[Double-G (G²)]

Originally Posted by Double-G (G²)

Here's another example. What follows is an interesting satire on the issue, seeing that many Christians are having issue with Warren due to his not being agressive regarding calling out/adressing the issues that many of these individuals support that go contrary to the Word of God.

Now that Hillary Clinton has spoken from the pulpit at Saddleback Church and the media is already spinning the story in such a way that Evangelical Christians are supposedly ‘warming up’ to leftist pro-abortion socialist politicians, we’d like to know how Rick Warren plans to top this year’s performance. Afterall, one year ago Barack Obama spoke at Saddleback Church and Warren topped Obama’s appearance by giving his pulpit to Hillary Clinton. So we’d like to know how he plans to make an even bigger splash at next year’s AIDS Summit?

We’d like to offer some suggestions by way of a blog poll. Below is our “short list” of suggested featured speakers for Rick Warren’s 2008 Saddleback AIDS Summit. Please be sure to vote for your favorite.

If you’re not particularly fond of any of the men on our short list, please remember the words that Warren gave to justify Hillary’s appearance at Saddleback Church. Said Warren:

“…when millions are dying each year we are interested in lives, not labels”

Apparently, in Rick Warren’s world (AKA Purpose Land), the Pro-Abortion “Label” is just a “Label”. It doesn’t have any “real” consequences regarding any “real” human lives. So now it is okay to be “Pro-Abortion” as long as you work with Warren to save lives by fighting the AIDS epidemic.

This explains why we chose the men that we did for next years AIDS summit.

“Brutal Communist Dictator” is JUST A LABEL. “Islamic Facist” is JUST A LABEL. “Terrorist” is JUST A LABEL. As Rick Warren said, “when millions are dying each year we are interested in lives, not labels.”

For more info, go here:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071201/30293_Clinton%27s_%27Gutsy%27_Church_Appearance_So ftens_Evangelicals.htm
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071205/30348_Saddleback%27s_Conference_on_AIDS_Gave_Hilla ry_Evangelical_Cover.htm
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071203/30320_Bushes_Support_AIDS_Fight_in_Churches.htm


Now, to be fair, by no means in posting this am I trying to focus SOLEY on RicK Warren. There are many others who have been involved in trying to solve the AIDS issue as he has been. T.D Jakes, for example, has done the same thing….Go here to find out:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-07-AIDS-meeting_N.htm


Also, I’m not s saying that working on finding a way to solve the AIDS issue is not noble. For that, Rick Warren is to be commended…..
Also, there are a MYRIAD of opinions out there on the subject. For starters, consider this Article by Newsweek:


http://www.newsweek.com/id/44081/page/4

Moreover, as one of the commentators on “A Little Leaven” said,

I understand that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama bother many Christians, particularly because of their similar view on abortion, their claim to be Christians, and the odd dichotomy that creates. But Clinton was speaking at Saddleback not as part of a Sunday service, but as part of (as the post eventually indicates) Saddleback’s AIDS summit.

The AIDS crisis is significant enough that picking/choosing who we want to partner with in addressing it as a country and/or as Christians is not realistic. Clinton is a viable presidential candidate and it would be particularly beneficial to be able to work with whomever the next president is to continue the strong commitment President Bush has made to AIDS relief. The fact that Rick Warren also invited Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani (along with Obama and John Edwards) to speak at the AIDS summit, I believe, demonstrates his appropriate (and non-partisan) motivation. Would there have been a similar outcry if Rudy Giuliani (who is twice divorced) had accepted the invitation?

I must also address the comments of Pastor Mike, who said: “A huge portion of AIDS victim have it due so some sort of sin (not all but alot).” Consider this passage:

John 9:1-3 - “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’”

the majority of HIV/AIDS contractions occur through sex and drug use which is outside of God’s mandate for how we are to live. However, I believe that the example Christ set for us is to go to these people and to extend love and mercy to them.

Matthew 25:35-40 - For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

It is my opinion that Rick and Kay Warren have taken on, along with many others, a great task that should be among many of the things Christians are concerned with. You mention that most of the people worldwide that have AIDS contracted it through “adultery, fornication, and drug use.” Yes, they have sinned…I have too. Many of them are hurting, broken, and lost. I don’t know why God has chosen to move the Warren’s to tackle the AIDS crisis and I also don’t know who else God will use to touch those afflicted with this disease (perhaps our next president). I do believe that God cares deeply about the lives of these people - both physically and spiritually.

Matthew 10:5-8 - These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Again, please consider John 9:1-3. Jesus is not concerned with who sinned, how they sinned, or what effect that sin had…he is concerned with seeing God’s transforming power displayed in the life of a broken person.

To that, I must say that I definately say that I feel where the Man’s coming from. Regarding Matthew 25, there has been much debate about the identity of the “brothers”. Some have said that they were Jews; others say they were all Christians; still others say they are suffering people everywhere Such a debate is much like the Lawyer’s question to Jesus “WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?” (Luke 10:29). But the point of the parable is not the WHO, but the WHAT—THE IMPORTANCE OF SERVING WHEREVER SERVICE IS NEEDED. The Focus of this parable is that we should love every person and serve anyone we can. For such love glorifies God by reflecting our love for Him.

Luke 10

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]“

28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

If we were to be honest for a moment, regarding the AIDS issue, I think that we are often moreso like that Lawyer and the others in that parable than we’d want to believe. We treat the AIDS Topic as an topic for discussion like the Lawyer did with the wounded man, or we act like the priest and treat the man as a topic to avoid or an object of curiousity and go about our buisness for the “Lord” like the Levite……rarely acting like the Samaratin and acting out of love.

And like the Lawyer/Levite and Priest in the story, we all tend to act first out of our prejudices and build our theology from there. For example, there was a deep hatred that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews saw themselves as pure descendents of Abraham, while the Samaratans were a mixed race produced when THE Jews from the northern kingdom intermarried with other peoples imported from other nations by the King of Assyria after the exile…..and whom the Jews considered to be “IMPURE”RACIALLY/refused to recieve help from, even during the rebuilding/return from EXILE…… For more info, go check out II Kings 17/2 Kings 17, Ezra 4 , Nehemiah 2 , Nehemiah 4.)……BUT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS GOT PROGRESSIVELY WORSE, even into Jesus’s Day (and hence, the reason WHY JESUS CHOSE TO HAVE A SAMARATIN BE THE HERO of HIS STORY, as he would’ve been the person least suspected by a Jew to be worthy/capable of anything good)
Are we not doing the same in principle regarding those in Africa? Let’s be honest…..our history with Africa/West hasn’t been the greatest either….and there have been many STIGMAS against the continent for various reasons, whether economic or racial, THAT MANY IN THE WEST HAVE DECIDED TO HIDE FROM. Moreover, as the Jews did with the Samaritans, many of us due to our stigmas/prejudices with Africa have simply avoided them altogether…..as if they’re really not worth the time, while we go about doing what “GOD HAS CALLED US TO DO”……

((We justify our lack of love and forget that our neighbor is anyone of any race, creed, or social background who is in need……and we forget that love means ACTING TO MEET A PERSON’S NEED. Surely, CHILDREN INFECTED WITH AIDS fit the BILL…..However, .Being a Human Services Worker, I’ve witnessed people limiting AIDS to lifestyle, as if it’s something that people just ask for because they’re practicing homosexuality or sexual immorality/drug usage…..

And yet they never seem to realize that though these things are a bulk of what’s keeps AIDS going, many people have received it without any fault of their own (ex. children of parents with AIDS, people with blood transfusions that unknowingly received blood from a AIDS patient, women being forcefully subjected to rape by men with aids/practicing sexual immorality, etc).

I’m all for not supporting anything keeping the negative aspects of the AIDS initiative alive (ex. having sex education programs that don’t really teach about what Sex is, or giving protection/condoms out to people, as if you could give a physical solution for a spiritual problem, while still condoning sexual immorality when people should be taught self-control and value for the human body).

But much of it, I believe, is worthwhile to support

It’s very sad seeing how often many Christians are proud of their theological beliefs, as if they’ve made it due to their being able to make an argument from Scripture effectively, knowing the Word of God, attending Church, and not being in the position that many others are in—positions that are more ”messed up” than they are, IN THEIR OPINIONS.

To that, I say that we’re the ones who are bringing shame on the NAME OF CHRIST. As the Lord said, Compassion/MERCY should be the things which characterize us as BELIEVERS rather than PIETY/KNOWLEDGE alone. That’s nothing more than what the Pharisees had……..…….and nothing of the kind of love CHRIST HAD FOR US