Hot Button Issues #5: Too Much Grace?

A divorcee in your church with three children volunteers to teach a class of third-grade girls. She proves to be a good teacher and has excellent rapport with the girls. Several months later you learn that she has become pregnant out of wedlock. “It would be best if you step aside from your leadership role,” you tell her. “Your pregnancy is not a good example for the girls in your class.” She agrees to resign.

At her last class, her assistant teacher leads the class in a farewell gesture, which includes small gifts for the unborn baby. One of the girls’ mothers calls to complain. “Not only have you condoned her behavior,” she says, “but now you have celebrated it.”

After listening to the mother’s concerns, you try to provide some context for the assistant’s good intentions. “If we’re going to err one way or the other,” you say, “I hope we can err on the side of grace.”

“Well, as far as I’m concerned,” the mother bristles, “there’s entirely too much grace around here.” How do you respond?

Hot Button Issue #3

A homosexual man (currently divorcing his wife) starts attending your church—bringing his three young children with him. He emails you telling you how much the music and the messages have touched his heart and challenged him to grow in his walk with the Lord. His email continues: “Would it be a problem for you if I bring my partner with me to church services?”
You hit “Reply,” and an email form pops up. With your fingers poised over the keyboard, you pause. What do you type?

Christians and Movies

A while back (see post below) I wrote about the top 50 religious films. Christians watch, rent and purchase movies in the same percentages as non-Christians. Sometimes they are not as discriminating as they should be.

The motion picture industry is its own police when it comes to monitoring the content of their films. The ratings are not reliable indicators for content that is suitable for Christians to view. There are excellent websites that are helpful in determining a movie's content. You can try Screenit.com or HollywoodJesus.com, but there is no substitute for good old fashioned common sense applied with solid biblical principles.

What should Christians be watching, how and why? This post helps with some guidelines. The writer has put together an excellent three part series that can change the way you evaluate movies.

How many movies do you rent per year? On the average, how would you rate a typical movie offered up by Hollywood? What can Christians do to influence the movie culture?

Hot Button Issues Part 2

AND BABY MAKES THREE

A couple comes to see if you will marry them. However, you know the man’s history. This would be his third marriage—and he refused your advice when his second wife wanted to save their marriage. Though he claims to be a Christian, he displays little change and doesn’t seem to have matured since then.

As you begin to tell them you would feel uncomfortable about marrying them, they reveal that they are expecting a child in six months. They tell you, “We think the right thing to do before our child comes is to commit ourselves to each other in marriage.”

Your associate recommends sending them to the justice of the peace, but you have nagging doubts about that approach: How can you speak redemptively into their lives if you can’t walk with them through their problems? How can you encourage them to attend church after they are married if you could not help them before they are married?

Refreshing New Perspectives on Christianity and Culture

Every once in a while it is a good idea to leave my comfort zone and listen or observe a brother or sister in Christ who lives in a totally different environment than I do. This brother wears his faith on his sleeve. He is not afraid to engage the culture and the church with his understanding of what the issues are for Christians in America.

Engaging the culture in the name of Christ means standing up against injustice wherever it is found. This is not a political battle, it is a cultural and spiritual battle. The application of the gospel in every area of life is absolutely essential if we are to combat and be victorious over many of the sins that plague our society.

There is an old saying that "politics makes for strange bedfellows." I am convinced that to truly stand up for issues that should be important to Christians, there must be a willingness to embrace people who are vastly different from me.

As I look at my life, I see that I have been thrust into a fellowship of people who differ greatly from me economically, educationally, culturally, and even spiritually. The church is the great experiment in reconciliation. If people can get along in the church, they should be able to build bridges in any area of society.

Whether it is AIDS, or abortion, drugs, racism or poverty, Christians should unite to find answers. There may be much debate, some of it loud and messy, but in the long run our love for fellow Christians should be the ultimate witness to our culture. After all, Jesus did say, "they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another."

What do you think? What will it take for Christians to bridge the great divide on certain social issues? What experiences have you had fellowshipping and/or working alongside of a Christian that is greatly different from you?