January 31, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Twinkie Salad” on Joe Dallas’s website: “It’s become chic to say Christians should be known more by what we’re for than what we’re against. Usually the phrase is employed to criticize believers who openly stand against abortion, homosexuality, pornography or unclean entertainment. (Though interestingly enough, if the same believers stand against human trafficking or child abuse, no one pulls out the For and Against line.) And to a point I agree. If our primary message has been a one-note tirade against select sins, then yeah, we blew it. That’s Law without Gospel, obsession with one vice over another, a set of Thou Shalt Nots with no remedy offered.”

“But is that really what’s happened? … Or could it be that when believers – prominent ones, especially – mention their opposition to a sin, that statement alone gets picked up, thrown into the 24-hour news cycle, and repeated ad infinitum, leaving the public to assume the believer talked of nothing else?” …

“Because the fact is, you can’t be for something without being against something else. If you’re for love, you oppose hate. If you’re pro-Democracy, you’re anti-Communist. That’s no indicator you dwell on what you’re against; it only clarifies your position. So it’s absurd to presume that just because we say some things are wrong, we thereby think of nothing else.” …

“I’m glad we’re at least reflective enough to question the way we’ve expressed sacred truths, and in that area, I’ve got a pretty long list of corrections we could make. Some of us have been borderline blow-hards in the way we’ve condemned without balance, and nothing good comes from that. But by and large, at least for my part, I cannot see any way to express God’s heart and mind on current issues without stating support for some things, disagreement with others, and overt opposition to some. Can’t be helped.”

“So this weekend I’m reminded that, to be relevant and faithful in the America of 2014, I need to know the Word of God, seek the Heart of God, and express, clearly and without compromise, both. Whatever the results, I figure that alone will determine what sort of steward I’ve been.”