Caught in the Middle

Well, it seems that the Phelps family is going to set up shop outside of the SBC Annual Meeting next week. Apparently God hates Southern Baptists because we don't hate homosexuals; at least that seems to be the gist of the Phelps family's protest. Ironically, if past conventions are any indication, there will be activists from the gay community protesting against the SBC because of our hatred toward homosexuals. So basically we're getting slammed because we don't hate homosexuals and because we do hate homosexuals. Does this make sense to anyone out there?

It's easy to understand why the gay community isn't very fond of the SBC. We affirm the Bible's teaching that homosexuality is a sin. But that is hardly the same thing as hating someone. True, some of us act like jerks when we address this issue, but for the most part we try to speak the truth in love (or at least I hope that we do). Even when we do speak the truth in love, however, we should not be surprised when the world opposes us.

It's also not too hard to see why the Phelps group opposes the SBC. The SBC proclaims the biblical message of grace through faith and of God's love for sinners. From what I've seen of the Phelps group, they view the gospel as being all about wrath and judgment and God's hatred toward sinners. Yes, the Bible makes it clear that those who refuse to repent of their sins and follow Christ by faith are under God's wrath, but wrath is not a product of God's hatred but of His holiness.

It is not our place to judge and condemn sinners, but to love them with the love of Christ. His attitude toward sinners was, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin." The Phelps crowd would be critical of that first statement. The world, including the gay community, is critical of the second. Because of our stand for the Word of God, we find ourselves caught in the middle.

Not only will things be interesting inside the convention hall, it looks like it will be an interesting journey just to get inside.