Beware of Blind Spots

In Psalm 119, which is devoted to upholding the authority of the Word of God in the life of a believer, we can read this:
18 Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.
19 I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul breaks with longing For Your judgments at all times.

We need to have our spiritual eyes opened, allowing the Spirit of God to illuminate our hearts, so that we can deal with blind spots that we may possess, areas in which the Spirit would want to work to bring us to a fuller understanding of God's truth.  We also need to be sensitive to the ways in which our witness for Christ is discredited by actions that don't line up with the teachings of Scripture.  As we seek to know Him, we can trust Him to lovingly guide us into the ways He has ordained for us.

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We have to be on guard against spiritual blind spots that can deceive our hearts and water down our witness.  In a prayer in Ephesians 1, Paul wrote this:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power...

It's been quite a week for the Fisher family of Nashville.  Mike Fisher is part of the most popular act in Music City these days - no, he's not known as a singer and a musician; rather, he's playing for the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup.  His team was shut down last night, but the Preds return to home ice Sunday night for a Game 6 that they have to win to stay alive.

His wife wrote this about him on Instagram:

I love this man more than words can express. I am beyond proud of him...he is an amazing man of God. He loves his family, his friends and his job. He deserves nothing but he best in this world, because he gives nothing but his best to it! I am amazed every single day at the kind of human he is! I love you, baby!

Later in the week, Mike's wife was thanking God for their blessings.  Faithwire, in reporting on this week's CMT Awards in Nashville, stated that in accepting the prize for Female Video of the Year, she said: “Thank you God for so many incredible blessings” adding, “Me and my husband… there’s a lot going on in our lives. We are so thankful and so blessed. Go Preds!”

So, in case you didn't know who I am referring to, Mike Fisher of the Nashville Predators is married to country music superstar Carrie Underwood.  Faithwire also spotlighted Carrie's surprise appearance at the Passion conference in Atlanta this year, taking the stage with David Crowder.

Mike Fisher has this Scripture on his Instagram profile: "John 3:30 He must become greater, I must become less."  A CBN profile of the hockey star highlighted how he came to know the Lord and included an excerpt from his book, Defender of the Faith, regarding young people being bold about their faith. The article quotes Fisher:

“I want them to just stand up, be able to, you know, be proud of their faith, not be scared of it.” says Mike. “It’s something to be definitely proud of, and be able to share it. Whatever God’s gifted you with or put the Lord at the center of it. And there’s no way to peace and happiness like the Lord can bring. And it’s exciting because it’s free. You don’t have to go out and earn it. You just got to accept it.”

On Fridays, I take a look at how God shows up in celebrity culture.  And, while hopefully, the Fishers acknowledgement of the Lord can make a statement about him, there is an aspect of the Fishers' lives that is troubling - I don't question their sincerity or devotion, and they, like all of us, are certainly not perfect in their walk.  But, here is something that needs to be addressed:

Mike and Carrie Fisher attend GracePointe Church outside Nashville.  Around the same time Carrie made a statement in 2012 about her support for gay marriage, the church underwent a metamorphosis on its position on sexuality, according to a TIME Magazine article.   Here is that original quote from the UK website, The Independent:

"As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry," she said. "I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."

In 2015, according to the TIME article, the church's pastor, Stan Mitchell, issued a welcoming statement affirming LGBT members in the congregation, including these words:

"Full privileges are extended now to you with the same expectations of faithfulness, sobriety, holiness, wholeness, fidelity, godliness, skill, and willingness. That is expected of all. Full membership means being able to serve in leadership and give all of your gifts and to receive all the sacraments; not only communion and baptism, but child dedication and marriage."

A 2015 article on the Nashville Scene website details the acceptance of full LGBT inclusion by worship leader and former Avalon member Melissa Greene.  It also details the effect of the philosophy on the congregation.

"We've lost half our church," Greene says, adding that some who left were major donors. New members who've joined since Jan. 11 — roughly 30 percent of whom identify as LGBT — have offset those losses somewhat, but Mitchell estimates attendance is still down 30 percent from last year. The church has cut staff and expenses to the bone. Mitchell puts the current annual budget for church expenses at $1.3 million; as for revenue, he expects to bring in approximately $900,000 this year. "You can do the math pretty quickly and see that's not going to work long term," he says.

Dan Scott of Christ Church, where Stan Mitchell once preached, wrote an open letter to his congregation.  The Scene article recounts:

In early February, Scott posted an open letter to his congregation at Christ Church explaining the theological basis for his differences with Mitchell.

"I don't believe that a single isolated pastor or believer can diverge on the basics of Christian faith that widely and remain connected to the historic stream of Christianity. I think you cease being an orthodox Christian," he tells the Scene.

But Scott says he respects Mitchell for taking a firm stand and acknowledges the social price he will pay. "Like Stan, I believe it is important—vitally important—to think seriously about issues like the one he has spoken about," he writes in his letter. "It is spiritually irresponsible and cowardly to ignore them."

So, churches are grappling with how to handle the issue Biblically.  While homosexuality is certainly taught as sinful behavior, churches recognize this is a prevalent social issue and have to respond in a compassionate manner, without endorsing the sin itself.  Unfortunately, too many churches, even in so-called "evangelical" circles, in the rush to be seen as accepting, reject clear, traditional, and Biblical teaching on the definition of marriage.

It is a blind spot, certainly.  One that Carrie Underwood and presumably, Mike Fisher, possess.  And, so we come to our first takeaway:  internally, we have to be sensitive to the theologically and behavioral "blind spots" in our lives.  We have to be willing to search the Scriptures and allow the Spirit of God to take us where the Bible leads.  Our perspective can be, Scripture first, then personal application.  Not: personal philosophy and then attempting to make the Bible fit what we already believe.

I do like to call attention to high-profile people who are talking about God.  We certainly need more awareness of Him in our culture today.  And, the Fishers certainly appear to be sincere in their pursuit of faith.  Unfortunately, Carrie's willingness to "go public" with this harmful point of view does not contribute to a reinforcement of the Biblical perspective on marriage.  I believe this damages her credibility as a professing Christian - we have to be on guard about our external proclamations and actions, making sure that we are upholding the teachings of Scripture.

Supporting the LGBT agenda these days might score points in popular culture, but it is certainly not contributing to the positive witness of churches who, like GracePointe, choose to compromise on matters of sexuality.  The decline of mainline denominations due to their departure from the truths of Scripture, including embracing homosexuality, is well-documented.   One of the jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church just allowed its first transgender person to serve in leadership, prompting Thomas Lambrecht of the Good News movement in the UMC to say, according to UMC.org, that most in his group "likely would maintain that people 'ought to live in accord with their biological gender.'"  Lambrecht added, "We would of course wish to welcome transgender people into our churches and offer them the ministry of the church,” adding, “We would probably draw the line at leadership, seeing transgender persons as not qualified for leadership (either clergy or lay).”  He believes the jurisdiction was premature in its move.

These instances should continue to motivate us to contend compassionately for the truth.