Where I Am Now
Its been a long time since I've contributed to my blog. It must be time to get back into the habit. Much has happened since I last wrote, notably the Lancaster Music Festival. Yes, I helped organise it - built and maintained the website, designed the posters, banners and brochure and put the brochure together. Then I performed over the weekend and did my bit in being part of the team. It was an amazing experience and to cap it all we won an award.
I think I can pretty well hang 2013 on the Festival; it was incredibly significant and will always be a mile stone for me. Earlier this year I left the church I'd helped to lead after I could no longer reconcile myself with the direction in which it was heading. Sometimes its not a matter of staying in order to be a positive influence especially when its taking all your energy to remain sane. It almost feels like I've abandoned everything I used to believe yet I've remained true to the faith.
Some of those held up as mentors and leaders I now consider bigots, fraudsters and hypocrites (I must stress that I'm talking about public figures rather than those of my acquaintance). I find it hard to believe how right wing much of the Evangelical church is - how pro establishment and unbiblical.
I've found my own way through the gay rights debate rather than simply jumping on the bandwagon or shutting up shop. The Bible can hardly be used to support gay rights but neither does it explicitly condemn homosexuality per se. It says much more in condemnation of those who insist on demonising and persecuting others on the basis of gender orientation. While I would defend those who sincerely cannot reconcile homosexuality with a biblical faith I would still challenge them to consider how much of their understanding is either based on culture or indoctrination.
Back to me: after years of developing and honing a platform for creating websites I now have something very close to a finished product which I'm very pleased with, not least because of its simplicity and compactness and also because the development has become really intuitive and I'm finally being able to save time rather than adding time because half of it is spent in debugging what was supposed to make life easier.
My guitar playing has come on in leaps and bounds but, ironically, I've given my guitar back to its rightful owner (long story) and gone back to mandolin. I'm finding that very refreshing and have no problem turning my back on the guitar for a season. In another twist of irony I wrote a new song on the guitar (which I borrowed back) two days ago. My experience at the Festival told me that despite improving my guitar technique I'd also plateaued. There really is no point in improving a broken model when there is a more productive route and I believe the mandolin provides that for me.
My life seems to go in 13's and I believe this year to be very significant, not because of what I've achieved but because of the possibilities it has opened up. There are still some pretty big rocks but they're not looking quite so unmovable.
Comments
Thoughts like this have passed through my mind at times, in various churches over the years. Ultimately for me, the choice boils down to two things: firstly, the church is the bride of Christ and I am part of that "bride", like it or not. Secondly, Paul injures us to be obedient to our (spiritual) leaders and this must imply obedience even where we disagree - I would never obey an ungodly command mind you.
What you say about hypocrisy in the church really resonates with me. There's too much of this - and far too many ministries built around a human person rather than around the person of Christ. The church seems doomed to repeat all the mistakes of each previous generation. And yet, the church is still the primary vehicle through which God chooses to reveal his glory to the nations. I guess if the church were perfect, glory would end up going to the church instead of to God.
I think the problem is though that what we mean by the word "church" and what God means are probably two different things. One thing is certain: the definition of church includes authority, relationship and flawed humans. But as to whether the "church" is the way God wants it to be, I think we can say categorically, "not".
I'm interested by what you say about the bible not condemning homosexuality. Are you being very specific here in your choice of words? Because though the bible may not condemn homosexuality per se, it seems pretty clear in speaking against homosexual practice (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthins 6:9, Galatians 5:19, to say nothing of the moral law under Moses).
Thoughts like this have passed through my mind at times, in various churches over the years. Ultimately for me, the choice boils down to two things: firstly, the church is the bride of Christ and I am part of that "bride", like it or not. Secondly, Paul injures us to be obedient to our (spiritual) leaders and this must imply obedience even where we disagree - I would never obey an ungodly command mind you.
What you say about hypocrisy in the church really resonates with me. There's too much of this - and far too many ministries built around a human person rather than around the person of Christ. The church seems doomed to repeat all the mistakes of each previous generation. And yet, the church is still the primary vehicle through which God chooses to reveal his glory to the nations. I guess if the church were perfect, glory would end up going to the church instead of to God.
I think the problem is though that what we mean by the word "church" and what God means are probably two different things. One thing is certain: the definition of church includes authority, relationship and flawed humans. But as to whether the "church" is the way God wants it to be, I think we can say categorically, "not".
I'm interested by what you say about the bible not condemning homosexuality. Are you being very specific here in your choice of words? Because though the bible may not condemn homosexuality per se, it seems pretty clear in speaking against homosexual practice (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthins 6:9, Galatians 5:19, to say nothing of the moral law under Moses).
I couldn't do the homosexuality debate justice here but my rule of thumb is to first look at how the Bible generally treats a subject and judge a particular scripture on that basis. The Bible is very clear about faithlessness, adultery, greed, idolatry, mercy and justice. In Romans 1 Paul uses the example of men being given over to lust for other men when they chose to rebel, signifying idolatry and immorality (particularly promiscuity). It suggests a wilful turning away from what is good and noble rather than a gender preference. It ticks the faithlessness, adultery and idolatry boxes but these things are not specific to homosexuals by any means.
In my Bible 1 Cor 6:9 talks of homosexual offenders. Is Paul talking about homosexual practice in general or about male prostitutes and the corruption of boys prevalent in Roman society. Galatians 5:19 doesn't mention homosexual practice. Homosexuality always turns up in lists or as an example but is never addressed as a church discipline matter unlike adultery, factions, partiality, greed and heresy. Jesus didn't mention it at all. All these vices that God hates are tolerated in the church yet homosexuality gets singled out as wicked.
Where I have difficulty is that the Bible begins and ends in marriage between a male and a female and, together with the Mosaic Law, this says that the marriage God ordained was between a man and a woman. But in the Mosaic law its permissible for a man to divorce his wife which Jesus tells us God hates. That leaves a big question about homosexuality that the Bible doesn't answer satisfactorily, a question that I believe we are all too eager to answer and very possibly because of prejudice.