http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=87412
The link above is to an interview Christianity Today did with Jennifer Knapp and published last week. I read a brief note about it in World Magazine and so I wanted to find out if it was true. I came across this article.
http://online.worldmag.com/2010/04/13/jennifer-knapp-comes-out/
The second link is on World Magazine's website. Some of the quotes they're including must come from the printed version of the magazine.
It made me very sad.
It has shocked me how many times in the past week since I began reading Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild, the book has hit home in my life because of things that have come up with friends or that I've heard about in the news or on television.
What are the implications of a Christian singer coming out as being gay? Is it the same as Amy Grant getting a divorce or Sandi Patty committing adultery? Sandi Patty has recognized her sin and grieves over it. So did Michael English. The interviews I've read with Amy Grant have never said that she publicly felt her divorce was a sin. But, is it my place to judge?
No, I know it is not my place to judge, but I do think that when we are living in sin and not repenting of it it affects our whole compass. I would assume as well that it would affect the lyrics and messages of songs the artists write and sing.
Jennifer Knapp sees no sin in living openly in a same-sex relationship. She feels the Christian church should accept and support her in this relationship--I'm making that statement because of the interview above and what she says.
The Bible is clear that living a homosexual lifestyle is a sin. There are multiple scriptures which state this.
A friend just made me aware of her interview last week on Larry King Live and that the Christian Pastor who was also on the show endeavored to show her compassion with compromising. From what my friend said, Jennifer Knapp took everything the pastor said as a personal attack, though it was said in grace and love.
I googled the interview and came across an article in which a woman said basically, who am I to judge her? She admired her courage and guts about coming out.
Coming out isn't the issue. Repentance and believing that living in the homosexual lifestyle in a same-sex relationship is not a sin is the issue. It affects her outlook on faith and God.
As Christians, we are constantly cajoled by the world to be tolerant of others. We are condemned by unbelievers as judgemental when we take a stand and say that something is a sin. In a book I recently read by Jerry Bridges, he wrote that many things we now consider to be sins today will not be in 10 years. He was very concerned. I could see his point. It is important that we not compromise and forget what the Bible says.
Several years ago, I read Philip Yancey's book What's So Amazing About Grace? He addresses the issue of homosexuality and talks about how to we love the sinner and not the sin in that specific context. I appreciated all that he shared and his perspective.
It is very important that people who struggle with the sin of homosexuality are not condemned by our churches as people--but that they are loved, encouraged, and held accountable to the Word of God--just as we all should be when we sin.
So, those are my thoughts for this morning.
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