Flag burning and Christian liberty...
Upon reading my title, someone might wonder just what the two issues have in common, but upon closer examination, I think some of the parallels are compelling.
Many thinking Christians are wrestling with the issue of Christian liberty because of the move of the SB convention to call for an absolute opposition to all alcohol consumption and production at the 2006 meeting. What one thinks about moderated, social drinking has become the test case for an understanding of Christian liberty. When I preached on this last Sunday in our church (not by design, but rather because I am preaching THROUGH I Corinthians, and I had come to chapter 8, which begins 3 chapters of discussion of liberty/ license by Paul), you would have thought that denied the resurrection! Most Christians have so little understanding of the real issue of grace versus law!
I for one, do not drink socially or at all for that matter. I believe it is in the Christians BEST interest to NOT imbibe. That being said though, because the Bible offers no strict prohibition against an occasional drink (what the Bible explicitly and consistently condemns is drunkenness), I find myself unwilling and unable biblically to make much of a case about a Christian who might enjoy an occasional drink. Is it wise? NO. Do I recommend it? NO. Can I call a man's salvation into question over it...NO!
Now, what does this have to do with the recent congressional hoopla over flag burning? I for one would never burn the American flag! I see nothing constructive about it, and I might even punch in the nose someone doing it in front of my house. However, that being said, it is nice to know that I live in a land where I have liberty and freedom to do so! An act which I choose not to participate in, I still have the freedom to engage in...now there's a noble concept. In other parts of the world today, where there is no liberty, people are decapitated and beaten by angry mobs for dissent. Here in America, the greatest country in the world, we give folks the right to dissent without having to worry about execution. Likewise, things like SouthPark, explicit art, and the Dixie Chicks may not be to my liking, and I can choose to ignore them and not support their craft, but true liberty comes with a price, and that price is the understanding that not everyone in a free culture is going to agree with your every view.
What is America going to look like if there are laws against EVERY activity against which we object or even question? It will probably begin to look as narrow and legalistic as many fundamentalist baptists who label anyone else "anti-nomian" that disagrees with them. Who will be the ones to decide what behaviors are objectionable? There are those things which are clearly and morally wrong which our law-makers won't deal with (i.e. abortion, homosexual marriage, social injustice at the highest levels, etc...) so why should they have to legislate petty things like flag-burning? Likewise, many Christians (esp. SBs, who I know better than the rest), who are unwilling to deal with serious issues like unregenerate church membership, lack of church discipline, immorality among pastors, deception by institution heads, nepotism on the boards, etc... want to bend over backwards to impose upon believers standards that the Bible does NOT demand concerning an issue that really is not that relevant to most churches! Yes, alcohol is destructive on our culture, but is it really that big of a problem FOR MOST REGENERATE CHRISTIANS?!?!?!?
I was astounded recently to hear an "evangelist" claim that something like 48% of SB members drink, and 16% of Southern Baptist church members are struggling alcoholics. That is ridiculous, and until I see verification, I reject these claims. In 10 years of ministry involving 4 different churches, I have never even had to deal with the issue of social drinking, much less a membership full of alcoholics! If this is to be at all believed, it is probably because of the 66% (or so) of unregenerate members we keep on our roles with no ministry of discipline in our churches! Perhaps the 50-66% of unregenerate members are drunks? Who knows what they are doing?!?! In most churches, they haven't been seen or heard from in years, which would reveal that the bigger problem is our ECCLESIOLOGY, which, ironically, the SBC refused to deal with by voting down a resolution that would have begun addressing a slipping ecclesiology. But I digress.... Back to my discussion of liberty...
This is where I make the parallel between flag-burning and liberty in the Christian life. With liberty in Christ, there comes responsibility. Where the Bible does not speak to certain issues (i.e. whether or not to listen to contemporary Christian music or southern gospel, whether or not women must wear a dress to church, whether or not to play cards or go to the movies, etc...), we must accept that the leadership of the Spirit and the guidance of the Word is sufficient, and NOT be tempted to legislate Christianity into a set of rules and regulations that the Bible does not lay out! Southern Baptists are seeking to say "thus saith the Lord" on an issue where the Lord has not spoken!
But more commonly, everyday Christians seek to do the same thing. Christianity is not a set of rules to be kept. It is a message of reconciliation in the cross of Christ. The Word of God speaks clearly and sufficiently to us about what behaviors are acceptable and not acceptable for Christians (hence, we are NOT anti-nomians). Furthermore, the scriptures provide principles for guidance in the questionably silent areas! But let us not be guilty of trying to define and regulate what is and is not Christian if the Bible is silent on such issues.
The Galatians did this, and Paul had a harsh response.
May Christian liberty be understood and enjoyed by Christians. And may America remain a truly free land...one of the only countries in the world where a flag can be burned and our soldiers will defend their right to do so. If you don't like burning flags, don't do it. If you despise Michael Moore and his ludicrous, accusatory fiction, then don't watch (or read) it. If South Park offends you, don't watch it and block out that channel on your cable, even boycott the advertisers if you wish. But when we get to the point of wanting to silence, jail or persecute every voice that expresses an opinion different than ours, we are dangerously close to becoming just like the regimes we are fighting to overthrow at this very hour in Iraq.
I do not fear being hunted down and decapitated for publishing these views. Thanks America! However, I fear that if some have their way in the SBC, my refusal to goose-step along with their fundamentalist ways will eventually lead to my being isolated, and perhaps pushed out of the SBC along with many of the greatest young minds and passionate hearts of our generation.
Many thinking Christians are wrestling with the issue of Christian liberty because of the move of the SB convention to call for an absolute opposition to all alcohol consumption and production at the 2006 meeting. What one thinks about moderated, social drinking has become the test case for an understanding of Christian liberty. When I preached on this last Sunday in our church (not by design, but rather because I am preaching THROUGH I Corinthians, and I had come to chapter 8, which begins 3 chapters of discussion of liberty/ license by Paul), you would have thought that denied the resurrection! Most Christians have so little understanding of the real issue of grace versus law!
I for one, do not drink socially or at all for that matter. I believe it is in the Christians BEST interest to NOT imbibe. That being said though, because the Bible offers no strict prohibition against an occasional drink (what the Bible explicitly and consistently condemns is drunkenness), I find myself unwilling and unable biblically to make much of a case about a Christian who might enjoy an occasional drink. Is it wise? NO. Do I recommend it? NO. Can I call a man's salvation into question over it...NO!
Now, what does this have to do with the recent congressional hoopla over flag burning? I for one would never burn the American flag! I see nothing constructive about it, and I might even punch in the nose someone doing it in front of my house. However, that being said, it is nice to know that I live in a land where I have liberty and freedom to do so! An act which I choose not to participate in, I still have the freedom to engage in...now there's a noble concept. In other parts of the world today, where there is no liberty, people are decapitated and beaten by angry mobs for dissent. Here in America, the greatest country in the world, we give folks the right to dissent without having to worry about execution. Likewise, things like SouthPark, explicit art, and the Dixie Chicks may not be to my liking, and I can choose to ignore them and not support their craft, but true liberty comes with a price, and that price is the understanding that not everyone in a free culture is going to agree with your every view.
What is America going to look like if there are laws against EVERY activity against which we object or even question? It will probably begin to look as narrow and legalistic as many fundamentalist baptists who label anyone else "anti-nomian" that disagrees with them. Who will be the ones to decide what behaviors are objectionable? There are those things which are clearly and morally wrong which our law-makers won't deal with (i.e. abortion, homosexual marriage, social injustice at the highest levels, etc...) so why should they have to legislate petty things like flag-burning? Likewise, many Christians (esp. SBs, who I know better than the rest), who are unwilling to deal with serious issues like unregenerate church membership, lack of church discipline, immorality among pastors, deception by institution heads, nepotism on the boards, etc... want to bend over backwards to impose upon believers standards that the Bible does NOT demand concerning an issue that really is not that relevant to most churches! Yes, alcohol is destructive on our culture, but is it really that big of a problem FOR MOST REGENERATE CHRISTIANS?!?!?!?
I was astounded recently to hear an "evangelist" claim that something like 48% of SB members drink, and 16% of Southern Baptist church members are struggling alcoholics. That is ridiculous, and until I see verification, I reject these claims. In 10 years of ministry involving 4 different churches, I have never even had to deal with the issue of social drinking, much less a membership full of alcoholics! If this is to be at all believed, it is probably because of the 66% (or so) of unregenerate members we keep on our roles with no ministry of discipline in our churches! Perhaps the 50-66% of unregenerate members are drunks? Who knows what they are doing?!?! In most churches, they haven't been seen or heard from in years, which would reveal that the bigger problem is our ECCLESIOLOGY, which, ironically, the SBC refused to deal with by voting down a resolution that would have begun addressing a slipping ecclesiology. But I digress.... Back to my discussion of liberty...
This is where I make the parallel between flag-burning and liberty in the Christian life. With liberty in Christ, there comes responsibility. Where the Bible does not speak to certain issues (i.e. whether or not to listen to contemporary Christian music or southern gospel, whether or not women must wear a dress to church, whether or not to play cards or go to the movies, etc...), we must accept that the leadership of the Spirit and the guidance of the Word is sufficient, and NOT be tempted to legislate Christianity into a set of rules and regulations that the Bible does not lay out! Southern Baptists are seeking to say "thus saith the Lord" on an issue where the Lord has not spoken!
But more commonly, everyday Christians seek to do the same thing. Christianity is not a set of rules to be kept. It is a message of reconciliation in the cross of Christ. The Word of God speaks clearly and sufficiently to us about what behaviors are acceptable and not acceptable for Christians (hence, we are NOT anti-nomians). Furthermore, the scriptures provide principles for guidance in the questionably silent areas! But let us not be guilty of trying to define and regulate what is and is not Christian if the Bible is silent on such issues.
The Galatians did this, and Paul had a harsh response.
May Christian liberty be understood and enjoyed by Christians. And may America remain a truly free land...one of the only countries in the world where a flag can be burned and our soldiers will defend their right to do so. If you don't like burning flags, don't do it. If you despise Michael Moore and his ludicrous, accusatory fiction, then don't watch (or read) it. If South Park offends you, don't watch it and block out that channel on your cable, even boycott the advertisers if you wish. But when we get to the point of wanting to silence, jail or persecute every voice that expresses an opinion different than ours, we are dangerously close to becoming just like the regimes we are fighting to overthrow at this very hour in Iraq.
I do not fear being hunted down and decapitated for publishing these views. Thanks America! However, I fear that if some have their way in the SBC, my refusal to goose-step along with their fundamentalist ways will eventually lead to my being isolated, and perhaps pushed out of the SBC along with many of the greatest young minds and passionate hearts of our generation.
posted by pastorleap | 12:01 PM
1 Comments:
Terry:
Good seeing you in the blogosphere. Hope all is well and blessed in Grayson! We're in Lexington now at Boone's Creek BC (http://www.boonescreekchurch.com).
Give my best to your family,
Matt Perry
http://bromattsblog.wordpress.com
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