Why I disagree with JMU's anti-gay preacher

I have to admit that when I first saw this video posted on facebook last week, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. For anyone who doesn't care to watch it, the video shows a group of JMU students singing about the love of Jesus in response to a man whom the media dubbed a "homophobic preacher." My initial response to the title was that the singing was probably a great idea, but unfortunately I couldn’t pick up anything of consequence that the preacher was saying in this clip. I thought it could possibly be just another exaggerated use of the word homophobic.

Since then, I have seen several articles posted about the event. They helped me understand the brouhaha a little better, especially the one with a few direct quotes from the preacher that day.

"All homos are going to hell!"

"All you horny frat boys that love to do drugs and get drunk, you are going to hell!" 

But what clinched my final take on the situation was hearing the tale from the anti-gay preacher himself. Here are just a few highlights.

"Within the hour there were over 200 students in the area, and The Holy Ghost and I made sure to openly reprove and rebuke them for their sins against God, and against each other."

"...we noticed a group of students lined up holding hand made signs, which obviously were meant to judge and condemn us."

" False teachers and professing Christians (male and female) rudely interrupted me and attempted to 'preach' their little ‘sermonette’s,’seeking to undermine the preaching and the authority of God’s word which was forcefully condemning them and their selfish lifestyle. An incident including a sinful and intolerant young man playing a love song on an acoustic guitar..."

"We are thankful that God has showed us such favor, in allowing us to be used to stir up the campus and city as he did for the Kingdom of His Son."

Such an ironic choice of words from this guy...

I had the, er, privilege of reading a few of his other blog posts as well. This included the one where he reveals that Christians no longer sin. Ever. (Think I must have taken it out of context? I beg to differ.) Root problem, right there. I'm not saying we can trace all of this guy's problems back to this one belief, but I believe it says a great deal about his behavior. When someone believes that they're immune to sin, then they automatically consider any criticism as persecution from the devil. (Martyr complex, anyone?) After all, it's impossible for them to be in the wrong. Whatever pops into their mind (traveling around to multiple college campuses to rebuke students, just as a random example) becomes tantamount to the voice of God itself.

Paul himself spoke of his ongoing battle to master fleshly desires. He did what he didn't want to do and didn't do what he wanted to do. I can relate. It is my greatest desire is to daily take up my cross and follow Christ. Yet somehow, I still fall short of His best every day. Oh, but not guys like this. Somehow they've managed to achieve perfection. They're on par with God Himself. Such a foolish and dangerous belief.

Nut Job and I do agree on one point, though. God is holy. What we do not agree on is everything else. No, I take that back. He wrote a post about how that guy who predicted the end of the world in 2011 would be wrong. We agree on that point, too. 

Back to God's holiness, though. He is a holy and perfect God. I've never heard  anyone disagree that this is the Bible's claim. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. We all need the grace and mercy provided through the death of Jesus Christ. The all-confrontation-is-bad crowd opposite Mr. Perfection errs when they fail to acknowledge that a holy God cannot abide with sin. 

I have no problem with an individual who wants to proclaim that we all need Christ. We do. But sin is not where the story ends. Preachers who focus on everything we're doing wrong give the impression that salvation is based on our works. That if homosexuals became heterosexuals and the frat boys stopped drinking and doing drugs, they would no longer be on their way to hell. That's a lie, and t
hey do injustice to the beauty of Christ's redemptive story. "Stirring up the campus" is not the equivalent of preaching the need for repentance. When God called us to be bold, I'm fairly certain He didn't mean spouting off whatever we don't like about those around us. Common sense doesn't leave as the Holy Spirit arrives.

Let's be honest. Who doesn't know that the Bible speaks out against homosexuality? I'm not saying that some don't try and explain it away, but in order to do so, you have to know it's in there.  The fact that we all fall short and need to accept the forgiveness Christ offers is probably much less well known. Still inflammatory, but exceedingly more important. Trying to purposely make people angry is not the great commission. Yelling condemnations in a public forum doesn't make you faithful- it makes you ineffective, and that's really the main point I'm trying to make here.

The most important lesson we need to take away from this news story is what sharing the Gospel should look like. It's not a pat answer, either. It's not universal, and it doesn't apply to every situation.

Paul speaks to this reality in I Corinthians:19-23. His words shed light on how exactly we are to carry out the great commission. "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."

People are different. They have different families, backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, life experiences, educations, cultures, and so on and so forth. My husband went on a missions trip to India a couple years ago, and it was astonishing how different the church looks over there. They express their faith differently, preach the Gospel differently, treat each other differently, and more. Not because Americans are better, but because we are different. Those who fail to recognize that people do not all learn in the same way will inevitably be ineffective ministers to anyone not similar to themselves. Any time a missionary prepares to go overseas, they learn what the culture is like where they're going. It is not immoral. It doesn't indicate that they are "watering down the truth." They want to minister in a way that the people understand, and so should we in our own country.

My theology professor described the changing of societal norms as a pendulum swing. Rather than bringing extremes to a balance, society will usually end up at the complete opposite extreme.Once upon a time, morality (though not the equivalent of faith) was widespread in America. It was preached dogmatically, and everyone everywhere felt free to be up in your business. People got tired of this and went to the other extreme, where anyone who challenged your thinking or behavior was considered judgmental or intolerant. Neither of these ways of thinking are correct.

I was recently involved in a facebook debate in which the initiator was emphasizing God's wrath over his love. One participant stated, "Frankly I much prefer someone who errs on the side of not being
nice to someone who regularly avoids telling the truth to avoid being offensive." Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Why err at all? Why not just try and encompass the whole of Scripture into the way that we interact with others? We can be truthful and kind at the same time. People will still accuse you of hate, but no need to prove them right.

One fault is not lesser than the other. It is not okay to be hateful or skirt the truth. Love is always kind, AND it always speaks the truth. Just because our human nature wants to fall to one side of the spectrum does not mean that the Holy Spirit can't give us the power to maintain the proper balance. Three words: First Corinthians thirteen. Love is all those things, simultaneously! Remembering that our battle is not against flesh and blood can help maintain a proper perspective. Without love, we are the equivalent of a clanging gong.

Pointless. Without love, we are pointless. Strong words.

As a parent, I find it helpful to think of how I teach my children. I'm not saying everyone else thinks like children, rather I'm referring to my own attitude and behavior. I can disagree with my kids without resorting to name calling or threatening hellfire. I can explain why because I genuinely want them to understand, not so I can win an argument. I would never try to purposely rile up my children or ridicule them. Nor would I leave out the truth or water it down. I want them to know it, because I care about them. Accepting every behavior they exhibit would be disastrous. And yet, even with each of them, our conversation looks a little different. I teach each one differently, and I communicate love to each one differently. It is for their sake, despite the fact that it would be easiest for me to teach and love in the way that comes naturally to me.

If you're ministering to a crowd who is easily offended, and I would say on a college campus you almost certainly are, then yelling statements you know will make them angry is probably not going to draw any of them to Christ. On the opposite spectrum, only teaching that God loves everyone without emphasizing a need for repentance and surrender will not draw anyone to Christ either. At least not in a meaningful way- we don't want to sow seeds that are easily scorched by the sun or plucked up by a bird.

Thinking about this story has really challenged me. I need to do better, probably most of us do, at paying attention to the needs of others. Sometimes I need to be more patient, and sometimes I need to be bolder, firmer. It is the Holy Spirit who influences people to come to repentance, but we are the body of Christ. We are the salt and the light. We are Christ's hands and feet. We represent Him to the world.

Hypocrisy has done more damage to the cause of Christ than probably anything. The world needs to know that Christianity is not just a big show. God's promises are true. They need to know that He genuinely does change us. We still mess up (sometimes big), but it is Christ who gives us the strength to get back up again. And almost anyone can tell you, Christians are supposed to be known for our love.

We're not just zealots who want to shove our morality down others' throats. (Are we?)

We're not just trying to win arguments about whether a certain behavior is right. (Are we?)

We're not just trying to convert people to our religion. (Are we?)

We're not just trying to make everyone feel good about themselves. (Are we?)

We're not trying to define love as acceptance of sin. (Are we?)

All things to all people. I don't think it looks like sharing the gospel message only in the way that makes us feel comfortable, be that harsh or soft. The emphasis is on the receiver, not the giver. If it is genuinely out of love that we proclaim truth, then let us proclaim both truth and love.

"I do all this for the sake of the gospel..."

Jars of Clay vocalist supports gay marriage

***Update (4-26-14): The day after I wrote this, Dan Haseltine posted an apology for his egregious miscommunication. I still believe the principles/overall theme I've written about are correct, but would probably amended some details if his response had been posted sooner. All that to say, there is a link to his response following this post. Definitely worth the time to read his side of the story. I'm not sure that it's a complete reversal, but I was at least happy to know that he made an effort to clarify.***

Rules. Every household has them.When I was growing up, my sisters and I were only allowed to listen to Gospel/Contemporary Christian music. So for this reason, I am (or at least used to be) well acquainted with the group Jars of Clay. 

Flood was my personal favorite of their songs. I know it's fluffy, but I was in middle/high school, ok? Cut me some slack. And besides, they really do have some great songs. Even my sister who broke the rules and preferred "secular" music liked them. Their first album was listened to many a time in our house.

I really haven't even thought about Jars of Clay for years, until today. I saw on facebook today that their lead singer Dan Haseltine has come out in support of gay marriage, so I looked it up for myself. This and other articles confirm the claim, as well as Haseltine's twitter account.

 If you scroll back on his feed, you can see that the original tweets seem to be an articulation of his thoughts after watching 12 Years a Slave. I haven't seen the movie, but from a read-through of all of his comments, I get the impression that he is equating racists to those who consider homosexuality to be a sin.

His first tweet on the matter was "The treatment of people as less than human based on the color of skin is crazy... Or gender, or sexual orientation for that matter." Actually, I don't disagree with any part of that statement. It makes me so angry to hear people of any race, gender, sexual orientation, political party, religion, etc. belittle the worth of someone who disagrees with them. When it comes to the value of a person, we are all the same. Most people would agree, even though they seem to forget this truth when it comes to heated arguments over controversial subjects.

Unfortunately, though, the tweets didn't end there.

Here is the first one that I'd like to address. "Because most people read and interpret scripture wrong. I don't think scripture 'clearly' states much of anything regarding morality."

First off, who determines who "most people" are? Do I fall into this erroneous category? Does Haseltine? Or is he the one who determines who is or is not interpreting Scripture correctly? I'm not so sure he thought through that sweeping generalization.

Second, if Scripture doesn't "clearly" give us guidelines for morality, then why is he reading it? Why has he made a career singing about Jesus if He made false claims about morality? And how do his other tweets line up with that claim?

"It is perhaps less important to know what is 'right and wrong' morally speaking, than to know how to act toward those we consider 'wrong.'"

"I don't particularly care about Scriptures stance on what is 'wrong.' I care more about how it says we should treat people."

Um.... The subject of how we treat someone that we disagree with is a moral issue. And if he doesn't care about what the Scripture says on one moral issue, then why, pray tell, does he care about the moral issue of our treatment of others? Not to mention, what Scripture has he read to give him the impression that classifying something as a sin is the equivalent of treating someone badly? Jesus did it constantly. He actually said, "Go and sin no more." (Helpful pointer: This means people do sin, but that there is hope.) His whole ministry revolved around helping others by physical healing and instruction on what it means to honor God.

I guess I just find it ironic when anyone accuses people of pointing fingers by pointing fingers. Essentially, they are unintentionally proving that it is OK to confront sin. And it is.

Here's where you might assume I was going to start addressing the issue of homosexuality, but I have no desire to discuss  that in this post. The issue at stake here is much bigger than that. (Not to mention I'm so tired of Christians singling out homosexuality as though it were the unpardonable sin. Confront some other issues for a change!)

What I consider to be one of the biggest problems with this whole situation, and countless others like it, is that the privilege and task of Bible study has been largely overlooked by the church (at least here in America). I don't just mean in liberal churches. Conservative ones are just as guilty. Oh, sure, in depth Bible study may be preached as an ideal, and we talk about how great it is. But talk and reality are two very different matters. In my experience anyway, most of us struggle with consistency in this area. Even when I've attended organized Bible studies, the majority of the participants haven't completed their weekly studying. Sometimes I fall into that category myself.

So my questions are...

Do we really dig into the meat of Scripture like we should? Do we value it as God's redemptive story, or do we just see it as a helpful book that we sometimes get around to reading? Do we seek its truth diligently, or do we skim over it because we've read it before? Do we eagerly anticipate God's message when we read, or are we more interested in checking the task off our to-do list?

I honestly believe that if Christians, not just churches but individuals, would return to valuing and searching out the Word of God, then we would stop having so many stories like this one. The Bible in its original transcript should either be highly regarded in its entirety, or thrown out completely.

(And before someone accuses me of eating bacon, I'm not talking about following Old Testament codes here-I'm talking about studying why those codes are no longer necessary. "Why" is such an important question in all areas of life.)

This isn't the first time that I've heard someone simultaneously preach love and dismiss morality. The hypocrisy of it all is what's so frustrating for me. When someone is an atheist and chooses their own moral code, then he is not acting hypocritically. If there were no God, then we would all have no choice but to decide what was right for us. It's when men pick and choose haphazardly based solely on their own opinions that really gets to me. I think this is why God says He would rather us be hot or cold. It's the lukewarm that He will "spew out of his mouth."

And I'm not saying that we as Christians should all agree on everything all the time. We don't. We never will. And that's OK. There are so many trivial issues that folks get all huffy about! But dismissing Scripture by claiming no moral codes are clear in it? Hmmm, not so much OK. If "love" is all that's clear, then I find it especially ironic that Haselstine isn't defining it correctly. I Corinthians 13 is a very helpful tool to define it (and he even mentions this in a later tweet). Nothing in that passage promotes not calling out sin. Quite the opposite in fact. Love doesn't rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. But really the whole of Scripture is necessary to define love, which leads to the solution to our root problem.

We have got to dive into God's Word, and we've got to go about it the right way.

There are some critically important things to remember when we're reading the Bible. Before we even start reading, it's important to pray for God to make us receptive. So many, non-Christians and Christians alike, search the Bible with an intent to prove something rather than an intent to learn something. When we seek wisdom from God, we find it.

And right along those lines, we need to be open-minded when it comes to Scripture. Right off the top of my head I can think of three major issues that I believe were incorrectly taught to me from the Bible as a child. The reason I changed my mind about them is that I challenged what I was taught. There may be just as many issues that hold up to scrutiny, but the important thing is to study them as though any belief is a viable option. That's just a basic way to determine what the Bible actually says.

Context is of utmost importance when it comes to determining what the Bible has to say on any issue. Really that's not just a Bible study tip, it's a generally good principle to follow in life. Don't make a decision about anything before you know the whole story. The Bible needs to be taken as a whole, not just studied in piecemeal fashion. It's a beautiful story of redemption, but it needs to be read cover to cover to even begin to understand the story. And don't just take someone else's word for it. Commentaries can be helpful, but what the Word actually says is infinitely more important.

Sounds like a lot of work, right? It is. Many people have studied the Bible their whole lives, and they still don't understand it all. Let's not let that discourage us! We can continue to learn more and more about God's extraordinary plan for this world when we apply ourselves diligently and consistently. We can learn what God values and places emphasis on throughout Scripture, and we can discern which matters are simply based on man's opinions.

I genuinely hope that Christians will take the time to consider this story on a deeper level, rather than just googling Bible verses on homosexuality to tweet at Haseltine. He makes some very good points in the discussion as a whole, including...


"Interesting how Christianity was both a proponent of slavery and the force behind abolishing it."

 Another example in which Christians were ignorant of what Scripture has to say.

"If we know or do not know the particulars of a persons 'wrongs,' we should love them the same. Correct?" 

By the definition of love as patience, kindness, humility, etc.? Absolutely!!

"Wow this escalated really quickly! :) I am simply asking questions. Don't quite know how I've offended so many."

This last one says so much about the response he's been getting. Let's not live up to the hateful reputation that has been thrust upon us as Christians. It's OK for people to have questions. In fact, it's desirable. But with those questions, I pray that those who find themselves on one "side" of any issue will seek truth, not proof.

Our lack of regard for the importance of studying God's Word is a big, BIG deal. I pray that God will help me to lead by example. I pray that God will ignite a burning desire within us to learn from Scripture each and every day, and that this desire produces faithful obedience. I pray that we will recognize that the heart of this story, the real problem, is not homosexuality. It is our own failure as a church to remain faithful to what God has called us to do.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." II Timothy 2:15

***Dan Haseltine's response: http://danhaseltine.com/blog/2014/4/25/reset-contexttangentapology.html.