In Part One, I explored whether members of the LGBTQ should be able to attend Church and concluded that, of course, they should. The Bible posits that we are all sinners. Therefore, excluding any sinner from seeking God would not only be contrary to the Gospel and Jesus’ actions while on this Earth, but it would also be hypocritical.
One thing we did not explore fully in part one I would now like to address concerns how the Church reacts to cultural sin. Culture tends to bob to and fro regarding how it views morality and immorality. The pendulum swings generationally. Not just 75 years ago, it was illegal to divorce in many States. I am not saying we should return to making divorce illegal. In a sin fallen modern world, this actually may be foolish. I am saying that Christians should not be swept away by the constantly changing tides of morality and law in the societies in which they live. Unfortunately, recent cultural changes show that they do.
I witnessed this first hand in the 90s amongst the Evangelicals and Charismatics. They became obsessed with the homosexual movement and its influence on the culture they lived. “Cultural Wars” became the warring cry of the conservative social warriors, enlisting the Body of Christ in the US to align with the moral majority and the Republican Party. The Church thought it could fulfill the order to preach the Gospel and make disciples through politics. This did not end well. The backlash took the form of what we are living with now; the social justice warriors and the woke. The seeds sowed produced an Orwellian nightmare.
The term ‘cultural war’ is not only in the Bible; it would take a wild and fancy form of exegesis to arrive there. In the West, we have two cultural influences. Hebraic law strongly influences our legal system. If you don’t believe me, take a slow tour of Leviticus and Numbers, and you will quickly understand how closely it resembles Western laws. The Hellenic (Greek) roots significantly influence our arts and recreation. Our movies come from Greek dramas, and we have gyms in every corner, just like the ancient Spartans. Stan Lee publicly stated that the Marvel heroes were based on Greek Gods.
These two influences, the hedonistic Greek culture and the Hebraic law are butting heads. This is the actual cultural war, and it has nothing to do with Christians or the Church. It is not our fight. Christians tend to align themselves to which side their worldly personality outlook favors, having very little to do with the Gospel.
The fruit it produces is what we witnessed in the 90s and early 00s; a Church hell-bent on keeping homosexuals from legally marrying (when one can make a case for same-sex marriage in a libertarian society). Meanwhile, the Church said nothing of the well-known fact that singles in the Body of Christ were sleeping together frequently and out of wedlock. Per the Bible, the promiscuous is the same boat as the homosexual.
The social predicament the Church finds itself in begs the question: Is anything goes concerning sin? Of course not. If that is so, how should the Church address sin in the Body of Christ and outside of it as well? I’m glad you asked. The Bible has answers to these questions. We shall address them in Part III.
