We should welcome them in!
A few weeks back I mentioned a disruption of church services in the Lansing, Michigan area at Mount Hope Church by homosexuals. Now, in what is a typical response to an ugly situation, we have a legislator in Michigan proposing a new law to combat church invasions by sinners! From today's editorial in the Lansing State Journal...
The recent invasion of the Mount Hope Church by a "radical gay rights group" was a bad idea.
State. Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, and his legislative colleagues shouldn't make matters worse with their own mistake.
That error would be Jones' stated intention to file legislation to create a special criminal offense of disrupting a religious meeting. Jones, the former Eaton County sheriff, wants such conduct treated as a high misdemeanor, with penalties of up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Jones remarked to City Pulse that he had heard from people who were worried that their church might be next for disruption.
What these people need are not new laws to keep them out, but what they need instead is to hear Christ preached. Think about this, when these people started screaming obscenities, what if the church goers around them started preaching the Gospel to them, praying for them, calling on them to repent of their wicked and perverse lifestyle. I get that it was shocking and unexpected, but if this happens in another church they should welcome the disruption of the church service as an evangelism opportunity. It may disrupt the order of worship detailed in the bulletin, and the service might not get over at noon, but what a great way to carry out the Great Commission! "You know, Jesus Christ died on a cross for people like you and people like me. Repent of your sins and seek forgiveness in Christ." Sure maybe none of these poor people would hear the message. But I was a lost sinner just like them. My sins were different but no less damning and someone preached Christ crucified to me and He regenerated me, made me born again and paid for my sins on that cross. My sins were not as obvious as these people, but no less real, and I am eternally grateful that someone preached Christ to me.
One of the few advantages the institutional church has is that the lost sometimes wander in and are in place to hear the Gospel. When sinners come to a church, they need to hear the Gospel being preached. We don't need new laws, we just need the old Gospel message that is made new every day in the hearts of sinners.
1 comment:
However, with the current hate crimes legislation this would only make sense. What's good for the goose....
I would be in favor of ditching the hate crimes laws, as well as this proposed one.
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