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To My Brothers/Sisters Saying “I Told You So” After the Giglio Debacle Part 2

January 31, 2013 by 1 Comment

It’s impossible to divorce yourself from your context. So this means no one is actually completely objective – this means you, this means me.

So here’s a little of my context: I am a pastor in a larger evangelical church in the Northeast who is trying to encourage his fellow brothers and sisters and inspire those outside our walls to the life-giving message of Jesus with word and deed. I’m tired of the haters within our walls that are preaching doomsday scenarios. And I’m tired of those outside our walls merely identifying us by our failures and blind spots. I’m excited by [Read more…]

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To My Brothers/Sisters Saying “I Told You So” After the Giglio Debacle

January 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When I wrote about the Louie Giglio Inaugural prayer debacle, I finished with this statement:

“To my fellow brothers and sisters who have either told me that I am naive about the culture war, that have warned me of the “slippery slope,” and who want to say, “I told you so!” I am working on a post for you …”

As promised here’s the follow up.

I am committed to not fighting the culture war with the tactics of righteous outrage, guilt, intimidation that is clocked in a pseudo-morality and doomsday prophecies. Further, I live on the slippery slope, you do too. This is why you cannot not find more than two people who agree with each other. And you can always say “I told you so!” but I put about as much stock in that line as I do when I hear “Everybody’s saying …”

Ever since I can remember, people have either lived in fear or promoted the fear of the “coming Christian persecution in America.” Every time a Christian, church is attacked or a cultural moment or a new law goes into affect that runs against a Christian conviction, there’s panic, a good bit of outrage and much of the response centers on what we as a Church and a society have lost.

Many are utterly convinced the government hates the Church and there is a conspiracy to systematically dismantle people of faith in this [Read more…]

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A Few Thoughts On the Louie Giglio Situation – What Is the Christ-like Response?

January 12, 2013 by 3 Comments

In case you missed it Louie Giglio was scheduled to deliver the benediction at President Barack Obama’s Inauguration but has chosen to withdraw from the ceremony due to questions about an “anti-gay sermon” he gave in the mid-1990s.

Here was part of his formal reply …
“” … dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration … Neither I, nor our team, feel it best serves the core message and goals we are seeking to accomplish to be in a fight on an issue not of our choosing.”

and part of Addie Whisenant’s spokeswoman for the Inaugural Committee, response …
“We were not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection and they don’t reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this Inaugural … As we now work to select someone to deliver the benediction, we will ensure their beliefs reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance for all Americans.”

First things first, what is up with that committee? They are 0 for 2 now, which is mind-boggling. Their job does not look that hard to me. History class told me the date has been preselected for January 20th (which falls on a Sunday so this year it will actually be the 21st – not [Read more…]

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