Honestly, it’s hard in moments like that to keep my temper at bay. I want to ask, in righteous indignation, “don’t you need it too? What’s wrong with you that you see faults in others before you see them in yourself? Haven’t you read Matthew 7:1-5?? Are you an idiot?? . . . .

. . .but just before exploding, the Spirit reminds me that often, I too, am an idiot.

For example, many folks on my wife’s side of the family come out of a Holiness background. Because of this, they hold strong convictions that I don’t hold. I remember early in our dating life when Amy would say “don’t talk about movies we have seen around the relatives. They believe going to the theater is sinful.”

Of course, my instant reaction was to appeal to Romans 14. After all, Paul has given us clear instruction regarding how to relate to each other on “debatable” matters. There is nothing . . .absolutely NOTHING in Scripture that forbids me from seeing a good movie, especially one in which there is lots of gunplay, fast cars, and buildings blowing up in a hopelessly gratuitous fashion. There is liberty in Christ, and where “movies for guys who like movies” are concerned, I aim to exercise my liberty!!

Furthermore, those who would object to my affinity for fast cars and bullets on the silver screen should consider carefully the following verses from Romans 14:

” . . .and let not the one who abstains pass judgement on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” v.3b
“Who are you to pass judgement on the servant of another?” v.4
“Why do you pass judgement on your brother?” v.10
“Therefore, let us not pass judgement on one another any longer.” v.13a

Wow, if only my “weaker brother” were here to read these verses. He sure needs it!

Problem is, in quoting my preferred half of this text, I’ve totally ignored (i.e. violated) the parts that are addressed to me in an effort to point out those parts that are addressed to my weaker brother. Talk about irony!

As a “stronger brother” in this regard, I should instead be looking at the following passages:

“Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. . .” v.3a
“. . .but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” v.13b
“For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.” v.15
“It is not good to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.” v.21

Do such texts mean that I should totally abstain from “Ironman” this weekend? Not neccesarily. At the same time, it probably means I should keep quiet about it around certain folks out of deferrence for their convictions. OF course, they have their responsibilities as well. But I’m not responsible to fulfill my weaker brother’s responsibilities. I’m responsible to fulfill mine.

The same is true for any other debatable issue. My denomination, for example, has, on the whole, very strong convictions about alcohol consumption . . .convictions that I share to a large extent. So when it comes to beer, I switch teams. I’m no longer a “strong” brother. Now, I’m a “weaker” one.

The thing that interests me about any debatable issue is that most folks are just like me . . .they have a propensity to appeal to those verses in Romans 14 that are addressed to their opponents. The problem with this approach is that it not only ignores those texts most applicable to you, but it also violates the spirit of the very texts to which we appeal; a spirit that is best summarized by Paul’s contention that “the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to god and approved by men. So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” (vv.17-18)

Appealing to my “preferred half” of Romans 14 is never conducive to the kind of peace and Kingdom thinking that Paul describes. To pursue peace, I have to appropriate the other half . . .the half that describes my responsibilities when it comes to debatable issues.

With this in mind, maybe I don’t need to judge my brother who participates in activities I find I can’t participate in without sinning. Conversely, perhaps I need to resist colorful descriptions of “Ironman” in front of certain family members.

Maybe, just maybe, if we all practiced such things, righteousness and peace and joy would be seen more clearly in us by those who need to know Jesus. Just maybe, this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote Romans 14.

My friend is a Baptist denominational guy, and a Korean church under his leadership called him and asked him to participate in the ordination of a female. This lady had been on staff of this Korean church but is being led to a position, not as senior pastor, at a church in Korea. In Korean culture, ordination is very necessary. The Korean culture has a great emphasis on following authority, they are very communal in that way, so they wanted my friend to participate because of his position.

My friend has a conviction about ordination. He only believes in ordaining pastors, and those need to be men. He does not believe in ordaining deacons. He understands that others do not have those same convictions and that the Bible is not clear on this practice. He doesn’t think others who might ordain women are necessarily liberal, heretical, or not Christians. This is a personal conviction.

His dilemma is that he doesn’t feel he can participate in that ordination, but since this is a local church issue, and the Baptist Faith & Message doesn’t speak to it, he will not stand in the way. He would not want to hurt this incredibly gifted woman, or the relationship he has with the church.

So the question is, How does he communicate this to the church in a way that respects the church’s culture and the church in Korea’s culture while having a conviction, albeit only a personal conviction, against the practice of ordaining women?

There are several missional issues here I think. One in particular is how we deal with our convictions across culture, especially on secondary and tertiary issues. My friend has a conviction, but the culture in Korea requires ordination. How does he honor their culture while staying true to a conviction?

Asian cultures work hard to allow people to “Save Face”, to not make people look foolish and allow them to maintain their honor in front of people. Can he do that in this situation? If so, How?

In a country that is becoming more and more multi-cultural, how do we honor the theology of a culture that has been transplanted here from another country when our western culture might find their theology different from ours on secondary issues?

Now this might be an even bigger question, and this one is all David: Would you ordain a woman staff person? I raise this question because legally, they might need to be ordained to get the same legal benefits as their male counterparts. Do we keep, say a female children’s minister, from having access to the same legal benefits as the male youth pastor? Can we do that and not be violating our conservative theology?

At the time of writing his book, Dr Jamieson had been involved in evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic (”EPC”) churches for over 20 years, the last 12 in full-time ministry. He is currently co-pastor of Central Baptist Church in Wellington, New Zealand. His research was conducted over six years, based in the Sociology department at Canterbury University, and was centred on in-depth taped interviews with 104 church-leavers and 52 church leaders, mainly in New Zealand. It is therefore a qualitative study.

Unlike Richter and Francis, Dr. Jamieson chose to focus entirely on people leaving EPC churches, where the level of commitment is typically very high. In fact, all the church leavers he interviewed had been committed adult members of such churches, for an average of 15.8 years. Most had been in positions of significant responsibility in their churches; many had undertaken theological training and/or had been in full-time ministry.

What he found was that the reasons these church leavers gave for their decision to leave their churches was not the same as most church leaders assumed. Many of them were on a faith journey which they felt unable to pursue within the church. Dr. Jamieson now runs a weekly gathering, called Spirited Exchanges, at which people on such faith journeys can interact and support one another.