Letter to a Gay Man in the Churches of Christ, Part 9

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Jay F Guin

I came across these intriguing posts about homosexuality from Patrick Mead. Patrick is pulpit minister at the Rochester Hills Church of Christ in Rochester, Michigan, and one of my favorite preachers. (You would do well to listen to some of his sermons. Good stuff.)

But for our present purposes, the key fact is that Patrick has degrees in Linguistics, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Counseling, and Immunology, and continues to teach at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels. And so, when he talks about what research says regarding homosexuality, he’s not quoting from Readers Digest or somebody’s blog. He’s reporting straight from the professional journals with an incomparable degree of expertise, not to mention a profoundly Christian heart. Continue reading →

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Fixing Our Universities: The Story of Smurf

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Jay F Guin

I guess I need to explain myself. Here I am railing against our universities’ peculiar priorities, and I’ve not yet told you the story of Smurf.

You see, a young man who grew up in my home (a friend of my children who moved in when his parents divorced as a way to heal from the trauma) attended one of our universities to study to become a youth minister. Finances were tight. His family had been hit pretty hard by the divorce. His biological dad had abandoned the family. And so he had to take out school loans to pay for his studies.

The college gave him a $1,000 per year scholarship to help with the $15,000 or so annual price tag of his education. Continue reading →

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Buried Talents: Women in the Old Testament (Deborah)

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Jay F Guin

The Law of Moses ushered in the Period of the Judges, during which God ruled Israel through individual judges. Notable among the judges is Deborah.

(Judg. 4:4-5) Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

Plainly, Deborah was literally a judge. She decided disputes, and thus had authority over men and women. Moreover, the Bible calls Deborah a prophetess and a leader. How could this be true if God has decreed for all time that women can have no authority over a man and cannot teach a man? How silent was Deborah when men were present? Continue reading →

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Letter to a Gay Man in the Churches of Christ, Part 8

Posted on April 19, 2008 by Jay F Guin

gay

I know what the answers will be on the blog if you did write about it. I am very conflicted and confused about everything while trying to recover from my addiction. I have a therapist and a psychiatrist but no one that is in the church of Christ to talk to about it. I’m too embarrassed and afraid to talk to my minister’s about it. I have no idea why I am writing you this email. For some reason God lead me to do so. Anyway, obviously I wish to remain anonymous and thank you for reading this, if you made it this far! Sorry it’s so lengthy.

Again, I’m humbled at even the thought that God may have led you to me in your struggles. I don’t feel even a little qualified. I’ve tried as best I can be honest about the church and homosexuality, and I hope I’ve been of some help.

As I’ve been typing, a vague recollection of something C. S. Lewis wrote a long time ago came to me, and I finally found the quote. I think this may be of some help to you. It makes a lot of sense to me. Continue reading →

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Fixing Our Universities: Harding and Abilene Offer Free Ministry Training

Posted on April 19, 2008 by Jay F Guin

For a while now, I’ve been complaining that our Christian universities burden our future ministers and missionaries with heavy tuition, while giving away free educations to athletes, who sometimes have no interest in the things of Jesus. It’s a strange set of priorities.

But things are getting better. Harding now offers 16 free rides under its Center for Advanced Ministry Training program for ministry students. Students must be at least 24 years old (22 1/2 if military or international). Harding recruits these students from areas where the Churches of Christ have been weak — the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, North Central, among other areas. 15 of the scholarships are funded by the school itself, with the 16th being privately funded. Continue reading →

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Bridging the Racial Divide

Posted on April 18, 2008 by Jay F Guin

The Christian Chronicle has just posted an article on how the Churches can bridge the racial divide. And they quoted me!

It’s kind of a long story about how it happened, but there I am. (I REALLY have to get me a new picture — you know: less weight, but less hair. It’s trade off. And it means posing. And wearing a suit. Which I hate.)

Anyway, it’s an important topic — one of the most important ones facing the Churches of Christ today: do we remain social clubs filled with people just like us with a smattering of mission thrown in for conscience’s sake, or do we become the one church Christ died to establish? Continue reading →

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Buried Talents: Women in the Old Testament, Part 1 (the Law and Miriam)

Posted on April 18, 2008 by Jay F Guin

Any doctrine of women that we consider must pass several stern tests. First, it must measure up against the passages dealing with the relationship of men and women, and not just the ambiguous ones.

Second, whatever position we take on the role of women must be consistently adhered to in all passages, and we can’t change interpretations depending on the course title. When we study the Fall of Man while studying Romans, we must treat the curse of Eve the same as when we teach Marriage, and the same as when we teach The Role of Women in the Church. Read the literature in your Sunday school classes on these topics over the last few years, and you will find that we often change interpretations with the course title.

But third — and this may the hardest one — we must be able to measure the interpretation against God’s own application of the rule. If we insist that a rule is eternal, then we have all of history to see if God agrees. How has God dealt with women throughout time? Continue reading →

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church? Willow Creek Works a Cure

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Jay F Guin

The editors of Christianity Today post a blog called Out of Ur. It is routinely instructive and often fascinating. One of their editors has just posted material from a seminar hosted by Willow Creek — one of the nation’s most influential megachurches.

Some of you may recall a series I wrote last year based on Willow Creek’s study called reveal, called What’s Wrong With How We Do Church? The series was an attempt to answer the problem pointed out in a study Willow Creek commissioned, called Reveal.

Among the problems pointed out was the fact that mature Christians felt dissatisfied with church as ordinarily conducted. Many drop out, not because of sliding into worldliness, but because the more mature Christians found church done as normally done somehow inadequate. Continue reading →

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Letter to a Gay Man in the Churches of Christ, Part 7

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Jay F Guin

gay

My question is why doesn’t the church talk about it? Why is it so hush hush? Do people really think that it’s not an issue that needs to be talked about? That there’s no way a gay person could be in a church of Christ because that kind of thing just can’t happen? The only time I’ve heard it preached on from the pulpit was when I was a member at Oak Hills in San Antonio and one Sunday Max preached a sermon condemning gay marriage, about 3 years ago or so.

This is an important question. I agree with you that there are many single men and women in the Churches of Christ chastely living as Christians while keeping their homosexual natures a closely guarded secret.

And I agree that having to keep this a secret places an unfair burden on them. On the other hand, I think we do a lousy job of supporting heterosexuals in living chastely, too. And I agree that we need to talk more openly and frankly about sex. Pretending it’s not a problem only means the problem isn’t being dealt with. Continue reading →

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Buried Talents: Genesis, Part 3 (the Fall of Man and Woman)

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Jay F Guin

The subordination of women did not begin in Genesis 2, but in Genesis 3.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” Continue reading →

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