Monday, December 15, 2008
Look Inside
Bonnie at Intellectuelle riffs off a Kay Warren piece in CT. The Warren piece concludes:
In the face of horrendous evil like Warren discusses - genocide as an example - Christians are to act meekly, but NOT timidly - humbly and yet still boldly - we are to confess and at the same time condemn the evil.
It is correct to say that we cannot act righteously unless we are first righteous. It is also correct to say that confession, humility, submission to Christ are THE ONLY means to righteousness that we have. But we cannot let the our continuing need for grace prevent us from being God' instruments in destroying true evil.
These ladies are right - too many times Christians, in fighting monsters, have become monsters. But likewise - too many times Christians have allowed monstrosity to continue for fear of becoming monsters. I know of too many stories of sexually predatory ministry professionals allowed back into the ministry for the sake of grace, when the statistical evidence of repeated offenses are so overwhelming.
There are too many places in the world where starvation reigns, not from a lack of compassion and outpouring from the world, but because corruption prevents such outpourings from reaching their target. The local government is the corruption and our government will not act to end the corruption. Now we sit and watch such circumstances claiming powerlessness. Would it be wrong for the church to hire a mercenary army in such a circumstances? I wonder?
YES - God's grace first, last and always - but that grace also empowers us, and we are equally sinful by failing to act as we are by acting improperly.
The key to being a Christian is to learn bold action in humility. It is a tall order, but it is also darn well time we got about it.
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There is monstrous evil to be fought in our world, and it's up to Christ's followers to lead the way. But the fact is, we're all terminally broken on both the soul and behavioral levels. Until we are willing to deal with the internal monsters that always threaten to take us down, we're just kidding ourselves. We will go into battle as proud Pharisees breathing retribution and judgment, ready to fry the evildoers. Instead, let's go as wounded healers who have reaped the benefits of God's amazing grace and are more than ready to assist other broken folks in finding his mercy as well.Bonnie concludes likewise:
I must allow Christ to slay the monster within before I can manage those without.Now, while I agree with all this, it also creates a check in me - there is such a thing as righteousness and even righteous anger at evil. Too many times this kind of right-minded talk has resulted in wrong-minded inaction.
In the face of horrendous evil like Warren discusses - genocide as an example - Christians are to act meekly, but NOT timidly - humbly and yet still boldly - we are to confess and at the same time condemn the evil.
It is correct to say that we cannot act righteously unless we are first righteous. It is also correct to say that confession, humility, submission to Christ are THE ONLY means to righteousness that we have. But we cannot let the our continuing need for grace prevent us from being God' instruments in destroying true evil.
These ladies are right - too many times Christians, in fighting monsters, have become monsters. But likewise - too many times Christians have allowed monstrosity to continue for fear of becoming monsters. I know of too many stories of sexually predatory ministry professionals allowed back into the ministry for the sake of grace, when the statistical evidence of repeated offenses are so overwhelming.
There are too many places in the world where starvation reigns, not from a lack of compassion and outpouring from the world, but because corruption prevents such outpourings from reaching their target. The local government is the corruption and our government will not act to end the corruption. Now we sit and watch such circumstances claiming powerlessness. Would it be wrong for the church to hire a mercenary army in such a circumstances? I wonder?
YES - God's grace first, last and always - but that grace also empowers us, and we are equally sinful by failing to act as we are by acting improperly.
The key to being a Christian is to learn bold action in humility. It is a tall order, but it is also darn well time we got about it.
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