Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Sexual Ethics”
Our Bible verse for today: “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Proverbs 15:1 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “How we say things matters.”
Yesterday I told you of how impressed I was with the civil tone established and maintained at the conference I attended recently about Sexual Ethics in America. Because the tone was kind and respectful, there was much constructive dialogue. Leaders of the Gay and Lesbian community participated in side meetings with leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention. In comfortable chairs, sipping coffee and munching donuts, they discussed their differences. Reporters from liberal gay-aligned publications sat side-by-side in the press pool with their peers from strongly conservative media outlets.
The interesting note in all of this is that I’m not aware of anyone on either side having compromised their strongly held beliefs. As far as I could tell, everyone walked away believing pretty much as they did when they walked into those meetings. The important point is not that anyone changed their point of view. It was enough that sincere people with vastly different perspectives on emotionally charged issues where able to discuss their differences without demonizing each other.
This is significant. There has been far too much supercharged rhetoric and mean actions on both sides of the spectrum. On the far right, there were those knuckleheads from Westboro Baptist Church protesting at military funerals holding signs that read “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers”. On the extreme left, there have been numerous cases of militant Gay and Lesbian activists disrupting church services and vandalizing church property. None of that helps anyone. No cause is advanced by hateful words and actions.
As we go forward now in this devotional series on the subject of sexual ethics, we will consider some of the most emotionally charged cultural issues of our day. But we will do so in a calm and respectful way, ever-conscious of the fact that we are all people deeply loved by God the Father, people for whom Jesus died. Tomorrow we will look at the original sexual ethic established by God the Father at the time of creation, and which was affirmed by Jesus in the Gospels.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 