It has been a long day! Let’s see… My first Sunday at Forest Lake Christian Church went well. Larry and I opened the doors at 8:00, made sure everything was ready-to-go, and at 9:15, Larry taught a class on Marriage. I’ll be teaching Sunday morning classes here in the next week or two. The service went well. The church partakes in a hymnbook, something I’m not used to, but we sing generally well-known songs, such as Amazing Grace and The Wonderful Cross. Larry preached a sermon on trusting God for His provisions and being good resources of our belongings and of the environment (he worried that it would seem to be just another fad sermon on Going Green, but his sermon was very biblical). We grabbed lunch at Wendy’s, hung out with Bryan and Gretchen, good friends of Larry and a pretty cool couple, and then I went to a Prayer & Praise gathering at the church. Seven people showed up, including me, and we spent some time talking and praying. Larry wasn’t there, so I felt slightly awkward, especially when some of the members started debating doctrine. I know that preachers and teachers are to instruct in doctrine, but what are you supposed to do when it’s an issue you’re not really sure about yourself? I couldn’t in good conscience totally back up any view, so I let them discuss it amongst themselves. The people here are really nice, very open, lots of fun. Most of the older members are quite passionate in their faith, and it’s nice to hear them rant and rave in that Minnesotan accent. Some people from the church came and visited Larry and I tonight; we sat in Larry’s living room and just chatted for a while. My nickname is “Cabbage Patch” because of my wild, ruffian hair. And while it’s been a long day, and I am absolutely exhausted (not to mention needing to make three phone calls before going to bed), I want to share with you an interesting conversation between Larry and an older woman we met Saturday evening at the wedding in Minneapolis:
Woman: “So you’re a preacher?”
Larry: “That’s right!”
Woman: “Oh, good. I would like to discuss your doctrine.”
Larry: “Absolutely, I’d love that.”
Woman: “Are you a Bible-teaching church?”
Larry: “Yes, we are.” (and here he briefly went into the logistics behind the Restoration Movement)
Woman: “Oh, good. Are you against abortion?”
Larry: “Absolutely.”
Woman: “Are you against gay marriage?” (she said this in a quiet tone)
Larry: (somewhat uncomfortable) “Yeah.”
I find it interesting that discussing doctrine deals with the issues of abortion and gay marriage, not on the deity of Christ, the pattern of salvation, or the work of the cross and the resurrection and what it entails. As to abortion and gay marriage, I’ve struggled much in regards to these issues. I’ll share my thoughts. While I believe that women have a choice in the matter as to whether or not abort a child (for God has designed us as free-will agents, completely capable of making our own decisions, for better or worse), I also believe that abortion (once it reaches a certain point in the fetus’ life) is murder, similar in wickedness to the evils of the Canaanites in their sacrificing of children to their pagan gods. When it comes to gay marriage, I’m not quite sure where I stand. I believe that homosexual activity is a sin (homosexuality, as a sexual orientation, is never addressed as a sin in the Greek New Testament), but I find difficulty with the argument that gays cannot be married because marriage is an institution created by God to unite Man and Woman. I find this argument flimsy when exploring Genesis 1-2, for these texts are used to defend this position, and it is widely known among scholars that these texts were written during the Israelites’ Babylonian exile, and they are not dated back to creation; much of early Genesis involves creation accounts, cultural folklore, and such of that nature. We find marriage as a custom before God called Abram out to be the father of many nations (thus igniting the Judeo-Christian movement); the origins of marriage are not quite known. And if you want to take the Genesis accounts literally, by all means do, but please notice that it is sex that joins Man and Woman, not marriage, in Genesis 1-3 (if taken literally, Adam and Eve are not married until after the Fall in Genesis 4).
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