Christians should be known for what they are for, not what they are against. Love, compassion, care for the poor.
Unfortunately people like Jim Wallace give us a bad name.
This morning he put out this tweet,
“Jim Wallace: Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for – wasn’t gay marriage and Islamic!”
This is more than unfortunate on many levels.
Jim Wallace is the public face of the ‘Australian Christian Lobby”. Reading through the twitter stream exploding at the moment, it is obvious that secular Australians think this person represents Christianity.
How would Jesus react to the Homosexual and the Islam?
My hunch is that He would react in the same way as He did to the prostitute, the woman caught in adultery, the Samaritan. These people were marginalized, discriminated against and unfairly treated in that society at that time.
Interestingly enough Jesus was called a ‘lover of sinners’. He was roundly criticized for accepting those the rest of society, at that time mainstream religious society, rejected.He went to their houses, he ate and drunk with them, he accepted them!
But who does Jesus reserve his harshest criticism for, going so far as to publicly call them ‘white washed walls, hypocrites’ and other such culturally offensive terms. He calls the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day these things. Because they were the ones oppressing the people, and instead of showing them love, showing them rejection.
Now I need to be frank, as a Christian I don’t believe that living a homosexual lifestyle is Gods best plan, but it is someones choice. God has standards, but it is our choice what we do with God. He gives us a choice, so should we Christians. We should not legislate morality.
I hope that I demonstrate love to all people. We are all made in God’s image, and are loved by God. We all deserve the right to live our lives as we decide. I don’t say that, God does. Ultimately I believe God will make us responsible for how we live our lives. I wont. And it is not my role to judge. Unfortunately that is what Jim Wallace is doing, and in the process alienating the very people he should be caring for and loving.
Well said Mark. As the Oz culture swings away from its traditional moral(?) and ethnic framework many Christians are hardening themselves into polemicists and seeking political clout. Once again we are twenty years behind the US where the Moral Majority over-reached itself and is now so on the nose – in that it was neither moral nor a majority – that it has done the cause of the gospel great harm. But will we learn?
Possibly the hard way unfortunately.
I’d almost go one step further and say not only should we not legislate ‘Christian’ morality but we should not legislate Christianity in general. I don’t see God forcing people to follow him…so why do we feel the need to do so by law?
Now, I too VERY strongly believe there is a Standard and God will judge us on how we choose to live, and as Christians we should be DEMONSTRATING that life for people. However, if our demonstration is to stand up and force others to do likewise, against their will…I don’t see how that benefits the message of Christianity.
Amen to that post and the two comments.
I think this is a tricky area for Christians to navigate – realising that legislating or forcing Christian morals on people will not give them new hearts which turn towards Christ, yet sometimes we may need to take a public stand for the oppressed who cannot stand up for themselves.
I was encouraged last year by an article John Dickson wrote about the ‘Christian vote’ not being a vote for any particular party, but to carefully examine which party’s policies most closely match those of Christ and voting in good conscience.
Unfortunately putting up with hard-headed individuals who think a Christian nation can be brought about by political power alone is one of the tiresome things we have to endure as we await Christ’s return.
Does your church endorse the ACL? The ACL seems to have appointed itself to represent all churches. You can’t vote for their leaders. If they don’t represent your church, you should tell the ACL and the people they lobby to (media and politicians).
Well said Mark.