Thursday, December 19, 2013

Phil Robertson Was Right

Phil Robertson was right. Period. No need to debate this. What Phil said is what nature teaches. What Phil said is what the word of God teaches. What Phil said is what true Christianity teaches. A&E is Christophobic. If they can call practicing Christians homophobic, we have the equal right to call them Christophobic.

Mr. Cruz misunderstands true Christianity if he thinks true Christianity endorses or accepts homosexuality. True Christianity teaches that ALL sexual behavior outside of marriage is sin. True Christianity teaches that ANY practicing sinner can repent, believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be washed and justified (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Does this mean true Christians are homophobic or that they even hate those who practice same sex? Not at all! A true Christian is compelled by the love of Christ to love and reach out to all. A true Christian loves the practicing sinner enough to warn them that the road they have chosen leads to destruction. To quote Mr. Robertson, The true Christian "would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me." 

By the way, why did Mr. Cruz and A&E overlook that statement? Could it be that their agenda includes silencing the voices of true Christians from the public arena? 

Let me end as I began: Phil Robertson was right. Period.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Tis the Week before Christmas and Christ Wants Us To Make Him Known

'Tis the week before Christmas. I suspect there will be thousands of blogs, Facebook posts, and Tweets that admonish us to keep Christ in Christmas. I wonder if, while we are scurrying about, making sure we have the right to say "Merry Christmas," and not just "Happy Holidays," or "Season's Greetings," are we also making sure we take the time to share the Christ of Christmas?

Let's be real about this. Much of what we want is the right to our tradition. Much of what I think Christ wants is our passion to make Him known to the world around us. We need to make him known to the one who cuts our hair. We need to make him known to the clerk at the store--that clerk with tired eyes and a heavy-hearted or bored look as she swipes your purchases across her scanner and announces the charges of your latest run through the store. We need to make him known to the busy server at your next restaurant.

We need to make Christ known in hundreds of people groups and hundreds of countries where his name is a rare thought. A simple offering to a missions agency or society, such as the IMB of the SBC will go a long ways in fulfilling that.

We need to make Christ known to our families. Honestly, that can be a daunting task. Some subjects are off limits at our Christmas celebrations. Oddly, Christ is not invited to his own party in some houses. It's as though we say, "Hey, it's Christmas! But don't you dare mention the J-word around here! You may offend someone!" Well, you know what? Make Christ known, anyway; just don't be obnoxious about it.

[Obnoxious...; I like that word. It sounds like you just let off a sudden stench with your mouth. I could go somewhere with that, but don't want to lose the message of this post.]

Yes, it's the week before Christmas. It's a great time to make Christ known. After all, He is the reason all this stuff started in the first place.