Self-inflicted wounds with purpose

In the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul sets out the premise that "God chose what is nonsense in the world to make the wise feel ashamed. God chose what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed." It's a wrap of a longer section on division and how to get around it. After almost 2000 years, the church (organized) is still trying to figure it out. If we're all lucky, they may never figure it out.

When you read the history of organized religion, you wonder how it has lasted this long. Seems very silly. The controversy over gay marriage is but the latest round. The thing is, gay marriage is just the symptom of the real issue. the real issue is over the preeminence of law or grace. The bad news is that law always "seems" to win because law is always the basis of worldly "wisdom." That wisdom, however, is what God considers to be foolishness.

Organized religion has relied on government for 1700 years to enforce it's view of morality. As I mentioned before, it started fairly innocently with Constantine's request of the church to police marriage (looks like we've come almost full circle on that one). That passed on the through the growth of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Martin Luther tried to bring grace back into dominance, but reformers like Knox brought law right back.

In modern times, the church required the government to ban the teaching of evolution (The church won the Scopes Monkey Trial, you know) formed the anti-abortion lobby and now is fighting gay marriage. But if the church had been doing its job, none of these controversies would be with us right now. Abortion would be legal but much rarer than it is today. Creationism would be taught in school alongside evolution and even gay rights would cease to be an issue. All of these controversies were brought about by the church relying on the government to protect it's view of morality. Initially they were successful. but every time the church gave over its moral authority to the government, their position was weakened and a wall between the church and the society it tries to reach grew thicker and taller.

"What the heck is the church's job, then?" I hear some people ask. Good question. I'l answer that next.