The Tornado, the Lutherans, and Homosexuality

John Piper posted on the implications of the tornado in downtown Minneapolis that hit the location of the ELCA convention, where they intend to vote on whether homosexuality should disqualify a person from the pulpit.

Any thoughts?

Gay Pride Parade

You can't miss all the news stories about Gay Pride parades all over the place. Can anyone explain "gay pride" to me? I'm attracted to the opposite sex, but that's just something that's true about me. I wouldn't say I'm proud of it, anymore than the fact that I like to watch Scrubs. You won't see me in a Scrubs Pride parade anytime soon, or a Hetero Pride parade either for that matter. I must be missing something.

How Low Can We Go?

This isn't about stocks or the economy. It's about the human condition.
I read this article this morning, and it absolutely blew my mind. It was the first I had heard of it, and I've been kinda depressed all day because I can't stop thinking about how far we've fallen. What were these dudes thinking? I haven't a clue. If life sucks and you're mad at the world, just stick your head out the window and yell, "AHHHHHH!!!" Don't inject people with infected blood. Some people might say, "How can there be a god if this sort of thing can happen?" To me, it makes me think there has to be a God. There needs to be, because if this is where humanity is heading and there is no god, then there is no hope available anywhere. But there is hope in the fact that Jesus sacrificed Himself to redeem people who were as far gone as these guys. There's hope for them, for you, for me, for child molesters, everybody.

You picture the Garden of Eden, where life was good in every sense of the word. And then you hear of this story. I can't begin to imagine what life is now like for the fourteen victims who woke up to find that not only had they been drugged and raped, but intentionally infected with HIV. Man, that's a hangover you don't get rid of with an aspirin. I'm sorry to put up such a downer of a post, but it's pretty much consumed my mind today.

Glide

Several years back, my wife and I were in San Francisco visiting our daughter. When Saturday rolled around and we mentioned going to church the next day, she recommended Glide Memorial, where she had been a few times with friends. Well, if you've ever been to San Francisco you know that just about everything there has a pretty liberal feel to it and Glide was no exception. As we sat in church behind a couple of girls with their arms around each other, (I'd guess same-sex couples made up around 10 to 20 percent of the congregation) we felt like a couple of sore thumbs in a large room full of fingers. We're pretty conservative socially, politically, and to my surprise I'm starting to think, religiously. We're used to hearing the Word preached: Sin, repentance, forgiveness, new life, worship. Most of what we heard at Glide was social justice. I have nothing against social justice, but the Knights of Columbus and Kiwanis and Lions clubs could just about be under Glide's umbrella of ministry. I don't think I heard anything about anyone's need for Jesus that day.

I do remember hearing how Glide helps alcoholics break free from their addiction, brings food to the hungry, aid to the handicapped, and acceptance to the GLBT crowd. I thought, "What?!! By that logic, you should be serving alcohol to alcoholics, taking food from the hungry, and crippling the handicapped! It would deliver the same amount of help."

In certain circles, there's a lot of debate over whether we should be focused on our personal relationship with Jesus or loving and serving our neighbor (essentially, Jesus vs social justice). Well I think that's a crazy debate because the answer is so obviously "Both" (Matt 22:37-40).
But as a picture of how far off course Glide has gone, I took this quote from the About Us portion of their website: "In 1967, Cecil [Williams, then-head pastor] ordered the cross removed from the sanctuary, exhorting the congregation instead to celebrate life and living."
Also, from Williams's profile on the site, "His vision for a truly inclusive church has attracted a 10,000 member congregation, an extended family, who reflect the diversity of the world- all races, ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations and religions. What brings this community of people together is the common search for acceptance, spiritual growth, and social justice."


Not sure where the spiritual growth is there. Not sure where the end of this post is either. How about here?
/rant