Monday, January 25, 2010
Legality v Love
Church Matters blogged briefly about church membership for special needs people and iMonk posted a thoughtful response.
Necessary disclaimer - I am not a Baptist, don't understand Baptist stuff - any comment I make here is not aimed at Baptists specifically, but it is aimed at any of my Christian Brethren, regardless of brand name, that would find this even an issue.
If the people that entered this discussion could see it from my perspective, I am not at all sure they would be happy. It looks so much like the Pharisees picking on Jesus for healing on the Sabbath that it's not even funny.
The bottom line is this - I have no idea what it is God will do in eternity with people that lack sufficient mental capability to engage in a meaningful confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior. I know the issue is incredibly complex. Forget the infant or person born of diminished capacity as we discuss here - what of my mother, once a faithful follower, but now completely incapable? Is she to be denied access to what the church has to offer becasue she can no longer function at a higher level. I hope not, because now she needs it more than ever.
See, that's the thing - I don't know what God will do in eternity, but I sure know that people like this need the church right now. And somehow, to deny them that is not an act anywhere reminiscent of God whose love was so deep that He incarnated, allowed His own crucifixion and was resurrected - an incarnated Lord that hung around with publicans and prostitutes.
The gospel is about grace - there is no grace here.
Necessary disclaimer - I am not a Baptist, don't understand Baptist stuff - any comment I make here is not aimed at Baptists specifically, but it is aimed at any of my Christian Brethren, regardless of brand name, that would find this even an issue.
If the people that entered this discussion could see it from my perspective, I am not at all sure they would be happy. It looks so much like the Pharisees picking on Jesus for healing on the Sabbath that it's not even funny.
The bottom line is this - I have no idea what it is God will do in eternity with people that lack sufficient mental capability to engage in a meaningful confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior. I know the issue is incredibly complex. Forget the infant or person born of diminished capacity as we discuss here - what of my mother, once a faithful follower, but now completely incapable? Is she to be denied access to what the church has to offer becasue she can no longer function at a higher level. I hope not, because now she needs it more than ever.
See, that's the thing - I don't know what God will do in eternity, but I sure know that people like this need the church right now. And somehow, to deny them that is not an act anywhere reminiscent of God whose love was so deep that He incarnated, allowed His own crucifixion and was resurrected - an incarnated Lord that hung around with publicans and prostitutes.
The gospel is about grace - there is no grace here.
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Brief afterthought: I can easily see these words coming back to haunt me in a discussion of allowing homosexual ordination in my church - something I actively oppose. This discussion involves lack of capacity -- not sin. Even if one buys that homosexual orientation is a fundamental part of some persons make-up, they have a choice in practice, just as I as a heterosexual have a choice to practice my heterosexuality within certain constraints.
