Watered Down Gospel

I was really disturbed by a post I read this week on Cathleen Falsani's blog, The Dude Abides (http://www.cathleenfalsani.com/). Falsani is an excellent journalist, specializing in religion coverage, and has worked for the Sun-Times and written several books. I took a special interest in following her work when I moved to Chicago since she was local, and since I have a couple of friends who went to Wheaton College with her and have spoken about how sharp she is.

This week she wrote a blog post called "A Gay Awakening in the Church?" and it left me sad and shaking my head is disbelief. Why? Because in the post Falsani discusses Jay Bakker's newest book (he's Jim Bakker's son) and endorses his opinion that Christians have been translating scripture on homosexuality incorrectly (Leviticus), when, in fact, there's nothing wrong with it. She seems to be just one of a growing handful of evangelicals/emergents who are now making the move to embrace the gay lifestyle in the church. She ends her post by asking, "Might the evangelical church be on the verge of a gay awakening?"

Further disappointing was pastor and author Brian MacLaren's endorsement of Falsani's post just a few days later.

Interestingly, I could begin my own blog post in a similar way that Falsani began hers: "Some of my dearest friends are gay. Most of my dearest friends are Christians." But unlike Falsani, my friends and I agree to disagree when it comes to this particular lifestyle choice. It doesn't make us love each other any less, and some have gratefully left the lifestyle behind. Although many people struggle with this choice and find relief in "coming out of the closet," others find relief in getting out of the lifestyle.

Can you be gay and a Christian? Of course. But how long can we keep watering down scripture?

What do you think? Are Christians compromising in this area?

Outta Here

In approximately two hours I am out of here for the weekend. It's time for our annual MLK weekend retreat with two other couples, the Bells (flying out from Atlanta) and the Krons (local). We've gathered each MLK weekend for approximately 12 years and it is nothing short of fabulous! We have a no-kids-allowed rule, so come 4 p.m. today, I will be a true grown-up for three whole days.

Ah, three days to hang out in sweats in a rental house, doing nothing but talking, eating, watching a video series from John Ortberg (the enrichment part), and drinking wine. Oh yeah, and watching the Bears in the playoffs and the Golden Globes. Sounds like heaven on earth, no? Believe me, we don't leave the house until Monday afternoon.

There's nothing like great friends to restore your sanity.