From the uttermost to the guttermost

I believe it was Gen. Booth who coined this slogan. And it was exemplified in the ministry of Christ.

The End of the Spear, following on the heels of Brokeback Mountain, has ignited a debate within the Evangelical community on how it should position itself in relation to the homosexual community. I don’t plan to comment on every facet of that debate, but a few comments are in order.

In some circles it is viewed as prideful or judgmental to say that some sins are worse than others. Yet there’s a solid biblical basis for ranking sins—up to a point.

Mind you, any sin which is unwashed by the blood of Christ is a damnable sin.

Some sins are also more dangerous than others—to the sinner himself, to his fellow sinners, and to the church.

The homosexual community and its allies confront the church with a two-pronged challenge. On the one hand, there is a concerted effort to criminalize Christian expression. And this effort has met with some success.

It is incumbent upon the church to combat this attack on the gospel at every turn.

On the other hand, Christianity is all about redemption and restoration. Although the remission of sin is contingent on repentance and amendment of life, there is no type of sinner either above the need of the gospel or beneath the reach of the gospel. A church which ceases to uphold this vision ceases to be a church.

So the church must endeavor to do two things at once: it must combat the homosexual agenda, but it must also do with the homosexual community what it is commissioned and commanded to do with every other lost soul and unreached corner of the world.