So what's it gonna be?

I have long thought that the mission of the church can be and has been co-opted by our political system. I have long considered the repercussions of some of my stances on things that could warrant a deeper search of my own heart first before breaking into public discourse. I belong to a long line of ministers, my dad felt it was important that I know that there are several generations of ministers in my familial line. While that is something that truly one cannot help but be proud of I cannot help but wonder how would those men feel about some of the things I am going to say here. My father would definitely consider my theology very liberal, and he would be half right, however I do not consider that a pejorative statement, I hold it as a high honor. I have always held that Christianity is not for those who want to be told what to do. It is not for those who do not want to think. We are not automatons created for God’s pleasure. We are created in His image with a free mind and free will. I frankly agree with CS Lewis’ thought that God’s greatest demonstration of his omnipotence was the creation of beings who could tell him “No”. Thing is thought that with that ability does come a great deal of responsibility. Free will means that we have the ability to choose God, with the understanding that just as Jesus said that the only way someone can come to Him is that the Spirit of God draws him. Here’s the thing is the drawing overruling free will, of course not, the Spirit does not make you do anything you still have to yield yourself but it is YOU making the decision. We have free will on how we treat each other as well. And there is the rub. We treat each other with respect, we treat people that we know are involved in sin or I should say some sins with respect, we see them as people, we see them as people in whom Jesus saw enough immeasurable worth in that He died for them. What I find in the black church especially is a totem. We have some sins that are higher than others, for example, cheating on taxes is not so bad, so that gets relegated to the bottom of the sin totem. Others have cheating on one’s spouse on a lower totem position. However if someone is gay, this is at the top of the totem. The person who might be struggling with homosexuality is relegated to the top of the sin totem. They get scripture thrown at them, they get a lot of condemnation, a lot of man made conviction, but very little love thrown their way. I know some might say that the fact that some throw scripture is a form of love but to them I would say “So really having someone rub your nose in your sin was helpful in you accepting the truth. People are not dogs I have a dog, Maestro did not like his nose rubbed in his feces anymore we would care for someone to remind us of how sinful we are even when we do miss the mark. So why is it that when we feel the need to remind someone of their sin, we want to have the world blink at our own. I am sorry we cannot have it both ways.