Liberals and Conservatives Unite in the Words of Christ

"Neither do I condemn you. 

Go and sin no more."

These words of Jesus, recorded in the gospel of John chapter eight, were to a woman caught in the very act of adultery. Readers of scripture today want to romanticize the story and feel sorry for the adulteress assuming that when in the presence of the Son of God she was humiliated and repentant. Yet, there is no hint of remorse or repentance in the text when she was thrown at the feet of Christ. 

What we know is that, repentant or not, Jesus gave her some astonishing words of healing.

The story is to tell more about the gospel than the adulteress. Jesus' words are for all of us who have divided our spirit with unnatural actions by engaging in masturbation, watching pornography, lusting, fornicating, living in sin before marriage, engaging in homosexuality, using contraception, having abortions or engaging in adultery. When we do those things we are shattering our souls and our lives, dividing ourselves from the truth and what is beautiful and good. 

Because so many of us, the majority of us, are enslaved to some degree in sexual sins like the woman caught in adultery, the topic has divided us between the Christians who wish to show abundant mercy to the sinner and downplay the "sin" part and the Christians who wish to show justice and obstruct the plague of sexual sin from ruining the world. 

Think about it. 

You don't find Christians arguing that thieves should be understood and that since stealing is so prevalent we need to remove the social stigma from kleptomania. Christians do not have heated theological battles over murderers being too harshly judged. But sexual sins have deeply divided Christians. Sexual sins have tempted and tested each of our hearts, so when we see others falling to sexual sin it touches our compassion button.  Our empathy manifests itself as either a passionate need to make excuses for the sinner or a passionate need to rescue the sinner with words of warning. And Christians--on both sides--look at the other's reaction to sexual sin as heartless because it is either too judgmental or too irresponsible. 

Yet in this biblical scene, if we look closely at Christ's words to the adulteress we will find the answer  as to how to deal with sexual sins that will draws Christians into unity, rather than separate us into conservative and liberal. 

Jesus said:

"Neither do I condemn you."

Here's the heart of liberalism. The good news of the gospel doesn't condemn, it redeems. It is a comforting gospel. This is what all wounded people crave to hear, for the natural law grates at our consciences and fill us with hopelessness and self-loathing. We need rest from the slavery of sin and we long to hear these words of mercy. The liberal has a soft heart for the frailty and loneliness of mankind. They feel for the addiction that results from that the tragedy of human imperfection and heartbreaks we all survive. They understand that temptation is often overwhelming and that self-discipline in a world that screams we have the right to pursue satisfaction is almost impossible. They feel the immediateness of human weakness.  

This is the heart of the liberal--mercy, hope, charity. Don't scold the hungry and downtrodden. Feed them.

"Go and sin no more."

Here is the heart of the conservative. It is a positive approach to the gospel even if it seems harsh to some. It's spirit is found in the solution to the problem. The good news of the gospel empowers us to break free from the sin that has us in its grip of enslavement. The Cross sets us free. The conservative commands, "Kill the sin, kill the demon that is destroying those we love! Go! Sin no more!" It is a gospel of the power of salvation.  There can be no mercy, no charity without eradicating sin. 

We can be holy and happy! There is no way to achieve joy and peace without turning from sin. 

This is the heart of the conservative--freedom, joy and peace. Warn the hungry and downtrodden and teach them how to never be hungry and downtrodden again.

Did Christ pit the liberal and conservative against each other? Is one theology superior to another? No. Jesus binds these two perspectives together and unites them to show the fullness of the gospel. We need mercy, hope and charity. We also must have freedom, joy and peace. These two make the perfect marriage. We cannot allow the dark forces to try and divorce these two unified pieces of theology. They must be taught together. There is no good guy or bad guy here. Both of these are truth. 

Let the conservatives and liberals embrace each other in love and mutual respect. Both are needed and both are important to the full gospel.

St. Augustine and Seventh-day Adventists

“I will plant my feet on that step where my parents put me as a child, until self-evident truth comes to light.”  

St. Augustine, Confessions

Most former Adventists remember the moment like it was a 911 theological terrorist attack upon them. I know, it happened to me and I have heard that it happened to you too. Perhaps it was in prayer or in a Bible passage. You might have been on the internet looking up something about Ellen White and came across a former SDA website. You might have been in a discussion about Adventism. But something hit you.

Your tower of beliefs collided with reality and for a few moments of confusion you didn't know what happened. Then a slow and nauseating awareness crept over you like you were in a nightmarish Twilight Zone episode. You panicked with disbelief as you were struck with the body-blowing realization that you were deceived. Your theological tower, your core heart-felt values and beliefs, collapsed.

"No, no, no, no." You may have controlled the mounting hysteria. "No. God is good. God is kind. God wouldn't betray someone as sincere, someone who loves Him and is so dedicated to Him as I am." Your heart was crushed. God humiliated you.  You who had for so long felt among the elite, the chosen.... the remnant. Was your life a cruel joke played out for the amusement of a sadistic God? 

Most Adventists today cling with all their souls to the idea that God would never, ever, ever allow them, in their sincerity and love for Him, to be caught in the grip of a historical and theological lie. Their entire lives would implode if the encountered the truth. For self-preservation they reject reality before reality can even be processed. Many innocent, sensitive souls who allow themselves to suffer truth feel so rejected by God that they return the rejection and become atheists.

I have often grieved over this. I cannot understand why God does not rescue from deception those seeking and serving Him with all their hearts. Why did God rescue me and not other Adventists who love Him as much?

While I do not have a pithy and satisfying answer, today, Christendom looks to St. Augustine and  there, in his life, I find comfort. 

The fourth century Christian scholar Augustine of Hippo discovered, as a youth, his own brilliance. And like the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, wandered about philosophically testing his mental acumen against other learned men.

Augustine bumped into the exotic Persian wisdom of Mani who had led a movement the century before into the belief that there was a great controversy between Ormuzd, or "light" (Christ) and Ahriman "darkness" (Satan). The sect of Manichaeism offered a better explanation of evil than Catholicism. He quickly accepted these truths  based not upon faith but upon reason. 

After years of faithful promotion of these beliefs, Augustine had a sobering encounter with Faustus, a Manichee bishop known for his wisdom. Having harbored difficult questions about his own beliefs, Augustine poured them out breathlessly awaiting the brilliant answers. 

After hearing Faustus' illogical replies Augustine had his own great disappointment. He realized that his pride had caused him to rationalize and ignore fundamental realities. Embarrassed that his brilliance had not been enough to prevent such a gullibility to deception, he left the sect. 

We who left Adventism need not despair over our intelligence. Better men than we have been sucked into false religions. 

In our journeys of faith God path isn't always the shortest distance between two points. The  trip from Egypt to Canaan shouldn't have taken Israel more than a month and God had them wander for forty years. 

St. Augustine's experiences enriched his relationship with Christ in not only wisdom but in humility. As we look back upon our years in Adventism, do not consider them wasted. Do not regret them or hold resentment towards God for them. Do not chastise yourself for failing to outwit  or out think the Devil. God wasn't trying to humiliate you. There was an ultimate purpose.

Take comfort in the fact that the great saint and scholar Augustine had his own "Adventist" experience in the sect of Manichaeism. Just thank God He drew you out of it and brought you into His glorious light. The experience has brought you wisdom. 

The Complexity of Human Genomes are Miraculous

Dr. John Sandford author of "Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome." Part One.

Part Two: