Cafeteria Christianity

It should come as no surprise that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is well on its way to allowing gays and lesbians to become ordained. This has been done (or is being done) by churches all over the US. On Saturday, the Presbyterian Church in my home state voted for the amendment 177 to 139. As I said before, this was no surprise. What was rather interesting was one of the provisions found in the amendment.

"Gays and lesbians can be ordained within the 2.2-million-member Presbyterian Church (USA), but they must remain chaste as church standards forbid sex outside of traditional marriage between a man and woman."

I'd laugh if this wasn't so sad. What we have here is a classic example of what my mom likes to call "Cafeteria Christianity". This is basically picking and choosing which parts of the Bible you want to keep. The Presbyterian church has decided that they will keep the "do not commit adultery" part, but they'll skip over "homosexuality is a sin" part.

In my family, my Mom decides what we are having for dinner. She serves what she serves, whether you like it or not. If you don't like what's for dinner, then you don't have to eat it. However, if you are going to eat some of it, then you must eat ALL of it. The same holds true in our spiritual lives. God has decided what to serve us (the Bible) and He will not force us to follow it. But if we decide that we will obey some of it, then we must obey ALL of it. It's time for Christians to stop ditching the parts of the Bible that they feel are no longer "culturally relevant" and instead accept the Scriptures for what they are. The complete and everlasting word of God.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17