We 21st Century American Christians are awesome!

We’re sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good at grace!

But don’t take my word for it…read this article.

It references that famous adulteress woman who was given backstage access to meet Jesus against her wishes.

This is what happens in a group of people who have sound theology but are lacking in love. A Colosseum culture develops. Everyone rallies around a common enemy—the sinner. Robbers, evildoers, tax collectors, adulterers and adulteresses. And then the pouncing and the piling on. The shaming.

Ugh.

Another article shaming Christians for shaming sinners.

My comic instincts tell me this is a place for playful sarcasm.

But I’m soooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of this crap.

(I replaced the original word with ‘crap’ because I care about my sensitive readers.)

Satire is often misunderstood and I want to be perfectly clear:

The people who brought the woman to Jesus were obeying God!

Surprise!!!!

Those people ‘pouncing and piling on’ where following the law.

If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. – Deuteronomy 22:22

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife–with the wife of his neighbor–both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. – Leviticus 20:10

You shall not commit adultery – Exodus 20:14

BTW: That last one is one of the 10 FREAKING commandments!

It’s on the list with ‘Don’t Murder People’, for crying out loud!

Here’s the problem:

We 21st Century American Christians don’t like God’s rules.

We’re squeamish about sin.

We really hate that God has standards for behavior.

It’s sooooooooooooo old-fashioned and out of touch!

We think the church is supposed to be God’s press agent.

Our job is to make God attractive to our enlightened, cynical culture.

After all, “No one ever came to Jesus because a Christian scolded them.”

You could be right…

…but you’re not.

Exhibit “A” – The adulteress woman herself.

The scolding including dragging her naked through the streets.

That ruffles our western sensibilities, doesn’t it?

We don’t get riled up about adultery.

Live and let live.

Love wins!

God is cool with adultery.

God is cool with homosexuality.

God is cool with transgenderism.

God is cool with pedophilia…

Sorry.

Too far?

Probably…but not for long.

Give us 21st Century American Christians another generation or two…

…and we’ll be “loving” pedophiles into the church too!

Because instead of reading the Bible we’re reading articles about the Bible.

We 21st Century American Christians are sanctimonious nitwits.

And our Westernized Gospel is useless.

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3 Responses

  1. Well the Pharisees failed to drag the guy out too, so they weren’t obeying God in the first place. There doesn’t have to be two halves of this conversation. You can have instruction, correction and good shame with love, compassion and a selfless motive. The Pharisees had none of the latter. They were just trying to frame Jesus whatever way they could to protect their own backsides. Also, Jesus’ lack of condemnation to the woman did not come with a “get out of jail free card”. After extending mercy, He said “go your way and sin no more”. The Relevant article and your article are not mutually exclusive. Love people and tell the truth. What I take away from it is you don’t have to put up with crap from people, but you don’t have to be a jerk about it either. My 2.0.

  2. 100% agree John. Great post.

    I used to belong to a church where the enlightened members tried to explain to me that Jesus never condemns homosexuality. So it must be ok for Christians to be homosexuals.

    Same church said that the places in the Bible where Paul condemns homosexuality weren’t the same as homosexuals today. Those homosexuals in Paul’s time where mean and nasty, today’s homosexuals are loving and kind. Surely no God would condemn loving and kind people. Makes me wonder if the adulterers in Jesus’s time were loving and kind to each other?

    lorne

  3. “The scolding included dragging her naked through the streets…”

    And–ta-da–there was Jesus! 🙂 (So much for “no one came to Jesus when a Christian scolded them.”) I suspect the same is true of the drunk dude at the Bible study, who was mentioned in the original article. I’m guessing he had been “scolded” about the wrongness of being a deadbeat dad/husband at least once, before he showed up there.

    Law comes first. She knew she deserved to die because law came first. The mercy of Jesus had an impact on everyone in the group because they were very familiar with the law…because Law came first.

    It’s nothing to apologize about. It’s what makes the Gospel beautiful.

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