Rick, Hillary, and AIDS Part I

I had a dear friend respond to one of my posts about Rick Warren and his having Hillary Clinton speak at his church about AIDS awareness. Here is some of what he said.

“If we're going to "judge" everyone that gets on our stage or speaks in front of our churches, NO ONE would be good enough to be there - it would be empty. I don't agree with Hillary's views, but she is in the battle to fight AIDS, and I applaud Rick for reaching out to her when every other church in the country shuns her. I always came back with the question of what our Lord would do - and I think He'd reach out to her, not shun her. Rick Warren takes a lot of hits, but in reality, I think he's putting his money where his mouth is - he's truly trying to live out the Christian life, unlike so many preachers who are arrogant and hypocritical.”

Boy, oh boy, are there a number of things to address with this, so please excuse me as I ramble on about this. (Sorry bro but I have to respectfully say that you are wrong in your mindset on this. And that is not entirely your fault.)

It is so sad that the modern Christian church has become so compromising and excuse minded and cavalier in its attitude towards God’s standards. We will have plenty of people to bring before the congregations if we will simply look around and stop trying to be politically and worldly correct.

As I read through the Bible I see a God that asks us to be sanctified and holy – set apart from the world and different. How many times in the Old Testament does God reveal His standards to His people and then carry out judgments against them when they do not live up to his standards. Adam was punished, Cain was cursed, Moses did not see the Promised Land, the Nation of Israel was thrown into captivity more times than I have fingers, and I could go on.

Even in the New Testament His standards are preached to be lived up to. In I Corinthians 5 Paul addresses this very clearly. There is a situation that Paul addresses where a man is living in a sexual sin and is not being repentant about it. The church is taking pride in their “grace”. Paul gets on to them and goes so far as to say “with these people don’t even eat.” Paul says don’t even eat with them yet time and again we parade people like this before our churches and hold them up as something to look up to.

The reality is that Hillary should be shunned by the church. She is living a sinful and unrepentant lifestyle, while claiming to be a Christian, by simply supporting the gay agenda and abortion, not to mention so much else she has been and is involved in. “We” should not even be eating with her, much less allowing her to be an influence in our churches. What an absolute abomination!!!

Oh but wait!! “What would Jesus do?” That’s right, that gold standard now for today’s whimpy church. Just what would he do? Would he shun her? Not really. Would he invite her to speak? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!! I picture a scene very similar to those he had with the Pharisees and Sadducees. Or maybe even one like he had with the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, because I honestly do not think that Hillary would repent, much less give up everything. (Even if she would, she has not yet.) Let’s not forget that this was a man who wanted to follow Jesus and walked away after hearing what he needed to do. Also, Jesus did not “run after” him. He laid out the truth and let the man decide. So, would Jesus shun her? No. However, according to I Corinthians 5 we are called to.

But Dan, what about love and grace? That comes after we hold up God’s standards. Even in Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus says that if a brother will not listen then to cast him out and treat him as a heathen and unbeliever. So how do we treat unbelievers? We preach the word to them and tell them about God’s love for them. We point out their sins and tell them about what Jesus did for them on the cross and why they should repent and be baptized into the family of God. That is where love and grace comes in, by loving them as unbelievers.

It is time for the church to be held accountable for its shortcomings and for all of God’s people to not only be held accountable but to hold each other accountable. As Romans 6:1, 2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!”
More later….