\n<\/p>\n
Just a few weeks ago the Methodist
\nChurch, which represents over 12 Million Christians in America, met in St.
\nLouis, for their General Conference. In a special session they voted on what
\nwas called The Traditional Plan, which kept church rules in place that
\ndisallowed same-sex marriages and gay clergy.<\/p>\n
In one presentation, Nancy Denardo, a lay
\ndelegate from the western part of Pennsylvania, said,<\/p>\n
\u201cGalatians 6:1, brothers & sisters,
\n\u2018if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual, should restore him
\ngently. But watch yourself as you also may be tempted.\u2019 And in verse 7, \u2018Do not
\nbe deceived, God cannot be mocked. A person reaps what they sow.\u2019 Friends,
\nplease stop sowing seeds of deceit. The word became flesh. Not the flesh becomes
\nthe word. I\u2019m truly sorry if the truth of the gospel hurts anyone. But know
\nthat I, and those who support the Traditional Plan, love you enough to tell you
\nthe truth. God gives you freewill, choose wisely, choose God\u2019s true words.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a great example of using truth as a weapon.<\/a> Here are a few things I\u2019d point out here:<\/p>\n 1. There is no humility or recognition 2. This conflates telling the truth with love. When we love, we earn the right to tell people our opinion. <\/p>\n When we haven\u2019t earned the right with our blood, sweat, tears, and time, truth-telling is most often received as judgment. Prior proof of love transforms opinion-telling from judgment into love. Without deep trust that you truly want me to win in life, and have shown me that by your investment in me, \u201ctruth-telling\u201d becomes a Trojan Horse, self-confirmation in the guise of \u201cdoing this for your own good.\u201d <\/p>\n 3. On some level, whether something is If someone has to agree with your entire belief system<\/a> to understand, and agree with, what you mean by love, then it\u2019s probably not love. Even more clearly, if someone who isn\u2019t a Christian interprets your actions as hateful because they don\u2019t \u201cget it,\u201d then you\u2019re probably the one who doesn\u2019t \u201cget it.\u201d<\/p>\n We live our lives feeling that there is a tension between truth and love. But there\u2019s only a tension if we believe truth and love are equals and opposites. They are not. Love is the bottom line. When we pursue a life of love, we will find truth along the way. When we pursue truth, we do not always find love along the way. When Jesus tells us the greatest commandment, it\u2019s not truth-telling, it\u2019s not fact-based, it\u2019s not doctrinal. It\u2019s love.<\/p>\n Want to keep the conversation going on
\nthat \u201cthe truth of the gospel\u201d and \u201cNancy\u2019s understanding of the truth of the
\ngospel\u201d aren\u2019t the same thing. Because of that, this isn\u2019t a conversation
\ntoward mutual understanding but a choice to accept my interpretation or be
\nwrong.<\/p>\nTelling people our opinion isn\u2019t the same thing as love<\/em><\/strong>. <\/h2>\n
\nloving or not should depend on whether the person feels loved. I understand
\nthat sometimes we do things for our children that they don\u2019t feel as loving.
\nBut we\u2019re not talking about children. We are talking about full grown adults
\nwho need to be treated as such. And I understand that love isn\u2019t just a
\nfeeling. But feelings are messages \u2013 they tell us something. And we need to
\nlisten to people who tell us when something we think is supposed to be loving \u2013
\nisn\u2019t.<\/p>\n