That Sin Thing - Jennifer Knapp

I have been following some great discussions about sin, and in particular, the sin of homosexuality. Now if there is an explosive hot button issue that seems to be it. David Fitch has been blogging on a missional approach to the GLBT circumstance as a third way to the Neo-Reformed and the emerging strands of doing church. I have been contrasting that with the discussion about Jennifer Knapp (Jesus Creed here and here and here) and her recent announcement that she has been involved in a lesbian relationship for a number of years. Now I’m not a fan of hers, though her rendition with Mac Powell of Sing Alleluia was particularly powerful, I have been somewhat repulsed by the violent response to her coming out.

At first the idea was how about looking at this matter based on that old adage, “hate the sin, and love the sinner.” That strikes me as somewhat arrogant and condescending, and ultimately just plain wrong. For many of us (actually make that all of us) our identities are so intertwined with our particular brand of sinfulness that such parsing calls for some mighty fine distinctions and therefore results in too slippery of a slope to be walking on for any length of time.

Another way of looking at the situation is to come to grips with the idea that there are grades of sinfulness – some worse and some not quite so horrible (well, okay another fine distinction to be made) and here I’m thinking of those folks who like to make much of the OT admonitions that homosexuality is an abomination (which falls somewhere along the lines of something wicked, something detestable, something shameful – hmmm, thinking there are some things people do to each other that are pretty wicked, detestable and downright shameful other than being in an active homosexual relationship - reading Genesis 18, the fuller passage lists other abominations including lying with your neighbor's wife).

Take this little test and see how you come out on the other end - we want justice done, that’s pretty much conceded as truth, we want the wrath of God to come upon those we deem as evil and sinful people, in other words we want God to correct all that's wrong with our world by getting rid of those people, and we want God to punish those sinners – okay maybe not lightning bolts but we do want God to do something to stop the unrighteous from their dominance. Boom just happened. Anybody still here reading this blog?

As well there is truth to what Jesus said to the Pharisees in the story of the woman caught in adultery, “Let him who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7 ESV) Francis Chan in his book, Crazy Love, suggested another little test on understanding our sin status. He suggested we take the well known 1 Corinthians 13:4 passage and insert our name for the word love, and see how we fare. I did that and I’m not ready to discuss that one. But that posture seems to imply that either we overlook the sin or that we need to be affirming but somehow I have this sense that overlooking or affirming our various and particular sins isn’t what the Kingdom is all about.

I am haunted by the idea that prior to becoming missional; we need to be in a position to confront our sins, which requires involvement in a nurturing community, and from that base move out into the world. Anything short of that, it seems to me, falls back into worldly posturing. The lines from Yancey’s What’s So Amazing about Grace, quoting Gordon MacDonald, “You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace,” read in conjunction with Matthew 7:21 (the rendition by Peterson’s The Message is particularly convicting), "Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'), points out the danger inherent in embarking on a program of performing good works and actually anything less than obedience – which seems to rule out a posture of overlooking or affirming.

Hmm, certainly can’t condemn, but can’t overlook or affirm. What’s a believer to do?