I was talking with a friend last night who goes to an independent Apostolic Church. We had two conversations that left me baffled....
In the first one, she was telling me that the church she attends has been paying rent for the use of a Lutheran Church on Sunday afternoons and one evening during the week. It has been a good situation for both congregations since neither are very large. It gives the Lutheran group an income. And it gives the Apostolic folks a place to worship.
But they just learned this week that the Lutherans now have a new pastor - a woman! and she is gay! Now mind you, this gay lady is not going to be pastoring the APOSTOLIC folks, just her own congregation of Lutheran people. But as soon as the Apostolic church found out about it, they are now moving out as of this week! No way they will worship in a building where a gay woman pastors a congregation earlier in the day.
My answer to her was that as long as they weren't asking her to pastor THEIR congregation, what did they care? Isn't what they are doing just a little bit extreme??
So then the conversation turned directions and someone started talking about snake-handling Pentecostal people. One of the ladies shared that she had gone to a snake-handling church for several months while she was in Kentucky taking care of her dying mother. I told her that I had attended that same church - ONE time!! For about 10 minutes - just until I figured out they were snake-handlers! Then I was out the door!! So the lady whose church is moving out because of the gay pastor says to me, "I think we have to be very careful about being judgmental of other Christians. I wouldn't handle snakes, but I can't see that what they are doing is all that bad either!"
Made no sense to me - if it's wrong to judge the snake handlers, then it stands to reason that the way they're handling the gay pastor situation is also wrong. Don't get me wrong -- I DO NOT believe that God approves of the gay pastor. Or of being gay at all. But I have a hard time thinking that He's pleased with snake handlers either!
What do you think? I'm open to your opinions
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