Issues With The Banner Part 9 - "Reconsidering How the Church Communicates Love"
Wherein the Banner argues that "love" is the response to disunity within the church and never once mentions the need for truth
As explained in my introductory post, I have been slowly going through the March 2023 issue of the Banner and pointing out articles I have concerns with. I initially did this not for public consumption but to provide to the elders of the CRCNA church I am attending as a way of illustrating what I see as the wide-spread nature of the Banner’s failings and the sometimes subtle ways concerning and unorthodox views are expressed in its pages. I was and still am in the process of deciding whether I should become a member of the church, and I wanted to get a better understanding from the church council as to where my local church stood on these things. Did they think they articles were orthodox and beneficial or did they, like me, find them concerning?
In one issue, a total of nine articles quickly jumped out at me as expressing questionable beliefs. Below is the ninth of those articles.
“Reconsidering How the Church Communicates Love” by Sean Schat
This article, as the title suggests, focuses on “love”. It starts out by stating “One clear outcome of the pandemic is that many have entrenched themselves firmly in their beliefs, often in opposition to the beliefs firmly held to by others.” It goes on to say, “This does not bode well for the kingdom of God or for the body of Christ. The church is called to be united and to represent Christ in the world. In our actions and words, supported by the work of the Spirit, we are the way others will meet Christ, hear his call, and come to know they are God’s dearly loved children.” It also says, “In the context of this [pandemic] isolation and division, we can show the world a different way. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the church to demonstrate the reconciling and transforming power of God’s love.”
The article points to “love” as the way to respond to people becoming entrenched in opposing beliefs and as the way to bring reconciliation and transformation, but I see no recognition that Christians need to pursue and speak the truth. Yes, sometimes a lack of unity can spring out of superficial differences, but sometimes opposition happens because factions within a group have wildly incompatible beliefs.
Some people think masks work; others think they don’t. Some people think lockdowns worked; others think they didn’t. Some think vaccines work; others think they don’t. On all of these issues, one side is closer to the truth than the other and no amount of “love” is going to bridge this divide. It is only in so far as both sides are actively seeking to discern the truth and change their behavior to align with the truth as it is revealed that they will be able to become unified.
Aside from the pandemic, we see this disunity now in the CRC over issues related to sexual morality. Some believe gay marriage is morally acceptable; some believe it is a sin. Some believe it’s possible for someone to be born in the “wrong” body and have a gender that’s different than their sex; some believe gender and sex are the same thing and are determined by God who sets a person’s biology. One of those views is true; one of them is false. Groups within a church that hold those separate views will not be able to be united in a fundamental way and no amount of love is going to change that. We are seeing this now within the CRC.
The article goes on to say:
Many outside of the church hold a deeply rooted suspicion of Christians. They believe the church has a legacy of harming the marginalized and that the church has deservedly lost power and influence. In fact, many believe the church has forfeited the right to speak and lead in Western culture because Christians have been at the forefront of most significant marginalizations in the West (e.g., gender bias, withholding women’s rights, slavery, apartheid, abusive residential schools for First Nations children, LGBTQ discrimination).
This paragraph is simply not truthful. Christians have been on the forefront of fighting and ending slavery. Christianity has brought improved living conditions and increased respect to women everywhere it has taken hold. The only reason Western culture cares about marginalized people at all and treats them with the care and consideration it does is because of 2,000 years of Christian tradition teaching people that they should care for the poor and downtrodden.
I must also ask: is it not concerning that the Banner, the foremost publication of the CRC, is listing “LGBTQ discrimination” as if it is harmful and a sin? The Banner doesn’t even explain what it is talking about. The denomination’s position on homosexuality is well-defined and has been upheld several times by several Synods. Is the Banner trying to imply that the denomination is wrong or that it’s discriminatory to hold the position that homosexual marriage is sinful? Is the Banner suggesting that it’s discriminatory against trans and queer people to hold the orthodox view that a person’s sex is determined by their biology not by their internal subjective feelings?
What exactly does the Banner mean when it decries “LGBTQ discrimination” and holds it out as a reason that the church has “forfeited the right to speak and lead in Western culture”? That’s a really bold statement that the Banner shouldn’t be putting forth without further clarification.
The Banner goes on to claim, “To many both inside and outside the church, Christians do not appear to be very loving. This is a problem of epic proportions. Has the church failed the love command?”
Again, that’s just flat out untruthful. Christians are 25 percentage points more likely than secular people to engage in volunteer work and donate their money. Their divorce rates are lower. Their adoption rates are higher. These are not the statistics of unloving people, and they are certainly not the statistics of people who are unloving in “epic proportions”. It grieves me deeply that the editor of the Banner would choose to publish such slanderous accusations and that CRC churches all over the country choose to fund this material and put it in their reading racks for their congregants to access.
After making these criticisms, the writer of the article does not point the readers to scripture or to religious-based resources as potential guides for how to act in a more loving manner. Rather, he goes on to talk about something called “care theory" which appears to be a method by which teachers and leaders can encourage moral decision making from their students and followers. It looks like it is a secular method not particularly rooted in religion in general or Christianity specifically. The writer equates/conflates the care theory vision of caring with the concept of loving others and suggests that if you are not treating people in the way promoted by care theory you are not loving them in a Christian sense. This seems very manipulative to me, particularly because the effectiveness of care theory seems to be measured by how the person who is provided care perceives the care, not whether what was done to them was actually beneficial.
When my son was younger and had an ear infection, he needed to take a course of antibiotics. He had no interest in taking those antibiotics or in listening to and understanding my well-reasoned and kindly expressed explanations for why he needed to take the antibiotics. So, I had to wrestle him down and force him to take his medicine, because ultimately the responsible, caring, and loving thing for me to do was to make sure he took his medicine instead of letting his raging ear infection go untreated. But, if the person writing this article is to be believed, my actions were counterproductive and ultimately not helpful because my son did not feel cared in that moment.
The writer ends the article with this thought:
Our ability to love others comes from God, not from us. We are commanded to love others, reflecting God’s love to others. We don’t need to judge. That is for God to do. We don’t need to save people. Jesus already did so. We don’t need to change others. That is the work of the Spirit. We can, however, be part of the process of growth in change, influencing others by caring for them as dearly loved brothers and sisters, beloved children of God.
That is the sort of mindset that leads to the demise of churches and results in them embracing immorality and heresy.
There are a couple of issues that, in particular, are tearing the church apart right now: gay marriage and transgenderism. The side in favor of complete acceptance of gay marriage and transgenderism would have those who hold orthodox views on those issues go along with and tolerate them ("We don’t need to judge.") as a way of being loving and showing their care for people with homosexual desires or confusion about their gender. But staying quiet about toxically harmful beliefs that are destroying the church (and, I would add, society at large) is not loving. It’s not loving to the people currently engaging in that sin; it’s not loving to the children who run the risk of getting sucked into that sin because nobody was protecting them from it; it’s not loving to the parents and family members who have the deal with the devastation caused by a family member caught in that sin; and it’s not loving to the church as a whole which becomes weakened and separated from God by accepting and embracing sin in its midst.
Speaking the truth (i.e. "judging") is what is necessary in this situation whether the people holding these sinful views feel cared for and loved or not, because there's a lot more at stake than just a single person’s feelings and whether or not they individually repent. What is at stake is the entire wellbeing of the church as a whole and of society as a whole, and that is not served well by pursuing "love" over truth or by tolerating sin as a way of demonstrating "care" for others.
To turn things around a little bit, I agree that "We don’t need to judge. That is for God to do." And He has judged and made His will clear in the Bible on numerous issues at numerous times and in numerous ways. It's our responsibility to study the Bible and try to follow after Him and His teachings and tell others about Him. If we speak the truth and what people hear sounds like judgement maybe it's not us they are hearing but God. Maybe it’s not our judgement but God’s judgement. And it is better for them to hear it and have the opportunity to repent rather than to never hear it at all because we’re too focused on living out “care theory”.