Context: the RCA has approved a 3.5 year period of dialogue regarding homosexuality, instead of approving several classis overtures to write into our polity our present position papers, which define homosexual practice as a sin.
As a Canadian RCA minister responded to Canada's recent legalization of homosexual marriage, he said he wasn't going to do state marriages in Canada anymore. I responded:
Why can we say, "No more" to the state, but we cannot say it to ourselves as God's holy church called out of an impure world? We are called first to say "No more" to impurity within the church, not the world, a la 1 Cor 5:12. To say, "3 more years" to ourselves and then "No more" to the state reverses 1 Cor 5:12's priorities. Judgment begins with the house of God.
I'm not saying we shouldn't separate from being agents of the state in this matter, I'm saying we should be consistent, and much more conscientious in our associations with believers than with the world (1 Cor 5:9-11).
I'm not sure that as a corporate body right now we RCA members have any business being so adamant in our indignation against a corrupt state as long as we cannot remove the yeast from our own body. It smacks of hypocrisy. Like the president not paying taxes. On an individual level, I do agree with Jim's honorable and principled stand.
I'm not saying we can never point out sin because we aren't perfect; I'm not one who thinks that way. But our priorities should begin with God's people. Only when we speak, act and live as a unified community will we be salt and light that is potent enough to make a difference in the world. Only after we let God sift and purify us as He did Gideon's army will we be fit for battle.
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