p. Today’s devotional was 1 Timothy 3 , Isaiah 36-37 , Psalm 119:97-120 . I was most struck by Timothy’s instructions regarding selecting leaders for the church.
p. He characterizes potential church leaders as “serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it.”[1] I think this is particularly notable considering some of the views expressed by members of the Episcipal Church today, in reaction to the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop. An attitude that a person’s “personal/private life is personal and doesn’t affect their fitness for a job” doesn’t seem to agree with Timothy’s statement that “For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s church?”[2]
On the whole, I think it’s hard to argue with the ideal that tolerence, love, and forgiveness lie at the root of the teachings of Christ, and that Christ was especially harsh in his teachings regarding judgement, as in the case of the Pharisees. On those grounds alone, I would think that – regardless of any consensus of homesexuality as a moral/immoral act – that attempting to piously decry it alone as an automatic disqualifier for service in God’s name is unreasonable, and indeed probably un-Christian.
p. I do NOT believe however, that personal conduct can be seperated from fitness to hold a position in the Church or elsewhere, whether it be business, politics, or any other. That kind of attitude, that personal character and action is unimportant or excusable due to ability and accomplishment seems to me to be contrary to all that Christ did teach, where he focused on the character and nature of the soul, faith in the Lord, and an attempt to follow his commandments.
fn1. 1 Timothy 3:8
fn2. 1 Timothy 3:5
Daily Devotional – 11/1
Tags: ANT · business · cas · chris · christian · ci · home · it · Personal · service · teaching
p. Today’s devotional was 1 Timothy 3 , Isaiah 36-37 , Psalm 119:97-120 . I was most struck by Timothy’s instructions regarding selecting leaders for the church.
p. He characterizes potential church leaders as “serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it.”[1] I think this is particularly notable considering some of the views expressed by members of the Episcipal Church today, in reaction to the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop. An attitude that a person’s “personal/private life is personal and doesn’t affect their fitness for a job” doesn’t seem to agree with Timothy’s statement that “For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s church?”[2]
On the whole, I think it’s hard to argue with the ideal that tolerence, love, and forgiveness lie at the root of the teachings of Christ, and that Christ was especially harsh in his teachings regarding judgement, as in the case of the Pharisees. On those grounds alone, I would think that – regardless of any consensus of homesexuality as a moral/immoral act – that attempting to piously decry it alone as an automatic disqualifier for service in God’s name is unreasonable, and indeed probably un-Christian.
p. I do NOT believe however, that personal conduct can be seperated from fitness to hold a position in the Church or elsewhere, whether it be business, politics, or any other. That kind of attitude, that personal character and action is unimportant or excusable due to ability and accomplishment seems to me to be contrary to all that Christ did teach, where he focused on the character and nature of the soul, faith in the Lord, and an attempt to follow his commandments.
fn1. 1 Timothy 3:8
fn2. 1 Timothy 3:5