[CS-FSLUG] OT: PC(USA) okay with 'gay' clergy

[Timothy Butler]

On May 13, 2011, at 11:59 PM, Fred A. Miller wrote:

> Fair question and one which none of us can answer with assurance. One 
> could easily assume He might do what he did in the temple. Don't ever 
> assume, and many of us have made that mistake, that our Lord wouldn't 
> let those in a house of worship "get it with both barrels" if needed. And, 
> we have a LOT of churches that really need that! 

Agreed. My big sense is just that we spend too much time worrying about "the other." I did for years. Trouble is, "the other" was messed up theology but loving people well (think the Good Samaritan) while "the same" was acting like the Scribes and Pharisees. That isn't always true, but it has been in my experiences. 

Too often, Evangelicals want to succeed so badly, we don't hold our own folks to the same level of accountability we hold everyone else to. It is funny, I'll talk to friends from the old church (or similar churches) and they tell me all the bad things the liberals are doing. Meanwhile, they refuse to do anything about their own pastors. Which can make us -- it certainly makes me -- a hypocrite.

A moderate PC(USA) pastor and a very liberal Episcopalian seminarian came to help me while Evangelicals scratched their head and tried to figure out if they could blame me (and the others) for what the pastor did. It really brings the Good Samaritan to life. Who loves mercy, defends justice and walks humbly with their God, as Micah talked about?

I still disagree with them, and will do my part to promote orthodoxy, but it reminded me that good theology without good practice is dead and more damaging to Christ than the reverse. 

	-Tim
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