Last Night: Lead With Love

Christianity Today cover, December 2014

"Who am I to judge a gay person?"

“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. "

"On the contrary, the Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us this commandment in our heart: Do good and do not do evil. The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, what about the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us first class children of God! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, with everyone doing his own part; if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of meeting: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good! We shall meet there."

Those are the words of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, known now as Pope Francis. He has provoked a lot of talk with what Catholics and Evangelicals and atheists alike see as controversial statements.

Personally, I don't get too worked up about most of what he says. I figure even if he's saying something theologically questionable, what's shocking about yet another non-biblical or extra-biblical brick in the edifice of the Roman Catholic Church? Frankly, his comments about gays or atheists or abortion are less theologically troubling than this tweet:

Mary, Queen of Heaven, help us to transform the world according to God’s plan.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 15, 2014

The concern among many Christians is what they see as his "liberal theology." In their eyes he's going soft on sin and the need for repentance.

I'm no expert on the theology of Pope Francis. I'm not sure anyone is, other than the man himself. He does seem to speak his mind freely, without carefully massaging the message to avoid controversy.

Austin Ivereigh, a Roman Catholic journalist, has followed the new pope's statements as closely as anyone. In an NPR interview about his new biography of the pope, The Great Reformer, he had this to say:

They know he's shaking things up, which he is. But they mistake that for a kind of attempt to change doctrine. I mean, on all the core Catholic teachings, he is a absolutely straight-down-the-line orthodox Catholic. But he is also an evangelizer and a missionary. 

And his observation — the famous observation — that we shouldn't bang on too much about abortion and those other issues, his point is not that abortion isn't wrong. I can cite you many speeches in which he gives searing denunciations of abortion. It's that he says it is not enough for people to look at the Catholic and say, "Yes, that's what the church stands for." 

What's missing from the picture, he says, is the merciful face of Christ. The church that heals the wounds, that raises people up, that nurtures them, that forgives them. And so what he's trying to do is to say, "Actually, that's the face of the church that needs to be presented." 

Now, this isn't a PR exercise. What he's actually saying is people need to experience that before they are ready to accept the rest of it.

The December 2014 issue of Christianity Today has a cover story, Pope Francis: Why Everyone Loves the Pope, in which R.R. Reno has this to say:

In the case of Francis, the media does not realize that his statements are more pastoral than doctrinal in nature. He wants to reframe the classic doctrine and morals of the Catholic Church so that a secular world can be converted and adhere to them.

That sounds a lot like what I've been trying to say in my writing, including this quote from my Christian Standard article, Right and Righteous:

In Matthew 5, Jesus reaffirmed the timeless centrality of obeying the commandments of God. Then he took it a step further by putting the focus not on our actions, but on our hearts. Having barely caught his breath from hammering home the guilt in our hearts, he went on to challenge us to love our enemies. 

At the end of his ministry, Jesus repeated the importance of obedience when he told his disciples, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15). In that same final conversation he also told them, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). 

My continual prayer for myself and my fellow Christians is that we will have the courage to speak where all the Scriptures speak, and to steadfastly refuse to compromise on the essentials of holiness and love.

Last night, on the season finale of the 29th season of the TV "reality show" Survivor, much was made of a pair of contestants who are a "Christian gay couple." Twitter was filled with instant reactions and opinions, both positive and negative. Regardless of whether a "gay Christian" is a biblical concept at all, my chief opinion is that every person should be approached as an individual, not as a stereotype.

Lead with love, not with opinions. I don't know the two men at the center of that controversy, so I'm not going to pretend I know enough about their relationship or their beliefs to comment on their faith. I pray there are faithful Christians in their life who are mentors.

Lead with love, something there's just too little of.

Love is the measure of faith.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 27, 2014