I was watching 7 pm project last night and the panel decided to interview Jim Wallis from the Australian Christian Lobby. It was surprising to hear that around 53% of Christians support gay marriage. I was even more surprised by the dialogue that followed. The panel, I think Carrie asked Jim why is he so concerned about gay marriage when a lot of standard marriages fail.
This link will take you to the interview
http://7pmproject.com.au/video.htm?movideo_p=39696&movideo_m=124413
My question that comes from hearing the interview is have we as a church over emphasized certain sins. To use John Piper's terminology we have 'spectacular sins'. Over the last few decades, Christians have zeroed in on gay marriage, same-sex parenting, adultery and abortion. Maybe just maybe we have an unhealthy view of these sins, when we live in a world where the majority world has a minority of wealth. We are peppered with ads by world vision and they rightly emphasize that dozens of children are dying during the duration of the 2 minute commercial.
So when the 7 pm project correctly points out that same-sex marriage is not even on the table and Christians are having marches and protesting against same-sex marriage while kids are dying, are we missing the point. When Paul says that we should not be concerned with those outside the church, but James says that true religion is looking out for the widows and the orphans, have we missed mercy.
Maybe instead of people protesting against same-sex marriage, we could have people donating to the starving of Africa. Perhaps the greatest sin isn't adultery but greed. We can't stop people from adultery but we can stop them from starving and have the means to do so.
Peace Out, John
This link will take you to the interview
http://7pmproject.com.au/video.htm?movideo_p=39696&movideo_m=124413
My question that comes from hearing the interview is have we as a church over emphasized certain sins. To use John Piper's terminology we have 'spectacular sins'. Over the last few decades, Christians have zeroed in on gay marriage, same-sex parenting, adultery and abortion. Maybe just maybe we have an unhealthy view of these sins, when we live in a world where the majority world has a minority of wealth. We are peppered with ads by world vision and they rightly emphasize that dozens of children are dying during the duration of the 2 minute commercial.
So when the 7 pm project correctly points out that same-sex marriage is not even on the table and Christians are having marches and protesting against same-sex marriage while kids are dying, are we missing the point. When Paul says that we should not be concerned with those outside the church, but James says that true religion is looking out for the widows and the orphans, have we missed mercy.
Maybe instead of people protesting against same-sex marriage, we could have people donating to the starving of Africa. Perhaps the greatest sin isn't adultery but greed. We can't stop people from adultery but we can stop them from starving and have the means to do so.
Peace Out, John
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