It seems we lose a lot of nuance in news reports. When Hillsong's pastor, Brian Houston, declined to give a clear answer to the question of the church's stance on marriage. people jumped to the conclusion that they are not keeping their traditional stance on marriage. On Saturday, Houston clarified that they have not changed their stance and believe in traditional marriage. I resonated with a lot of what he said in both answers.
Answering questions at a news conference is not an obligatory place to give your opinion. When the Pharisees asked Jesus about his thoughts on paying taxes to the Roman government, he gave an evasive answer. I'm sure the bloggers of his day were ready to jump to all kinds of conclusions.
What I did like about the original answer was Houston's concern for three things. "There's the world we live in, there’s the weight we live with, and there’s the word we live by." Christianity is incarnational, it does not exist in a vacuum. As Christians, we are tasked with sharing the good news with the world around us. We need to be aware of how the world understands us, and the way our words may deepen the pain and suffering of others. This is true even when the scripture is clear.
Concern about our context is not an automatic sign of capitulation. It can also be the first sign of capitulation. We should have the maturity to look for the difference without jumping to conclusions.
-John M Troyer
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Answering questions at a news conference is not an obligatory place to give your opinion. When the Pharisees asked Jesus about his thoughts on paying taxes to the Roman government, he gave an evasive answer. I'm sure the bloggers of his day were ready to jump to all kinds of conclusions.
What I did like about the original answer was Houston's concern for three things. "There's the world we live in, there’s the weight we live with, and there’s the word we live by." Christianity is incarnational, it does not exist in a vacuum. As Christians, we are tasked with sharing the good news with the world around us. We need to be aware of how the world understands us, and the way our words may deepen the pain and suffering of others. This is true even when the scripture is clear.
Concern about our context is not an automatic sign of capitulation. It can also be the first sign of capitulation. We should have the maturity to look for the difference without jumping to conclusions.
-John M Troyer
This blog is updated each day except on Sunday. Liking the Facebook page will not automatically update your news feed with new posts. If you would like receive regular notifications of new posts, join the Facebook group at this link. If you would like to subscribe by email, you can do so at the top of this page.
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