Grace: The lazy man's approach to life.

I'm always doing something, thinking up schemes, remembering to do something while I'm in the middle of watching TV.  That gives some people the impression that I am a very hard worker.  But I'm really not.  I'm fairly lazy.  Most of the work I do is all about finding easier ways of doing something.

That's why I like grace over law.  Grace is easy and simple.  Law is exhausting.

Now some might like to say that forgiving and accepting others is incredibly hard compared with living life according to a certain structure.  Others might say grace is fine, but "you can compromise your beliefs or life just falls apart."  I disagree on both counts.  Grace is easy... it's just not comfortable when your foundational ethic is on law.

Here's what I mean:

A life with a foundation of law means you have to vet everyone and everything that comes into your life (vet means "make a careful and critical examination") to make sure that you stay on the straight and narrow, and that everyone else believes you do to.  That takes an incredible amount of effort.  If you make a mistake in the vetting process you run the risk of "appearing" sinful, so you have to make sure (and you actually never will be).  That requires you to hold everyone and everything at arm's length for a very long time.  Friendships never solidify, knowledge is stilted and walls begin to form around the society that happens to pass muster.

On the other end of the scale is a life based on grace.  You can accept everyone rather than except everyone.  New experiences can be judged for their value, not because they "might" be acceptable.  You lack walls that keep you from reaching out, or for others to reach in.  The only rules that apply are those you set for yourself.  You are answerable only to you, God and people God sends to you for accountability (and you'll be able to recognize them because you don't have to run them through the law filter.)

I'll give you an example.  Years ago, shortly before my conversion, I got into the marijuana clique.  I started consuming marijuana in various forms, but mostly in social settings.  But I didn't participate because I was coerced into it.  I wasn't trying to fit in nor was I trying to be a rebel.  I was curious.  I enjoyed the society of my friends and we did silly things under the influence.  One day, though, I went out to the beach, alone, just to think and lit up.  The same thing happened that always happened:  I started dry coughing and feeling light headed.  About 2 minutes in I started to think, "This is really stupid.  Why am I doing this?"

The next day I was with a very good friend that I respected and that knew I used the drug and I recounted my experience on the beach.  She breathed a sigh of relief and said "I've really wanted you to quit for some time."

She never told me that before.  Never said a word.  She was walking on a foundation of grace with me.  I thought about my beach experience and what my good friend had just said to me.  I decided at that moment that the drug was just not what best for me.  And I got rid of my stash.

Think about what exists today in the illicit drug society.  We have laws up the wazoo.  We have a legal multibillion dollar industry that works to get people off drugs, an illegal multibillion dollar industry to get people hooked on them; a multibillion dollar entertainment industry that both glorifies and demonizes the practice and a multibillion dollar government infrastructure to deal with it all.  Our society polarized on either side of the issue.  Drug users don't feel welcome in polite society, much less the church, and polite society wants the users put away in prisons and medical facilities so we don't have to look at them.

It's all so complicated and takes so much effort.

But I had a friend that decided to deal with me in grace and transparency.  She didn't shut me out of her life because of my practices.  She didn't look at me as a sinner.  She just looked at me as a friend.  And that influence was enough to nudge me away from a potentially darker lifestyle.

It was so simple.  Imagine how uncomfortable it was for my friend to not complicate the process for both of us.  But it wasn't hard.  It was simple.
Now I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of comments from this about my stand on drugs so let's make this very clear.  I'm not talking about drugs, dammit.  I'm talking about living in grace and how it simplifies your life and the lives of others.  The grace lifestyle transcends topics.

I have people whose opinions I value that are diametrically opposed to my political, moral, economic, sexual environmental, religious, literary, musical and artistic positions.  That we disagree is not a reason to avoid relationship.  It is the reason to pursue it.

The Bible puts it in many different ways.  "Iron sharpens iron," is the most common.  Finding people with hard positions that oppose our own is the best way of finding if our positions are correct.  Grace allows me to hear what other say and consider it.  Some believe, however, that opening yourself up to those contrary positions can cause you to stumble.

But the Bible also records the promise from God, over and over, that He will write His laws and words in our hearts... not the other way around... and his laws are always based on grace, not judgement or separation.  I have found that to be the reality in my life, which is good because I'm so very lazy.

Chapter 10: A family-Act One, Scene Two

We've left our wayward husband to look into the scene he described:  Jacob’s Well, just outside the town.  It the afternoon of that same day.  A group of women are talking at the well, filling urns with water.  They are gossipy, lighthearted and confident.  A man enters unseen and sits nearby.  He carries himself with the weariness of a constant traveler; a man a long way from home.  He sits on a rock and listens to their conversation.  So will we.

Esther Deborah, you have the patience of Job.  I don't know how you put up with it.

Rachel She has to.  We all do.  But we have our ways to get back what's ours. 

They all laugh

.

Deborah – But you haven’t heard the latest.

Esther – Good news, I hope.

Rachel – Tell us, sister.  Don’t leave us waiting.

Deborah – He came home this morning.

Rachel –  He just walked right in?

Deborah – Like nothing had ever happened...

Esther – You're not serious.

Deborah – ... and started washing his hands and face.

Esther – That's not all he should be washing.  I mean.... he should be washing Deborah’s feet

Rachel – Oh, of course. 

Rachel winks and the rest of the women grin.

Deborah – Then he kisses the children and says, "I'm off to work.  I'll be home for dinner." Then he takes my hand and gives me those eyes.  "We'll talk later," he says.

Esther – So you'll take him back?

Deborah –Of course.  He's a good provider.  And like you said:  we have our ways.

Rachel – Make him grovel, Deborah!

Esther – Like the dog he is.

Deborah – Yes... just like a dog.

Esther – But what about that woman?

Deborah – What about her?  Have you seen her lately?  She's not what she was when she took my husband, just like she wasn't what she claimed when she came to Sychar.  She'll not be stealing many more husbands here.  In fact, I don't expect the town will allow her to stay much longer.  

All – That’s right!

The traveler watches as they gather their 

jugs and leave.  Mary enters shortly after carrying her urn.  

She looks around to see if she's alone and then begins filling the urn.  

The traveler observes her quietly for a moment,  and smiles as 

though recognizing a long-lost relative.  He calls out to her.

Traveler – May I have a drink?

Mary –  Oh!  I didn't see you there.  Wait.... You’re a Jew, aren’t you?  I am a Samaritan.  You are not supposed to be talking with me.  How can you ask me for a drink? 

Traveler – If you knew who I was and what I can offer you, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water.

Mary – I don’t understand.  You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water?   (Proudly) Just who do you think you are, anyway.  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?

The traveler comes over to the well and 

looks down into its depths.  He shrugs, unimpressed.

Traveler – Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks my water will never thirst again.  If fact, my water will become in him a spring of water overflowing with eternal life.

Real prophets are in short supply in Palestine, 

but Mary knew they are capable of great miracles.

Mary – (mumbling to herself) If I can win his favor, he might be able to get God to give me my own well.  I would never have to come here again.  I could open my own inn.  I could leave this town.  (angrily) I wouldn't need anybody ... not even a husband!

Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

Traveler – First, go get your husband and come back.

Mary – I ... I have no husband.

Traveler –Yes, I know.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.  It's quite true, isn't it.

Mary has often been unclothed in front of a man, 

but she has never felt naked as she did now. 

She stammers and tries to change the subject.

Mary – Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.  

Searching for lost piety, she grasps for a fig leaf.

Mary – Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem...

Traveler – I am too weary to continue this dance.  Listen to me.  Soon you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans really don't know what you worship, but we do, for salvation comes from the Jews.  But today true worshipers are worshipping the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. 

She believes she is safe now, hidden behind a 

false robe of religion.  It is time to close 

this conversation and move on.  There will be be no 

miraculous provision this time.  Or so she thinks.

Mary -- I know that Messiah is coming.  When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Traveler– The Messiah is talking to you now. 

When confronted by real power, it often takes a moment 

to come to full acceptance.  It takes Mary a full five seconds.  

She gasps and stares, open-mouthed, 

not realizing that the Traveler's friends are approaching.  

They are surprised to find him talking with this 

woman and begin to question him about her.  
Seeing an opportunity to escape this uncomfortable 

moment, she flees, leaving the very symbol of her 

shame and imprisonment in Sychar: her water jar.  

She runs for the marketplace

Becoming unmuted

Last night I was at a home church run by an old friend.  He talked briefly about Zechariah, John's father and Jesus' uncle and his being driven mute by Gabriel for a lack of faith (John 1).  My friend warned of complacency muting our own example. and of not believing that our service to God was worth His involvement.
That actually hit home for me.  I was reminded as he talked of a book I wrote many years ago about marginal characters in the Gospel story.  I spent the better part of two years on the project and when I finished, I made a CD backup, filed it and promptly left it alone, never making the effort to publish it for a number of spoken reasons that seemed logical. The real reason that I thought it was unpublishable.
And so I've really thought nothing of it for almost a decade, until last night.
For a variety of reasons I have kept what God has given me under an upturned basket, sharing it only with a select few.  My friend's admonition have given me a new push to do something.  And with the wonders of social media, allowing so much crap to be published at no cost, I have no excuse.  So starting next week. I will serialize the book in this blog.  If it does anything for you, let me know.  If you think it could be appropriate for any of your friends, let them know and share the link.  It doesn't matter if you start at the beginning, middle or end.  Each chapter stands on its own.  Here's hoping that it meets you at the right time.

What are we anyway?

A few people have asked me in the past few weeks, since I started talking about the "Christian nature" of the US: If we aren't Christian, then what are we?  So I've been thinking about it.  And I've discovered we are a nation of two separate identities.  Schizophrenic your might say.

On the one hand, we are a nation built on offense.  The pilgrims came here because their home nation was an offense to their religious sensibilities.  They build their community on perceived offenses within their community, which cause other communities to be founded.  Over the centuries we have made offense a profitable endeavor.  We have entire broadcast networks dedicated to being offended (EIB, MSNBC, Fox News).  Our political process is run by the two percent majority on either end of the spectrum that is constantly offended by anyone who doesn't agree with them (yes, I mean Nancy Pelosi and Joe Wilson).  We are offended by coaches of our favorite teams, by minorities, by educational standards, by other religions, by the other drivers on the roads and even by members of our families.  And we hold on to those offenses until the turn into hateful grudges.  Offense is at the very root of our politics and religion.

On the other hand, we are a nation built on the concept of reconciliation and the premise of the second (and third, fourth, fifth, etc.) chance.  The pilgrims had worn out their welcome in their homeland and an adopted land.  They came here for a fresh start and a chance to build something they could believe in.  The Revolutionary War for Independence was based, originally, on various offenses committed on the American colonies by Britain, but the war began only after several attempts at reconciliation were rebuffed.  The war itself was, in fact, an act of reconciliation.

"How the heck can war be reconcilation?" I can hear you say.

Reconcilation is merely the redefinition of a relationship.  It follows forgiveness (and I'll get into that later) but it does not replace forgiveness.  It establishes a baseline for a continued relationship after an offense.  While the colonies worked hard prior to the war to resolve their differences with the homeland, they entered into a wartime footing when it became apparent that England was not going to change how it treated the colonies.  The Declaration of Independence did not fire the first shot, the British did that themselves when they refused to accept the terms of reconciliation... at first.  Much later they were forced to.  Today, the US and the United Kingdom enjoy one of the closest national relationships in the world.  We are closer to England than we are Mexico and Canada.  And, as a nation, we take pride in that relationship.  It is a hallmark of who we are.

I the US, it is possible to screw up in business, marriage, parenthood, crime, politics (remember Richard Nixon was out of politics altogether before his second run at President... and he's still a hero in China) and still be able to come back for a do-over.  In my travels in Europe, that is the primary good quality of America that is recognized universally.

Offense and reconciliation are the yin and yang of America.  Whichever we seem to be is whatever we tend to feed.

We are a nation based on offense. Pilgrims came here because their nation was an offense to their religious sensibilities. We have whole broadcast systems dedicated to being offended. We have industries built to Medicate us from the depression caused by unresolved offense.

Sin, pride and what really matters.

As I said, I've been reading and studying the Book of Job. Last week I came across this passage in chapter 35.

6 If you sin, how does that affect (God)?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
and your righteousness only the sons of men.

That's kind of weird, don't you think? So many Christians are concerned over offending God with their personal and national actions, yet in this series of sentences it states that God is not really concerned about out sins. Or our righteousness

Pride is the core of all sin. I'm not alone in that observation. When you think you know better than your creator, you have an issue with pride. Most people do the wrong thing when they believe they are too smart to get caught or because they really don;t believe that what they are going to do is wrong, even when everyone else says it is. But even if you are doing the right thing, you can still be dealing with pride.

In the church, there is a real pride issue in the belief that it is possible to thwart the plan of God in the world through our actions. Many in the church justify that position by calling certain actions as "compromising the Gospel." In other words, you do something that goes counter to the culture of your church (e.g. going to see a particular movie or reading a certain book) and you will be told you are free to do that, but if others see you do it, you could cause them to stumble and "compromise the gospel."

Number one, that is a very weird definition of "gospel." Gospel means "good news" and that news is that Jesus Christ died for everyone's sin since the beginning of time, for now and into the future. It means that there is nothing we can do to make us any closer or send us farther away from God. Everything we have done wrong has been taken care of.

Second, if that is true, there is nothing we can do to make God love us even more.

What we do affects only us and those we connect with. That makes all our actions very personal in nature.

Like comedy, grace is hard

As I watch and participate in what goes on in life, I realize why so many people prefer to live in judgement than walk in grace.  Judgement can be quick and painless.  Grace requires a systemic view of life.  Trying to decide what's evil or good under grace causes migraines and aneurisms if it is at all possible.  Judgement, on the other hand, is is clear cut... even if you are wrong.  Hey, at least you took a position, right?

While a judgmental lifestyle is not limited to the religious crowd (just talk to someone from Greenpeace, PETA or anyone in either major political party) it is easier for a religious person to be judgmental.  If you see or hear of something that offends you you can rationalize that the offensive thing is "an affront to God" and therefore be justified in your position.  Without a "Higher Authority" justification, all you have is the position that whoever disagrees with you is just stupid.  Telling someone they are going to hell for their position is not quite as offensive as telling them they are stupid.  The latter will get you punched in the nose.  The former just gets you laughed at.

From a Christian perspective, however, (as opposed to a religious perspective) a judgmental lifestyle is counterproductive.  Christians have been given the responsibility of "preaching the Good News" to all the world, the news being that God has already forgiven them for everything they have ever done or ever will do that can be considered a sin ... by anyone ... including God.  But putting conditions on what constitutes "Christian behavior" has been part of the church condition since, oh, say the establishment of the church in Galatia in the first century.

Today, we have the same problem as then.  We like to say that we need to avoid involvement in certain practices if we want to be "really Christian," and we have all kinds of different flavors of that attitude, ranging from not wearing makeup for women, to not going to certain movies or reading certain books, all the way to political positions - on both sides of the political fence.  The reasoning for this is that you have to be careful what you put into your mind and body because bad stuff might spill out.  Jesus had a bit of a different position on that:

"It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." New American Standard Bible (©1995)

We also tend to take it to the place of who we associate with, saying we shouldn't be around certain people because their lifestyles could pollute us.  Jesus had something to say about that too:

"The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look! He's a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" International Standard Version (©2008)

So you can see that the judgmental lifestyle, while much easier doesn't really hold much water in an eternal perspective.  Grace, on the other hand, is just a real pain in the ... neck.

I have a friend whom I love dearly who I led to Christ many years ago.  She had somethign of a wild lifestyle but was very unhappy.  I remember sitting with her late at night aside a hotel pool during the convention we met at and walking her through a prayer of forgiveness.  It was beautiful.  

She got pregnant shortly after that and had an abortion.  I stayed with her and told her she had already been forgiven.  Happened again a few years later.  I stayed with her and told her she had already been forgiven.  She moved away, got a new boyfriend and got pregnant again.  This time she kept it, but was a single mother for a long time.  I kept telling her about Gods forgiveness.  She finally found a good man.  Got married.  Has a great marriage.  Just had another baby.

Here's the thing.  If I had been normal through this relationship, she would never have felt she could come to me about anything.  I'm not a fan of abortion, or sex outside of marriage, but that's my opinion and my life.  How God deals with me is completely different from how he deals with anyone else.  I can only be concerned with God's grace for me and when I am in a relationship, I can only be concerned with how I exhibit that grace.  That means I am in it for the long, very messy haul.

Sometimes I wish I didn't really get the whole grace thing.  I don't really.  But I get enough that I can't be comfortable with the judgement thing.  My life would be a lot easier.  I would get to hang with people who have really simple, seemingly black-and-white lifestyles.  But I have to admit, hanging with "tax collectors and sinners" is a whole lot more entertaining.

A life of Grace is not easy

Some people think grace is the easy way out. They think it means holding no one accountable; that it's a free ride. They couldn't be more wrong. Walking a life of grace is the hardest thing of all.

Living under law means everything is clear, black and white. Those people are right and those over there are wrong. Law puts clear boundaries between the people who think like you and the people who don't. Grace blurs the lines. It takes away the easy answers and leaves you wholly dependent on someone else; a much higher authority. It means finding a path to acceptance without necessarily approving.

I started writing this while on business in Scotland and it's taken me a while to get my thoughts clear.

There was a significant moral debate going on in the United Kingdom regarding assisted suicide. Two UK citizens have traveled to Switzerland where a medical clinic provides the means for people to end their lives, regardless if their condition is immediately terminal. One was a young man in his 20s that was paralyzed from the neck down in a rugby training exercise. The second was a man in his 50s with a neurological condition that affects his ability to breath.

As can be expected, right-to-life groups and, specifically, Christians in the UK are protesting the decisions and are pressuring the government to take action. (Hey, it's not just America!) The lines are pretty well drawn in this discussion, just as they are in the case of abortion, gay lifestyles, global warming, etc. People are either for or against to varying degrees. But grace makes that determination much more difficult for the individual. Here's what I mean.

I am morally opposed to suicide, assisted or otherwise. My immediate reaction to the concept is that taking your life is selfish and cowardly. I'm probably not alone. There is a moral question on taking a human life, even if it is your own. But that is not an absolute position. We've all heard the stories of soldiers falling on hand grenades to save their comrades. The soldier that does that is killing himself. Nothing selfish or cowardly about that, is there? That's selfless and brave. So a decision to end your life is not always right or wrong

The young rugby player said he did not want to live "a second-class life." The older man said he did not want to be a burden on his family. Now both of those reasons are questionable.

Was the young man saying people in wheelchairs are second class people? That's insensitive and an insult to handicapped people, isn't it? What's probably more accurate is that he defined his life by his ability to play sports and now he lacked definition. Or is he correct when he sees the way handicapped people live and was just being realistic.

The older man apparently thinks his family is incapable of making a sacrifice for his life, or he doesn't think he is worth the trouble. Shouldn't he check with his family to see if they feel he's a burden? Of course, they aren't going to say it, but he should check. Or maybe he knows the financial and emotional limits of his family and he's absolutely selfless in the decision.

How can we know the real reason for their decisions? Well, we have to be omniscient. I'm not. Are you? In fact, I only know one person who is. And he usually doesn't let me in on that kind of information.

If you live a life directed by law, you don't have to ask those questions. The whole thing is black and white; right and wrong. In a life of grace, you can't make that decision. But you can ask a question and you can take an action.

When I read the articles about both men, I thought first how said life can be for some people. The young man was vibrant and committed to a sport that he loved and that was taken from him before he could completely explore his passion. The older man was a scientist and his curiosity curtailed by an inability to breathe unassisted. I felt for them. I also grieved that they no longer saw life, in any form, worth living. And then I asked, "Are the ready for what comes next?"

I didn't have an answer for that, anymore than I had a clear understanding of their motives. But I did have something I could be sure of.

I asked God to send someone to both of these men before they committed suicide to tell them that they were loved, that they were forgiven, and that, if they wanted, they could spend eternity with Him.

In a life of grace, that may be all we can do and be assured that He will do whatever it takes to make that happen. In some cases, He might even send me. Knowing that call could come anytime for me makes my life worth living everyday. And I don't even have to get morally outraged. What a time and energy saver that is.

Getting the job done

As I pointed out previously, the controversy over gay marriage in the US, especially in California, has isolated the faith community from those that community wants to reach. The gay population, in particular, will have nothing to do with the evangelical churches and have virtually closed their minds to the potential of ever joining that community, regardless of what any evangelical Christian might say.

And that's good news. Evangelicals, for most of the past 100 years, have relied on government to enforce its view of morality. They've done it through blue laws that hampered commerce on Sundays (except for restaurants that evangelicals like to visit for lunch after church). The laws sought by evangelicals are designed to control lifestyle choices that evangelicals look down on and generally avoid by practice, like alcohol and drug use, pornography, prostitution and, of course, homosexual practices. These are the bad sins. For the latter they like to point to Romans 1:27 as the justification for that point of view. But they conveniently look away from Romans 1:29-32. That passage points out that those that practice envy, strife, deceit and malice, gossips, betrayal, bullying and boasting are guilty of the same "sin" hoomosexuality.

Now of course we're not going to push for laws for those things...because we haven't been able to stop doing them. After all, gossip is part of our human nature, isn't it? It's not a choice, is it?

OK, I'm getting snarky here. The point is that we Christians have a responsibility to be examples, not sources of legislative direction. Jesus gave us the commission in Matthew 28 to go into the world and be examples of Christ. Some translations say "preach the Gospel" but the original definition of "preach" to demonstrate. That means example. He didn't say "get laws passed." He said to be examples. We have forgotten that. Oh, we try to be examples to the people in our church. In other words, we put on the image of being holy. But we rarely show the example of Christ to people outside the church.

1 John 2:6 says "Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived." How exactly did he live? Well, for one he never condemned anyone's lifestyle; not prostitutes, not thieves, not even corrupt rulers. Oh, wait. He did condemn one lifestyle. He condemned religious leaders and what we would call, holiness people. He would even insult them when he sat down to eat with them. Why? Because people who set a hard line on how people live close any discussion about the relative value of lifestyle decisions.

Second, when it comes to law, Jesus said in Matthew 22 that there are two laws that take precedence in life: Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself. He said that in those two commandments is "ALL the law and the prophets. If that is all we concentrate on, everything else falls into place. We don't need any more laws in life. We need grace.

Our job, as representatives of the body of Christ, are to open the doors to relationship with Christ; to opening the opportunity to talk about destructive lifestyles and how to escape them; and demonstrating the same kind of tolerance (not acceptance or approval) that Jesus showed to people of all types.

The motto for the modern church needs to be: Get them saved and let God sort them out.

Stumbling blocks and millstones

This blog will have several subject to deal with in coming months, but I'm going to camp out for a while in these inaugural posts on the issue of gay marriage in the United States.

Proposition affecting the legitimization of gay unions passed in California, Arizona, Florida and Arkansas on Tuesday, largely, but not entirely due to support from religious groups in the conservative evangelical, Mormon and Catholic communities. Significant support also came from African American, Asian and Hispanic voting blocks. What was at stake was a societal approval of gay and lesbian unions against a moral standard of what turned out to be a majority of people in those states.

So we (an I'm including myself in this because I am a conservative evangelical) won the battle. Gay marriage is not approved in our state and still seems to be looked down upon throughout most of the nation. We won...but at what cost?

Ostensibly, Christians are supposed to be about "winning souls for Christ" by our example. What is the example we have set in this battle? And in winning the battle, have we lost the war for a group of people we know need the love of Christ so desperately?

Right now, regardless of what you think about the sexual orientation, we have prohibited a group of people from solemnizing their hope for a committed relationship. We believe we have halted any attempt to teach our children that these type of unions are acceptable (although I really doubt this will stop teachers from teaching that in Bay Area schools). We have held firm to our principals.

But in the process, not only is the gay community taking to the streets in protest, but hundreds of thousands on heterosexual supporters are joining them, all with a common perception: that the religious community isn't serious when they say that the death of Jesus on the cross paid for all sin for all time; that grace only goes so far; and the God only loves them when they live a certain way.

I'm in the business of communication and we have an adage: perception is reality. It doesn't matter what the truth is when the general perception is opposite from what you might know to be true. So It doesn't matter if we all really believe that Jesus loves everyone and doesn't want anyone to go to Hell. The public perception is that the church is primarily a place of condemnation. As a result there are many people who will now reject the gospel because it has no place in t heir reality.

In Luke 17, Jesus said to his disciples, “It is inevitable that temptations to sin will come, but how terrible it will be for the person through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin."

So we won the battle, as I have said, and we have built a wall to protect us from the sinners' lifestyles. My question to all of you is, how do we overcome that wall now?