World Vision does the ‘right thing’ and makes a humble reversal of their early decision concerning same sex couples and hiring within the organization, according to major news and christian organizations. Now the ‘body of Christ’ has a responsibility of restoration. There might be some discussion or disagreement on how that restoration should be accomplished but there should be no disagreement that restoration is now the ‘right thing to do’ for the those that took issue with the original move, and that includes us. We were quick to stand against their initial move and we want to be just as prompt in standing for their restoration.
But this does open another can of worms. With state and national support and enforcement of the homosexual lifestyle, the time is coming soon when the local church will be forced to accept practicing ‘christian’ homosexuals or pay the consequences. It seems this is inevitable. Individuals and congregations need to explore the Word and decide NOW how they will stand when that time comes . . . not ‘if’, but ‘when’ . . . Joshua 24:15 ” But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Shalom – J & R
World Vision sees the light ?
27
Mar
RSS - Posts
Al
March 28, 2014 at 10:22 am
I was going to write a response, but found this on line written by a pastor that I have had no previous knowledge of. He hits all of the salient points I was thinking, but said it much better than I ever could have. So, with that said, here is the article:
http://jaredwellman.com/2014/03/27/three-questions-im-asking-myself-after-world-visions-reversed-decision/
Shalom
prodigal101
March 28, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Thanks Al for the response. This is going to be difficult for some to unravel. A lot of prayer is going to be needed. A couple things come to mind. First, we cannot judge motives. We can and do speculate, but we cannot see the ‘heart’. We do have a responsibility to discern and ‘judge’ actions.
By the same token, we have a Scriptural mandate to forgive. I must disagree with the pastor on this point. We do not have the ‘option to forgive’. It is a commandment. There is also the mandate to restore. That’s where it gets sticky for ‘us’, the church. There is an underlying implication that forgiveness and restoration requires a degree of ‘trust and faith’ to be reinstated and offered . That’s the hard part . . . to forgive and show it be exercising the ‘trust and faith’ that has damaged or violated. That is really hard. But Abba doesn’t have a reputation for ask things of of His children that are easy . . .
Al
March 28, 2014 at 3:27 pm
I understand what you are saying. From everything this pastor said, I tend to believe he made the point that it was most definitely our place as believers to forgive the person and the action that brought about the offense. The way I read his statement, the “option” to forgive, is the reality that some will and some won’t. A different word would have been better, but I don’t find in his response anywhere, wiggle room for him to deny forgiveness to the person.
The forgiveness and restoration of the man is without dispute. But how is an entity (corporate body of board members) to automatically be given restoration and trust? On that basis, are we to “trust”, in our day of doing business through a computer, mega corporations and charities around the world, that use the word Christian in their business name or charity, when as a corporate body their decisions have shown a major lack of discernment? Are we at that point “required” by the Word to continue our charitable affiliation with that entity after one man has asked for forgiveness? This is not meant as an indictment against anyone or anything. Just looking for some clarity on what you are saying. This just seems to go beyond what one man has said and done. These decisions are basically “theirs” (the board-decision makers), not just his.
The pastor, who wrote the article, did not say to stop giving, but rather to be mindful and prayerful of who or what we are giving to (paraphrased). I find no fault in that. If I am wrong on this, please explain.
Shalom
prodigal101
March 29, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Al – I agree, the overall and overwhelming message from this pastor is ‘forgiveness’ and I appreciate his honesty in the sharing of his wrestling with the ‘trust’ issue. This is a sticky issue. How do we forgive a ‘board’, an entity, an organization ? I don’t know . . . yet if we remember, a board is made up of fallible individuals ( like me and you ), even the most sincere of which are capable of ‘hearing’ ourselves and thinking it is God and making mistakes and blunders. King David messed up to the nth degree – violating every single mandate of His Father. And yet, when confronted with his error, King David was quick to repent. Their were consequences, but our Father was faithful to restore him.
This board made a really bad spiritual decision and poor choice and, when confronted with their ‘error’ were quick to repent. Now we must deal with the ‘trust’ issue.
To me, that poses the question – what caused one to ‘trust’ this organization in the first place.? Was it because there was agreement on theological beliefs, agreement on end-time understanding, agreement on denominational traditions, their financial stewardship reputation, the fact that they minister to the most vulnerable among us, some reason we have not considered, or some combination of the above ?
If the reason or criteria for which one began to partner with World Vision has not been violated, then restoral of the trust is not so difficult. If a key issue for me has been violated, then ‘trust restoral’ is much harder. Of course, the ‘christian realm’ has not had the best track record in the ‘restore’ department. We DO have a reputation for being the only ‘army’ that shoots it’s own wounded. Yeah, I know, we still haven’t answered the question. And I don’t know that we can. BUT . . . MY question would be to those that have trusted World Vision in the past to minister to children, to feed and clothe and house and educate those kids from a Biblical perspective – has WV ultimately failed in those areas ? Did the actions that played out in the board room in that short period of time directly affect the actual work in the field ? Did that decision and reversal directly impact the foundational daily teachings and example to those children in the field ? These are the questions that each individual must answer for themselves, and I am not sure there is an ‘absolute’ right or wrong answer, although the ultimate individual conclusion will be based on absolutes, at least for the individual. And for the record, we are not supporters of World Vision, although we have always viewed them as a good and noble organization.
There ARE groups that are considered good groups that do good work that we personally cannot support since, for us, there is a conflict of Biblical teachings. Here again, these are issues that each of us must wrestle for ourselves, and should always be wrestled upon a Biblical foundation.
That’s our ‘2-cents worth’ . . . you might want your money back . . .
Al
March 31, 2014 at 11:27 am
J-R
I appreciate your response. Your ‘2-cents worth’ spoke volumes and I appreciate the time you took to minister it. There is nothing definitive in human terms that will satisfy. But His Word and revelation will guide us and lead us in these things. Of that I am sure!
Shalom