Christian Preacher Admits He Won’t Preach About Sexuality For Fear It May Offend Sexual Sinners
Not that I’m surprised in today’s uber-forgivey Christian culture concerning sexual sins (seriously, I’ve said this before and will say it again: where the heck is all this “slut shaming” going on in churches that the Christian feminists keep going on about, because I see the reverse: I see Christians constantly downplaying sexual sin and shaming adults who are virgins).
I don’t think churches should obsess about homosexuality, but on the other hand, to have such a dismissive attitude as the preacher quoted in this article has is not a good direction, either.
The attitude of the preacher interviewed, who says he is reluctant to condemn sexual sin from the pulpit, is sort of,
Shucky darn, we can’t risk offending the feelings of fornicators, so we can’t be preaching against sexual sins from the pulpit, now can we? <– my reaction to that: 🙄 (oh puhleeze!)
I do not support beating people up relentlessly over sexual sin, but this other extreme of “la la la, who cares, it doesn’t matter, la la la” doesn’t cut it, either, and it’s an affront to Christian men and women who are virgins past the age of 30.
Inadvertently, such “easy forgvisim, refuse to call sexual sin for what it is” attitudes as on display with the preacher in the article below is another assault and affront to adult virginity.
(Link): Pastor Carl Lentz Will Not Preach on Sexuality From Pulpit; Refuses to ‘Ostracize People’
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- BY NICOLA MENZIE , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
- December 20, 2013|12:18 pm
Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz has made it clear that he will not take a public stance on social issues like homosexuality because, as he said during media appearances this week, that is not the example Jesus Christ models in the Bible.
When asked during an interview with Katie Couric on her self-titled daytime show if he felt that he had a moral imperative to speak publicly about “some of these more controversial issues,” Lentz said, “No, because we try to be like Jesus.”
He explained, “Very rarely did Jesus ever talk about morality or social issues. He was about the deeper things of the heart. Often people want to talk about behavior modification, and our church isn’t about that. … We’re about soul transformation. You start talking about some of the symptomatic stuff, that’s not what we’re about. We’re about talking to people about their heart and the condition of their soul, and some of that stuff out-works itself. But we’re not trying to change anybody because we can’t.”
…Host Ahmed Shihab-Eldin asked Lentz, 35, if same-sex couples were welcomed to attend the popular megachurch, which prompted the Pentecostal pastor to speak out against critics who insist that he needs to make a public stance on homosexuality and other social issues.
“Some media wants us to use our pulpit to have a soapbox for social issues,” said Lentz. “I don’t believe that’s our job.”
…Pointing to Jesus as his example for ministry, Lentz added, “You go look at what Jesus did, he was always talking about the heart of an individual and the soul of a person, not these symptomatic societal problems. People hate that, because a lot of churches are about what they’re against. We’re about what we’re for.
“When it comes to people’s sexuality, I don’t want to use a public forum to talk about private things. Because how in the world could you have a dialogue? How in the world can I hear your story? How in the world can someone have a question?”
… Asked if he was “in a position to support homosexual couples,” the married father said, it was not his job to be a judge and jury for others.
“If I sat down with a homosexual couple and they ask me what I thought about their relationship, I would tell them, and it would be at their table and it would be our business. But their situation is different than the next situation,” Lentz explained.
“Often people get these two words mixed up: acceptance and approval. If someone comes to my church, I don’t have to approve of every single thing in their life, because that’s not my job. I’m not God. My job is to accept you as I have been accepted. With everything in my life, God accepted me. So acceptance and approval, we draw a really cool line in there…”
…”I refuse to ostracize people any longer, I hate it. I think that there’s been so much hate, and so much bigotry and so much insensitivity, I’m done with that,” said Lentz.
I agree in part that the church was not put in charge of reforming society whole scale, but Jesus did in fact deal with sexual sin and other problems in public.
The Pharisees routinely quizzed Jesus in front of crowds or his disciples about divorce, healing on the Sabbath, adultery, and other matters. Jesus did not back down but replied to each question or confrontation. He did not shy away.
Related posts:
(Link): Most Pastors Say Their Churches Never Discipline Members for Sinful Misconduct, Survey Finds
(Link): Scripture vs. the Sexual Deviancy Zeitgeist by M. P. Orsi
(Link): No, Christians Do NOT Support or Idolize Virginity and Celibacy, they attack both)
(Link): When Adult Virginity and Adult Celibacy Are Viewed As Inconvenient or As Impediments
(Link): Some Researchers Argue that Shame Should Be Used to Treat Sexual Compulsions
(Link): Religious Dating Sites: More than Half of Users Surveyed Are OK with Premarital Sex (2014)
(Link): Why So Much Fornication – Because Christians Have No Expectation of Sexual Purity
(Link): More Anti Singleness Bias From Al Mohler – Despite the Bible Says It Is Better Not To Marry
(Link): Article: Our Born-Again Virgin Bachelor – Secondary or Spiritual Virginity
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