I was so disappointed to see this week that so many people cancelled their child sponsorships, that World Vision felt they needed to retract their policy change that allowed legally married gay or lesbian people to be their employees.
Regardless of one's view of those relationships, what that means is this: large numbers of Christian people, who claim to follow Jesus, thought it was more important to take a stand against gay marriage, than it is to feed, clothe and educate the 22,000~ children under 5 who die each DAY of easily preventable causes.
"Then He will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
I don't quote that to question anyone's salvation; there's only one Judge. But that passage highlights that Jesus' priority is how we treat those in need and those outside the fold. Both groups, sheep and goats, called Him Lord, but only one was allowed into heaven with him, and it was based on their fruit and their actions.
Evangelical Christianity, I share all your theological beliefs, but I could hardly be more disappointed and frustrated.
When World Vision, one of our largest charities, took a step forward to heal the damage we did by not protesting Fred Phelps and not clearly proclaiming the love of God for all people, and elevating homosexuality above our own sin as magically worse than our own extramarital sex, divorce, pride, gluttony, and greed, we not only didn't go along, but to make our protest heard we stopped feeding the hungry.
We stopped doing exactly what Jesus told us to do, what James says in 1:27 is religion that God our Father sees as pure and faultless, what God Himself said it means to "know me" in Jeremiah 22:16, to make what, fundamentally, is not a "top tier" theological point, and in so-doing, rebroadcast to the world our hatred of and disdain for gay and lesbian people.
Fundamentally, we've lost our vision for what God tells us His priorities are in the world - whether or not you believe gay marriage is right or wrong, there's no denying that. We've taken an ultimately insignificant, over-politicized fight, and to win that fight, we've compromised the one thing that is effective in showing the lost who God is and what kind of love he calls us to.
Richard Stearns, World Vision's CEO, is one of my heroes, and everyone should read his book The Hole In Our Gospel. I have no doubt that, under his able leadership, they'll be able to shuffle and stretch things so that the poorest recipients of their aid are not hurt by this. Hopefully followers of Christ step up as well, to keep the ministry going where some have cancelled their support. But I don't believe the same can be said for the evangelical church's testimony, and those who are poor in faith.
It's hard to imagine the events of this week haven't driven some, already questioning their faith, out of the church, and hasn't kept others, who had begun to turn towards Christ and Christianity, thinking that if there *is* a loving God in this world, Christianity isn't the place to find him.
In that respect, I can't help but think that many Christians and Christian leaders who responded to this news by speaking against and cutting support for World Vision, have shown a deep lack of the world vision Christ wants us to have.
