There's More!

Before I get bombarded by the intolerant tolerant, the know love/no hate so-called Christians, the left-wing liberals and the multitude of other vigilantes who abhor hate but are showing me the hate and other critics out there, let me clarify a few things.

First of all, I respected and loved Jerry Falwell’s ministry because he stood for what he believed-in. He knew what he believed and never backed down from that. He wanted to reach people who never had a relationship with Jesus. He started with a few families in his living room 50 years ago and grew to 24,000 members at Thomas Road Baptist Church. That doesn’t account for the tens-of-thousands who accepted Christ through his media ministry.

I didn’t agree with every single thing Jerry Falwell did. But so what? Not everyone has or will agree with me! I don’t get involved in politics, but I do vote and I am concerned with the moral decay of our society. I am NOT an in your-face-gonna-point-out-your-sin kinda guy.

However, what troubles me is the audacious uproar of the hypocritical godless and the eerie silence of God’s so-called righteous people. I intentionally enabled the moderation function on the comments for the last post and this one. It’s a good thing I did. I have been bombarded by hate-filled comments and songs of joy for Dr. Falwell’s passing. I have been told how they couldn’t stand him because of his bigotry, intolerance and hate-filled messages, yet I see the greatest intolerance comes from people who don’t like the message of Jerry Falwell. I did a search of blogs and so-far, 99 out of 100 are praising his death. If you speak against something they feel is OK, your intolerant. But they hate conservatives and fundamentalists. They are intolerant of your beliefs and your right to express those beliefs. And now they are dancing in the streets because a major mouthpiece, of those conservative values, is dead.

On the other-hand, true Christians are silent. I haven’t seen or heard much of anything. Maybe tomorrow. But I can’t help to wonder if this is a direct result of us being so afraid to offend anyone, that we won’t say anything. God’s people must love. I have no hatred or disposition toward any individual because of who they are. I won’t judge someone because they are an alcoholic, a drug addict, a pronoholic (my own word) or anything else. 

If they come to me, I just want to know what happened or what hurt so bad in life that got them there in the first place. I want to love them and help them through and NOT criticise them for where they have been or where they are, but show them where they can be. I will not hate anyone because they may disagree with me, or choose a lifestyle I don’t believe in. That’s of no consequence to me. But when I share Jesus and how to have a personal relationship with him and why we need a personal relationship with Him, I have to define SIN. We cannot teach that God is alright with SIN or that He tolerates it in anyway.

Because Jerry Falwell was passionate in his ministry and pointed out sin in a bold and direct way (whether you agree with his style or not), he is hated, despised and ridiculed. Some Christians say he was an embarrassment to Christianity; some say he was too harsh, but what did God say?

• Psalm 53:1
  The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
• Ezekiel 3:19
  But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
• John 16:8
  When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
• Romans 5:12
  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

Now, we know that sin is the cause of spiritual and physical death, but God does forgive. He gave His one and only Son as a payment for the penalty of sin. But in order to accept that gift you must acknowledge sin and repent of that sin. If you don’t acknowledge the sin of sex outside of marriage…you can’t repent of it. If you don’t acknowledge the sin of unbelief(denying the Deity of Jesus, the absolute truth of the bible, the origins of the universe), you can’t be repent of it. Sin is sin.

That is why I paid tribute to Dr Jerry Falwell. NOT because of his mistakes or his failures…but because of what he did right. May we have a portion of the boldness and the conviction Jerry Falwell always shared.

Bryan

(PS. I normally don’t get so expressive of my personal opinion in my blog. Although I feel I have a progressive, relevant and contemporary ministry and that I push things to the edge; I felt I must speak out on this issue. I like to focus on the positive, but if we relegate sin to our own feelings and definitions we will lose Christianity in this great country!)