In the “strange but true” category, some allegedly gay guy has sued Christian publishing behemoths Zondervan and Thomas Nelson for a total of $70 million. He claims his constitutional rights were infringed upon because these publishers deliberately caused homosexuals to suffer by misinterpretation of the Bible (deliberating interpreting 1 Corinthians 6:9 to include “homosexuals” in the list of those who are “wicked” and won’t “inherit the kingdom of heaven”). BTW, thanks to jcubed who posted this news story to the ConversantLife community submitted news under the heading “Bible Publishers Sued for Anti-Gay References.”

Here is the article

Some might think that I’m a good candidate to express on opinion on this case because I’m a lawyer. But that probably isn’t true. First of all, I’m trying not to be a lawyer, but I keep getting sucked back into it. Secondly, I’m not a very good lawyer. And, perhaps most importantly, I’m a probate lawyer – which means I’m better qualified to express an opinion about the plaintiff only after he is dead.

My leanings toward reformed theology make me reject the terminology of a “seeker” church. We don’t seek God; He seeks us. Nonetheless, you know what I mean when I use the label. So, allow me to say that I attend a seeker church. I don’t want to be in a seeker church, but it seems clear to my wife and me that God has directed us to this church. So, we’re staying (for now, knowing that God directs our steps while we can’t always understand the journey – Proverbs 20:24).

I take some solace in the fact that I’m not sure the church wants to be seekerish. I detect evidence of schizophrenia. It wants to go deeper, but I think it feels that it needs to be more seeker-oriented to be perceived as hip and culturally relevant up here in the Pacific Northwest – apparently the most “unchurched” region in the U.S.

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Can we start with the premise that Christians are not held in high regard in society?  According to my purely anecdotal research, Christians have managed to slide down the societal acceptability chart to a position that is slightly below telephone solicitors and personal injury lawyers.  For each notch that they move lower on the chart, Christians raise the respectability of some other annoying segment of society.  So, by contrast, they keep looking progressively worse.

I’m sure that I won’t get an argument over this assertion from those who identify themselves as existing outside the circle of Christianity.  But it may surprise you to know that Christians don’t argue with this premise either.   

I frequently have the opportunity to speak before Christian groups.  The audiences usually range in size from 200 to 2,000 people in attendance.  As often as possible, I use these forums to conduct an informal survey.  I don’t have any formal polling methodology; I just ask this simple question:  “What one word best describes the reputation that Christians have in our society?”  Here are the most frequent responses:

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In an earlier incarnation, I used to be just like you – sprinting along the pathway of my strategically chosen career. I wanted to have it all – a challenging career that was rooted in my passion for Christ. Oh, blissful ignorance! Little did I know the impending torment that was in store for me. But, wait. My story starts way before this.

As a kid, I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. After all, from a young age I could manipulate the truth to my advantage (usually directing blame to my sisters for some offense I committed). I had an uncanny ability to make statements that were entirely true but conveyed an opposite meaning. So, when mom’s favorite lamp was in shatters on the floor and I was accused of breaking it, I could honestly say, “I never even touched that lamp.” Truer words were never spoken, because it was the football I kicked from the living room that actually touched the lamp. That, my friends, is the essence of being a lawyer – to find ambiguity, and then to exploit it to your own advantage. (The fact that I danced along the Bible’s demarcation of deception as a sin apparently didn’t phase me.)

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Right upfront I want to say that this not intended to be a political blog. I put Obama’s name in the title because he said what I’m going to talk about, but I’m much more interested in the philosophy behind the statement than who said it.

Here’s the back-story (just in case you’ve been living in a media-free cave since the last weekend in March). While campaigning in Pennsylvania, Obama appeared to back a hypothetical abortion by his daughters saying he wouldn't "punish" them with a baby. Here is a transcript of his comments:

"When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include -- which should include abstinence education and teaching the children -- teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But it should also include -- it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

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I’m sitting here in a hotel in Nashville where I’m attending the annual convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. All of the televangelist are here, from the good to the … others. Lots of comb-overs, and most of the rest have high hair. (The unofficial motto here seems to be “the higher the hair, the closer to God.”)

I’m glued to the TV, but I’m not watching a televangelist. I’m watching the news stories about Spitzer’s prostitute fiasco. My mind flashes back to what my mom always told me as a little kid: “Be sure your sins will find you out.”

Political commentators and the friends and enemies of Spitzer are saying similar things. “He should have known that he would get caught, so he shouldn’t have done it.”

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I was bored last Sunday in church during the sermon. My mind started wandering. I couldn’t help it. I found myself wondering what we, as 21st century Christians, are trying to accomplish with church sermons. What follows are a few of the thoughts that occurred to me during this momentary subconscious drifting. Oh, perhaps I should confess that I was the guy who was preaching while these random thoughts ran through my mind.

First, let me clarify that I subscribe to the Long Tail theory for sermons. I know that Chris Anderson was talking about business services and products when he postulated his theory. But the principle applies to churches (and sermons) as well. There will be a few of the mega-churches that serve large congregations, but Christianity is well-served by having lots of smaller churches with a variety of teaching, worship and ministry styles. So, by this and subsequent blogs, I’m not suggesting a complete overhaul of all Christian churches. I’m only talking about my segment of the long tail.

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Here it is, New Year’s Eve Day. Everybody I know is making plans of some sort to celebrate tonight. But as the day begins, I check my email, expecting only to delete the solicitations for online high school diploma courses and for erectile dysfunction medication. (How does the internet know that I’m 55 years old yet not know that I’m a college graduate?)

Imagine my surprise when I get an email from a pastor in East India. My church helps support a church-planting effort in that region. Hundreds of small Christian churches have been established in the last several years. There are over 78,000 Christians in those fledgling churches. It has been spiritually encouraging for me to see the growth of the Christian body in that predominantly Hindu country; and I’ve been pleased that my meager financial contributions have supported the effort.

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I’m not a Barry Bonds fan. And as a lawyer, I cringe at the mistaken notion that he should be presumed innocent (more about that below). But I’m sure glad God takes a different approach with me than I’m taking towards Barry Bonds.

I was in San Francisco last week when the Grand Jury indictment against Barry Bonds was announced. I used to live in San Francisco, and I used to be a Giants fan, so I enjoyed being in the epicenter of the news reporting on this story. If you have been living under a rock and missed the news, Bonds was NOT indicted for taking steroids. His alleged crimes are for lying to the federal grand jury when he said he didn’t KNOWINGLY take steroids. The prosecutors claim that he had actual knowledge that he was using illegal steroids at the time he used them. His denials of the fact during a grand jury investigation of the Balco Company have resulted in four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

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On the user-generated posts, "surferguy" posted an article about the Westboro Baptist Church. This is the church that continues to protest at the grave site of Matthew Shepard on the anniversary of his death with "God Hates Faggots" signs. The church claims that the War (and therefore theses casualties) are God's judgment upon the U.S. for being tolerant of homosexuality. So, they protest at funerals of soldiers -- these aren't necessarily the funerals of gay soldiers, just any soldiers, straight or gay. According to the article posted by surferguy, the church has been stung with an $11 million judgment for protesting at a funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq at which they caused emotional suffering to the parents of the deceased soldier.

How is it possible that Christians, or any thinking person, could engage in such dispicable behavior. Even if homosexuality is a sin, is not the cruel taunting by the Westboro pharisees during a family's grief equally repulsive to God? Can they not see that their conduct is the opposite of everything Christ stands for?

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