in the church. We all do things we’re not supposed to do, but what if that behavior causes someone to not come to Christ - in other words they are turned off of Christianity by the hypocritical behavior they see done by Christians.

Interestingly, my pastor is doing a series in church right now and this Sunday’s message is “Christians are hypocritical.” It should be a very good message and I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say on the issue and then maybe I’ll have a follow up to this blog.

Posted in Learning and Growing, thoughtful

Responses

Good analysis. I recall a time when I had my Christian grandmother very self-righteously lecturing me on all the horrific punishments in store for homosexuals, at a time when I was living with my boyfriend and she knew it. The entire tone of the conversation was very “them” vs. “us”. It ended when I pointed out that I was essentially doing the same thing they were and why would she feel God would be forgiving and understanding in my case, but not theirs.

By: me on April 13, 2008
at 4:33 am

I kept thinking about this and have come up with an interesting thought. Fact: every one of us is a sinner, and by that I mean a knowing, willing participant in a sin of some kind. Christians are always talking about how people should be able to see “something different” about us, a reflection of Christ on earth. So what should that something be? Some interpret that as a simple reduction in sin - attempts to act more holy. They point to “Go thou and sin no more” as though it is possible to really do so. And yet the nature of man says it is not, you can choose not to do that particular sin again, but you can’t really forgo sin altogether.

So what should that something different be?

I’d argue it’s a reflection of Christ’s love and acceptance of us even with a sinful nature - like Jesus responding to the woman at the well who had seven husbands or even St. Peter who flat rejected him seven times. I think that to say one can’t teach a homosexually active person about Christ until they “go now and sin no more” is more reflective of the world’s Holier than Thou attitude than Christ’s love - and really, couldn’t Christ have taken the Holier than Thou route with far more accuracy?

By: me on April 13, 2008
at 5:18 am

I have to agree - my pastor did a sermon yesterday on hypocrisy in the church - and one of the major things he talked about was trying to be more open and accepting of people no matter who they are, what they believe and what they look like. Christ loved people! He cared about people and that’s what was important. So I’m going to strive to do the same thing - just care about people.

By: littletiger on April 14, 2008
at 9:15 am

Amen!

By: andi on April 14, 2008
at 9:34 am

Great thinking littletiger. Many times I can hate the sin but love the sinner. My best friend is a lesbian, but I have known her since i was a child and we grew up together. She professes to be a Christian, and does attend church. Her walk with God is between her and Him, and although she knows how I feel about homosexuality, she knows that I would never judge her (it’s not my place to) and that I love her like a sister.

By: cumingirl on April 19, 2008
at 11:33 am

As a lesbian I don’t think homosexuality is a sin. Here’s why: I spent my whole growing up going to church, my dad was a youth pastor, so I spent a lot of time at the church. I attended bible studies, summer youth camps, spring break youth camps…you get the picture.

I believed in God with all my heart. I confessed that I was a sinner in need of a saviour…all that.

All growing up I was never attracted to boys. I would date boys because that was what was expected of me. The whole time I was thinking I’m lying to my self. I’m miserable as a person, I’m deceiving all those around me in the name of God.

I’m a bit older now. I’m in a relationship with a woman. I discovered that in my faith I was being incredibly dishonest to everyone including God.

I can’t live a lie. I couldn’t say I loved a man when I didn’t.

I’m not going to debate the bible. I’ve learned that isn’t healthy. At the end of the day we all have our own private relationship with God.

that’s my two cents.

By: lesbiansaidwhat on May 17, 2008
at 8:16 pm