Sunday, September 28, 2003

Death To Adulterers (September 28, 2003)

Should adulterers be executed?

You may have heard the news story about Amina Lawal, a 31-year-old Nigerian woman who, several months ago, was sentenced to death by a Muslim court that seeks to enforce sharia, or law based on the Koran. Had the sentence been carried out, she would have been pelted with rocks till dead. But last Thursday her conviction was overturned.

News commentators and human rights groups assailed the original decision to execute her, and everyone seems to be breathing a big sigh of relief now that she has been acquitted. I have yet to hear anyone, Christian, Muslim, or other, saying, “Too bad about that reversal. They really should have killed her.” We who are civilized know that stoning adulterers is barbaric and primitive, and we who are Christians know that we are supposed to be merciful and not judge anybody.

But wait a minute - there is a problem. God commanded the Israelites to kill adulterers. It’s as clear as can be: Leviticus 20:10: “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife - with the wife of his neighbor - both the adulterer and adulteress must be put to death.” Deuteronomy 22:22: “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.”

If it is always evil to execute adulterers, then the Bible is false and we hold our faith in vain.

But didn’t Jesus overturn the death penalty for adulterers in that story about the woman caught in the act (John 7:53-8:11)? I don’t think so. There are several asterisks attached to that story. Look it up in any good study Bible, and you will see it bracketed or italicized because even the most conservative scholars agree that the earliest Greek manuscripts do not include it. (No Greek church father commented on the passage until the 12th century!) That does not mean the incident did not occur - I believe the story is true even though it was not originally part of John’s gospel - but we should be cautious about assuming that it has Scriptural authority.

Even assuming, however, that Jesus really did let an adulteress go free, note that he didn’t say it was because the purpose of the law concerning adulterer-execution had been fulfilled, or that men had misinterpreted it, or that he as Lawgiver was now superseding it. You can make that case (and in fact I do) about the way Jesus dealt with Sabbath law, ceremonial washings and dietary restrictions. But it does not work with adultery. Adultery is condemned in the New Testament as well as the Old.

The reason Jesus let the woman go free (with a warning not to sin again) was because her accusers were just as guilty as she. “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone,” he said. None of the men qualified. The justice system had broken down. When righteous men enforce the law, that is pleasing to God. When adulterers stone adulterers, that is perverted farce.

In a perfect world, no one would commit adultery. In a slightly less perfect world, all adulterers would be executed quickly. I believe that would be a wonderful world to live in. The deterrent force of a death penalty administered with absolute consistency would mean that soon there would be few adulterers to execute. There would be no AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases. Few children would be raised in broken homes. No one would have to endure the grief of a partner who cheated and got away with it. Within a few generations the perverse chromosomes of philanderers and rapists would be weeded out of the gene pool, and the human race would become more humane.

But we don’t live in that world. That is why the Nigerian court made the right decision in freeing Ms. Lawal, and why we ought not to seek the revival of Old Testament punishments - even though, strictly speaking, God commanded them. We’re not saying that adulterers don’t deserve to die. They do. There is nothing wrong with the law. But there is something so wrong with us and our culture that we are not good enough to enforce this punishment fairly and consistently. Don’t think for a moment that we have progressed to a point of some great moral enlightenment because we now know that it is wrong to kill adulterers. The truth is the opposite. We have rather descended to such a low moral state that we cannot righteously carry out the just punishments that God ordained.

Sunday, September 21, 2003

Choose You This Day (September 21, 2003)

Sometimes you just have to make a decision.

In Sunday School the other day I noted that Abraham’s servant pressed Rebekah’s family for a decision about whether they would let her go marry Isaac. “Tell me one way or the other,” he said (Genesis 24:49). They said yes, but then tried to stretch it out 10 days. He refused to put up with the delay.

Challenges to make a decision occur often in Scripture. Abraham said to Lot, “Pick the land you want. If you go left, I’ll go right. If you go right, I’ll go left” (Genesis 13:9). Joshua said to the Israelites, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Paul urged Herod Agrippa II to convert to Christ on the spot, prompting the king to say, “You want me to become a Christian now?” (Acts 26:28).

Yes, now. There is a time to pause, ponder, think, weigh, calculate - and there is a time to decide. If you will permit me to poke fun at my own church, I would say that we seem to be gifted ponderers but challenged deciders. Maybe that is why I have always felt so comfortable at Faith Bible Church - I blend in. A friend once pegged
my personality by saying, “I know someone who likes to say, ‘I don’t think - I react.’ You’re the opposite, Paul. You don’t react - you think.”

True, but at least I can make up my mind about where to eat lunch. Yesterday when Ben and I were finishing our sandwiches at Wendy’s a couple FBC families walked in, and I learned there had been another one of those group “Where are we going to eat?” discussions in the parking lot. For some reason, these discussions take a LOT longer
among us than they do among normal people. I still remember, with frank astonishment, that 2-hour discussion back in December about where to eat after the upcoming ice skating party. A “decision” was finally made - only to be overturned the night of the party!

Indecision isn’t always bad. Personal indecision is often motivated by a legitimate fear of choosing badly. Group indecision often springs from genuine courtesy - a desire to ensure that all voices are heard and that everyone’s inclinations are taken into account.

But good grief, sometimes you’ve just got to make a decision and go with it. Hesitation about where to eat lunch is trivial, but in matters like war, indecision on the part of Union Generals McClelland and Meade lengthened the Civil War by several years and cost tens of thousands of lives. And indecision about spiritual matters can bear eternal cost.

In C. S. Lewis' novel The Great Divorce, an angel tries to persuade a borderline soul to repent. The sinner wants to put off the decision. He’ll think about it, go home, and come back the first moment he can. The angel responds, “This moment contains all moments.”

If you are waiting to make a decision between sinning and not sinning, wait no longer. This moment contains all moments. Choose what is good. In murky matters that do not involve moral concerns, pray and choose as best you can as quickly as you can. Yes, you’ll make some mistakes and have some regrets. But you’ll make even more mistakes and have even more regrets if the only real choice you make is to make no
choice at all.

Sunday, September 14, 2003

Seeking The Company Of “Positive People” (September 14, 2003)

Yesterday I heard a TV preacher say that you should surround yourself with positive people. Shun people who bring you down, he said, and associate with those who encourage you.

I suppose there is something to be said for that advice. We all need a "Barnabas" sometimes (Acts 4:36), an encourager who can cheer us up and make us feel better. Often it is for lack of such support that a person falls into misery or sin.

But what troubled me about this preacher's counsel is that, unqualified, it is a command to be selfish. Surrounding yourself with positive people is contrary to the spirit of Christ, who made a point of associating with the downtrodden and lowly. When criticized for keeping company with misfits, he said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Mark 2:17). It was the Pharisees who sought out the mutual encouragement of their own kind, who admired one another and who furthered one another’s careers. The way of Christ lies more in the path chosen by Mother Theresa, who deliberately surrounded herself with needy souls who probably gave little thought to boosting her morale.

Twice in the last couple days people new to Faith Bible Church have told me how nice people at FBC are, and I readily agreed, adding that it has been a delight for me to preach before a pleasant group week after week. To worship regularly with kind-hearted and mature people is a blessing for which I thank God.

At the same time, I know that Christian duty and charity compels us to seek out, invite and bless those who are dysfunctional, unstable, disordered and self-absorbed. They need Christ. We must not shun them even though they won't be doing anything to build us up any time soon.

A sign of growth in Christ is that you think less about how others might benefit you and more about how you might benefit them. Beware of surrounding yourself with only "positive people." Sure, they can do a lot for you, but they're probably the ones who least need your help.

Sunday, September 7, 2003

Sibling Love (September 7, 2003)

In studying through Genesis it dawned on me that a recurrent theme of the book is brothers who don't get along. Sibling animosity erupts as soon as there are siblings. Cain killed Abel, Ishmael mocked Isaac, Jacob cheated Esau, and Joseph's brothers faked his death and sold him into slavery.

I think of Rodney King's simple plea, "Can't we all just get along?". But I know it is not that easy. If your brother is evil it is hard to be his friend. Read John 7:1-7 where the brothers of Jesus mocked him, telling him to go to Jerusalem if he really wanted to make it big as a prophet. Certainly they knew that people are waiting to kill him there (see verse 2), but you get the feeling that, like the brothers of Joseph, they would not have minded seeing their brother dead. Jesus responded that he was on God's timetable but they were are not, and that he was hated by the world (though they were not) because he testified against sin.

So not everyone (not even Jesus!) can have a good relationship with all his siblings. But try. Psalm 133:1 says, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" I can't tell you how grateful I am for the love that my two brothers and two sisters and I share for each other - a love that has deepened now that our parents are with the Lord and our connections are lateral rather than triangulated by a parent. I hope my sons Ben and Peter can share a love like that as they grow old and my wife and I die off. I have told them explicitly that, even if they wind up on different sides of the country, they must call each other frequently and maintain contact. They are brothers. If one needs a kidney, the other donates. I was happy to hear Ben say, "Of course!"

I'm a little self-conscious making this point as a Caucasian to my mostly Asian congregation (like I've got anything to say to the Chinese about the importance of family ties!). But maybe it is worth pointing out that, as the third generation grows up on American soil, it will be more and more tempted to reflect American values (or lack thereof). America has many strong points, but the sibling bond is not
one of them.

Unbelievable - I'm not making this up - just as I finished typing that last line I heard Ben's voice downstairs saying, "Shut UP! I'm going to smash your face!" It turns out Peter was provoking him, but not quite enough to deserve getting his face smashed. I lectured them both, and said, "Do you know what I'm writing about for the Pastor's Page right now? Right this minute?"

"Not fighting?" one of them offered.

"Close. I’m writing that siblings should get along with each other."