What Christ-likeness looks like

Jared Keller takes the opportunity presented by some who were quick to criticize a movie and turns it into a moving lesson on what being a Christ follower might just be about:

After posting on the topic of End of the Spear, it was brought to my attention, in my comments section, as well as in some non-online discussions, that there is currently no small amount of controversy surrounding the picture; not so much among the film criticism set, who I fully expected to hate the film due to its central focus on a group of Christian missionaries, but rather, within the body of Christ itself. The reason? Chad Allen - the lead actor in the film (playing both Nate Saint and his son, Steve) - is an openly gay man.

I've known this about Allen for years now, and it's quite frankly no big secret. He's a former teen heartthrob from the 80s (he was the boyfriend of the main character in NBC's My Two Dads, for instance, and also appeared in some show with Wilford Brimley), and "came out" several years ago.

Allen's status as a practicing homosexual has stirred some elements of the Evangelical community (many of those with whom I'm upset are folks for whom I have a tremendous amount of respect. They are, in this case, dead wrong, however...) to action, and resulted in a series of protest letters and boycott threats aimed at both the film's production company - Every Tribe Entertainment - and its executive producer, Mart Green.

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Not only have many of us decided, it would seem, that being culture warriors (in the sense that we're drawing a bead on it, not fighting for it) is more important than being Christ's representatives in the culture, we've made that decision with a rather callous disregard for its inevitable, incalculable harm to our overall witness, and our subsequent inability to act as salt and light, as we're commanded.

Harsh words? Perhaps. I hardly think that they're undeserved, though, and I truly believe that the pastors who've signed the boycott lists that are currently circulating have committed a grave error, and have, in fact, abdicated one of their central responsibilities as pastors.

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I fear that we, as a church, have turned our faces from Christ on this matter. Too many of us in the Evangelical movement are no better off, Scripturally, than are those in the more liberal sects who now argue for the normalization of homosexual behavior. We have bestowed some sort of "special" status to homosexual behavior in the pantheon of sin. It has, in many circles, become the de facto "unforgivable" sin - effectively replacing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Where we are called to love, we reject. Where we should fall on our knees in gratitude for the grace that snatches each of us from the fen of our own tendencies (Ever struggle with lust? Ever check out an online porn site? Ever ONCE think an impure thought regarding a member of the opposite sex?), we have the tendency to stand in judgment over those who fight against their flesh in ways that are alien to us (and are thus easier to criticize).

My own sin...my own failing is no different from that of a gay man or woman. My struggles to stay pure - whether in the area of porn, or any other arena where my masculinity and my fallen nature conspire against me - place me on exactly the same level ground as the man or woman struggling with homosexuality, and neither they, nor I will find firmer footing outside of the shadow of the cross. The sooner each of us remembers this, and approaches these matters in the appropriate spirit of humility and gratitude, the better - for ourselves, and for those who need the Gospel.

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For the Body of Christ to be up in arms over the fact that - GASP! - a sinner is involved in the telling of a story about the Gospel is not only ridiculous, given each of our own failings - it's a sin. God is capable of working on many fronts, and is it not reasonable to believe that He intends this film to do good not only in the hearts of the population at-large, but also in the life of an individual actor - a human being who He loves and values enough to have sent His Son to save? How, in the name of all the we claim to hold holy, can we believe that those most in need of Christ's love and grace will be called to Him by a people who so readily forget their own sin, their own dependence on grace, and so eagerly stoop to pick up stones?

If I'm asked if homosexual behavior is a sin, Scripture offers me no alternative but to say, without equivocation, "yes". However, the same Scripture calls out to damn my own lustfulness, my own frailty, and, most of all, to point out the need for me to love and reach out to those who have yet to be saved from themselves, as, thanks to Christ's unfathomable love, have I.

Most eloquent and poignant words aimed directly at far too many of us.  I've excerpted only pieces.  I think it worthy of your time to read it all.

Thanks Jared.

Comments

[MMM]

And some folks don't remember that the guy who played Peter in Jesus Christ Superstar was a porn star either.

Can we all just focus on God, please? I won't force my beliefs on you, and I won't make you think like I do, but I won't change my mind on what I believe, and that is about as fair as it gets.