Letters to the Editor - June 25, 2008

Staff
Published: June 26, 2008

On the other hand

Wendy Nash expresses a sentiment about hypocritical church-goers in her May 22 letter that many others would echo, sadly. I briefly walked away from the church in my younger years because I was racked with those same feelings. I eventually came to realize that Jesus Christ came to this world to redeem everyone, including the hypocrites — arguably, the chief sinners among us.
Ms. Nash’s letter compels me to speak a word for (and to) the church.
We Christians sometimes follow the risen Christ at a safe distance and often fail to reflect his love to others. In fact, much to our discredit, we ³shoot” our own wounded on occasion.
Homosexually identified people (Ms. Nash also addressed gay “marriage”) must see themselves as foremost among those who are condemned by the Pharisaic crowd. Unfortunately, the loud, radical elements of the cloistered gay community have become their chief image-bearers. Consequently, a gaping divide stands where bridges crumble even as they are being built. The church must continue to hate sin but love sinners.
Speaking the truth in love is a lofty requirement for Christians. When the freedom to do so is not being legislated away, it still is most difficult to achieve because of the enormous “logs” we first have to remove from our own eyes (Matthew 7:3). Yet, the mission of the church remains to reconcile the lost and searching to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Ms. Nash correctly stated that she is free to “talk to God” wherever and whenever she pleases. When I have that conversation — it also involves listening to God — I am being most compassionate and closest to what he desires for me when I pray that his beloved children turn to him and his living word for direction in their lives. That is how we learn we are not to be “conformed to this world, but ... transformed by the renewing of (the) mind ...” (Romans 12:2).
Moral clarity cannot get through when we see ourselves as higher than the source of the law. It is Christ we look to for the standard, not those who reject him or those who bear his image imperfectly. There will always be an offender.
I urge all those bearing scars left by the very body of believers that should be ministering to them to examine whether it is God’s truth that offends or merely those in the church body who are still growing or who need a rebuke.

Debbie Thurman
Monroe