A Dirty Shame

Sometimes I see something and look at it at its face value and never see the story behind the one reported. This time I got to see the real story. As I regularly do I went over to Jimmie’s to see what pearls of wisdom my mentor has dispensed when I read this. Reading that post led me over to Tom Cotter’s to see the rest of the story. I will post the article first then Tom’s comments. Please go read them before you read any further. I will wait…

Baptist Press Article
Tom’s First Post
Tom’s Second Post
Tom’s Third Post

… I am glad to see you are now back. Are you as mad as I am? I hope so. I got so flustered I could not ever comment coherently.

Ok, for those of you who did not go read the posts here it is in a nutshell. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention removed a church from its rolls because the pastor is “affirming, approving, and endorsing homosexual behavior”. If that were all there was to it I would be saying good on them. But that is not the whole story. That is the story that the SBTC is sticking to because it is politically expedient. Basically this is the real story; Bro Haney and the church he pastors have been disassociated from this convention because he crossed denominational lines, worked with a female leader of a different church, and started a ministry to reach out to a particular group of sinners. The big sticking point seems to be that this particular female leader does not think that homosexuality is a sin. Ok, now if you have not read the posts and the article please go read them now. It will give you a clearer picture.

Why am I writing about all of this, when others closer to the story already are? I am writing about it because it ties in with my calling. Why I am so upset is that these people are trying to reach sinners where they are and bring them to Yeshua. We do not come as spotless lambs to him but as dirty, rotten, wrecked, and any other sundry adjective you wish to add sinners. All of come to Him in that condition, we are no more spotless that the homosexuals they are trying to reach. I am quite convinced that Yeshua would have been right there with Bro. Haney and the others involved in this ministry outreach. We have a duty to reach even those who we would deem the most unlovable and show then the true love of the Messiah. We all have our sins and flaws, the fact that the particular sin in this case is the dreaded sin of the day; homosexuality is the only problem here. No one sin is greater than another in G_d’s eyes, each one keeps us from him, because is perfection cannot abide our imperfection.

I ask you to say a prayer for these men in the SBTC as they have lost their way and have been blinded to a real need because they seem to be afraid of getting their hands dirty and show the real love of Yeshua.

Update:

After some considerable discussion with Birdie I have had some things in my mind settled on this subject. First I had some qualms about the woman “Pastor” involved in this. This is not because she is a woman, but because she unequivocally claims that homosexuality is not a sin. This is not just a difference in opinion along the lines of whether or not the person in question is a practicing homosexual or if the person is celibate. She “feels” that they have no need to stay celibate. This does change my view a little. Brother Haney is not completely left out of the blame here. He chose to work with a woman that has questionable biblical beliefs and that is what I think he did wrong. Starting a ministry to reach homosexuals is a good thing and he may have had pure motivations but he chose the wrong person to work with on the project. Now I still believe the convention handled this wrong and should be held accountable for their wrongdoing, but I can at least see the problem they have with Bro. Haney teaming up with someone that has very divergent views on this issue.