The modern American church lacks wisdom. I am talking about Godly wisdom, the kind that Jesus demonstrated time and time again whenever he was addressing the people or his disciples privately. The Sermon on the Mount is an incredible display of understanding of human nature and an unraveling of why the law laid out by Moses was written.
Sadly, churches these days seem to lack even a fraction of this kind of wisdom. Yes, it isn’t fair to compare church leaders to Jesus, except for the pope since he often claims to speak on behalf of God and Jesus and the saints and the angels and the rabbits, but at the same time, we do except pastors, priests, and ministers to have some modicum of Godly wisdom bestowed upon them.
My current church is no exception. During one of the first services I attended, the head pastor told the congregation that the church has an official statement on human sexuality available for us to download. He was proud of it and said it took the committee he delegated eight months to develop.
Curious, I went and downloaded the document. I won’t repost it, because it was private church business, but I will describe some of it. First of all, it was only two pages long. Instead of a well researched, well developed essay and theological discussion on human sexuality, it was a two page statement. Keep in mind this took them eight months to finalize.
The statement itself was very generic. It cited the standard verses about love and marriage while ignoring the verses that go over abominable sexual practices. It equated homosexual lust to be the same as heterosexual lust (it is not, even a straight-laced heterosexual such as myself knows this), and it condemned past oppressions that church goers have made against homosexuals.
Never mind that there has ever been a mass slaughter organized by a major institution such a church or a government that focused solely on sexual deviants. The only “oppression” that gay men and women have suffered in this country was really just societal exile. And only when such persons made a big deal about their sexuality in a narcissistic attempt to justify their hedonistic lifestyle (for you idiots out there: hedonism does not mean gay sex).
In short, the document was disappointing to say the least. I’m sure I’m not alone in this sentiment in my church as there were probably a few others who felt the same way. The bottom line was that the church was trying to have it both ways: to appeal to the masses who believe homosexuality is a sin or at the very least disgusting while at the same time appealing to the pro-gay crowd who tend to send men dressed as nuns into churches in order to desecrate what is sacred.
American church leaders need to start stepping up and taking the reins of moral leadership. They have abdicated this role to the elected officials, citing Romans 13 as justification, and instead sound more like Unitarians than actual Christians.
This will not do. It is the church which brings together the community and it is the main support mechanism for many people and standing on strong moral values is its primary focus. Evangelism is great and saving souls is great, but at the same time, you need to secure those souls with God’s Will and encourage them to not stray from it lest they be condemned to Hell.