On Self-Censoring Christians

By -

I have been only vaguely aware of an Atlanta minister by the name of Louie Giglio. What brought him to my attention today was an announcement he made concerning his voluntarywithdrawal from participation in President Obama’s upcoming inauguration on January 21. He had been invited to offer a benediction—an invitation he at first accepted, but has since declined. And why did he decline? Because an organization called ThinkProgress uncovered a veritable scandal. It seems that Giglio, the pastor of Passion City Church, committed a heinous offense.  What grave misdeed did he commit, you ask, to move him to offer this voluntary penance? Nearly twenty years ago he preached a sermon in which he said—oh, the horror of it!—that homosexual acts are sinful. ThinkProgress posted excerpts of the sermon, which they characterized as “disturbing” and “rabidly anti LGBT”.  They were nothing of the sort, of course. The excerpts clearly show Giglio’s concern for people ensnared by this particular sin and call the faithful to “lovingly but firmly respond to the aggressive agenda of not all, but of many in the homosexual community.”  His comments were really pretty tame. One hardly gets the impression of a preacher pounding the pulpit and frothing at the mouth. But that’s how ThinkProgress represents the situation. But then again, groups like ThinkProgress are not known to give a fair representation of Christians.

My concern, however, is not so much with ThinkProgress, as it is with Giglio. He should not have withdrawn his acceptance of the invitation to pray at the president’s inauguration. Doing so gives the impression that he agrees with the assessment that it was wrong of him to preach against homosexuality and that someone who upholds the biblical standard of sexual morality is not fit to participate in the public square. He said that he was afraid the controversy surrounding his participation would detract from “the core message and goals” of his ministry. He further stated that he did not wish to be “in a fight on an issue not of our choosing.” This is not an issue that I particularly relish either, but we must fight wherever the enemy is attacking. Martin Luther is reported to have said,

If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.[1]

I wish Giglio had something of the spirit of Luther in him. Luther was anything but tame. Of course, if Giglio should write or preach like Luther, it’s doubtful that he would have been invited to pray at Obama’s inauguration in the first place.

Giglio’s withdrawal smacks of moral cowardice. If the invitation was to be terminated, he should have waited for the White House to terminate it. Then it would have been seen just how radical the president is, and just how intolerant he is of orthodox Christianity. When the world is doing everything in its power to silence and censor Christian speech, the last thing we need is a self-censoring pastor.



[1] The quote is often attributed to Luther, although there is some doubt as to whether or not he was the original source.

Comments

Traveler Andrew Sheets said…
Amen! Great post! You might want to check out sola sisters take on this man. as the days draw closer to the rapture of the true church, we will see more and more separation come out.
January 11, 2013 at 9:58 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why did Jesus say, "Don't Tell"?

By -
Why did Jesus tell the people he healed not to tell anyone? This is a curious thing, isn’t it? Especially in light of the fact that Jesus has commissioned us to make him known. We find that on several occasions during his earthly ministry that Jesus told the people whom he healed not to let anyone know about it. This was not always the case, however. For instance, when Jesus delivered the Gerasene demoniac from the power of Satan, and the man “begged that he might be with him… Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you’” (Lk. 8:38-39). So here’s one time, at least, when Jesus told a man to tell everyone. But on most other occasions he told people not to tell. In Matthew 9 we read about two blind men whom Jesus healed. It says, And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it” (Matt 9:30). In the first chapter of Mark we read of a leper who was healed; and it says, Jesus sternly charged h
Read more

The New Testament's most prolific authors

By -
Image
Have you ever wondered who the most prolific authors of the New Testament are? Well, wonder no more because here's the skinny: the top three by far are Luke, Paul, and John. Some people will perhaps be surprised to learn that Paul doesn’t stand at the head of the list. The claim is often made that he wrote most of the New Testament. Not so. To be sure, he wrote the most books , but Luke wrote the most words, although their totals are very close to each other. Together, the two men wrote just over half of the New Testament.  Of the 138,020 Greek words in the New Testament, Luke wrote 27.5 percent (37,932). Paul wrote 23.5 percent (32,408). If we take Hebrews to have been written by Paul—the traditional view, though opposed by the consensus of modern biblical scholarship—then the numbers are almost identical. The total number of words written by Paul rises to 37,361 (or 27.1 percent of the total).   For a break down of the numbers, see the two charts below. Click to enlarg
Read more

When your brother has something against you

By -
What does Jesus mean when he says in Matthew 5:23-24, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift”? He’s referring to bringing a sacrifice or an offering to the temple to present as a gift to God as an act of worship. And he says that if while you are doing this you remember that someone has something against you, you must first go and make it right, or God will not find the act of worship acceptable. Now, I suppose the question largely has to do with what Jesus means when he speaks of someone “having something against you”. We should be very clear about this. He doesn’t mean that your worship is unacceptable to God just because your neighbor is upset with you, regardless of why he is upset. He means that your neighbor has a legitimate grievance against you because you have sinned against him. You h
Read more