aside from their obvious willingness to live in intellectual tension, I was particularly struck by this exchange at the end of the transcript.
Look at what she says about being a 'safety zone'. I feel sorry for those who have made themselves anything but a safety zone. Peter +++ Tony (continued) I am not preaching approval. I am preaching acceptance because I contend that if there is going to be any change of behavior, it is always in the context of love. My wife says so eloquently that when we sing Just As I Am when people come down the isle, we mean it for everybody except for gays and lesbians. Everybody else can come as they are to be healed. We say get healed first and then come. When I got on this it was long before Peggy did. It was a problem for me because I am an evangelical and I'm an evangelist and I make my living writing books and preaching and the minute you take a stand on this issue you get cancelled. Books get sent back to the publishers by the book dealers. And my friends say, look, there're so many other concerns, why do you have to hit this one? I mean, why do you have to ride this horse? Why don't you just go back to the poverty issues and the social justice issues and the - why this issue? And my answer is quite simple. When I conduct evangelistic services I would ignore this except for the fact that I don't find other evangelists talking about this and it's important for somebody who preaches that people have to be born again according to the Bible to stand up and say, and being born again means, that you love people. Peg, do you want to close this? Peggy: Yes, I would like to. If you're a heterosexual Christian here today, ask yourself what kind of a Jesus gay and lesbian people see in you? Do homosexual people see and hear you as a friend? Are you a safe person with whom they can talk or do they view you as a danger zone, perhaps the danger zone they're afraid to risk passing through even though they might like to look more closely at your God. Perhaps you're somebody who says nothing about homosexual people. You may not ever think about them. Maybe you're sure you don't know any gay or lesbian people. Well, if that's the case you're missing a great opportunity, the chance to be the church for someone who doesn't see any place for himself or herself in the church they see on television or hear about from too many pulpits. You don't have to understand it all and you don't have to have the answers to all the questions and you certainly don't have to agree with me or with Tony to demonstrate the love of Jesus. Tony and I accept living with our differences because we know that the one who created us already knows that we won't agree on lots of important things. The Bible tells us that we will see things down here through a dark glass. But Jesus does say that the world will know we are Christians by our love and there isn't any other way for anyone to know whose children we are. Would you pray with me please? Holy Spirit, you are with us in this place. Help us to understand what is new and difficult. Go with us when we leave this place and help us to love in your name, especially those of your children who wrongly believe they are orphans and let none of us ever forget that we are your children. In the name and nature of Jesus, Amen. +++ -- Peter R. Ellis ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/lists.htm ------------------------------------------------------
