Starting Small

Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes. Song of Solomon 2:15

It always starts in a small way. Perhaps unnoticed at the beginning, but slowly grows until it becomes too big to stop. So it is with church, its doctrines and practices.

We have seen the reports of some of the world’s biggest churches, bow to the practice of accepting gay marriage, including blessing them, and officiating in the god-less unions. The Church of Scotland, United Methodists and Episcopalians are just some who have already given in to secular pressure, and reinterpreted Scripture to suit their own political ends.

It started small, with the academics leading the way by suggesting that we need to accept and be an inclusive church. That means not demonising the gay community, and making them feel loved and accepted. It takes just a few small steps for that to grow into full integration and membership of their church congregations. From there, it is another short step to inclusion into the leadership, ministerial and pastoral. At this point it follows that anyone in the gay community can be ‘married’.

The little foxes spoiled the vines, or to put it another way, the little concessions and compromises inevitably led to the end result. The Bible is not up for negotiation to suit our requirements. Yes, we must love everybody. We are all sinners, and stay that way until saved by grace. Wouldn’t it have been better if the first ‘little foxes’ were confronted and discounted before any harm was done? Maybe that’s all too simple for the top minds in our churches, who have one eye on the political situation, and think they will be left behind if they don’t go with the flow.

It comes down to this: As Christians do we accept the Bible as The Word of God, or a book of recommendations and suggestions? The answer determines if you turn a blind eye to the ‘little foxes’, or let them run riot in the chicken coop. That question is equally valid for the Christian in the pew, as it is for our church leaders.