Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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;
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Reclaim the Bow
In our quest for
Discovering Original Mercy!
Eugene H. Peterson
Another Fallen Hero? Not So Fast!
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While I’m just scratching the surface of
my relationship with Jesus,
I’m scratching; and compelled to move
increasingly away from
the egocentric, sociocentric,
congregationally and
denominationally distracting and
discouraging
to bridge-builders and alliances
focused on and filtered through
Jesus by the book.
I must join hands with them for Him to
Reclaim the Bow
In our quest for
Discovering Original Mercy!
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Did you miss the course on original sin?
Then why are you so surprised when
everyone but Jesus falls, fails, and
proves to be sooooooo human?
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Jesus came to save us from our sins
not applaud our idolatries.
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Until you become a Psalm 62 kinda
believer,
you will never find peace in community.
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Disclaimer
Preceding quotes from RRK not EHP
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Whenever
the Yankees lose, I get calls, texts, and e-mails from people who expect me to
be devastated.
Whenever the Presbyterian Church (USA)
does something stupid – not an infrequent occurrence – I’m on the receiving end
of smug, sarcastic, and demeaning commentary by self-congratulatory amigos that
have left for islands of theological, ideological, and socioeconomic
homogeneity.
Because my politics are not nearly as
neat and important as praying and trying to follow Jesus by the book, mindless
drones that identify themselves as Democrats and Republicans and think I’m not
one of ‘em will let me know when Republicans make Pharisees blush and Democrats
prove they have no identifiable faith or morality.
I can’t count the number of times that
folks have felt obligated to tell me about somebody who just died in an iron
pony accident; especially if she/he was helmetless.
It’s sick.
It reminds me of a big reason why
Jesus was crucified.
Too many people like bad news more
than good news.
So my world wasn’t rocked when I read
the headlines about Eugene sent to me by righties who know I like him but
know he leans left and lefties who know I like him and know I bow to Jesus by the
book and others who know he has played a really big part in my life and
evolving relationship with Jesus since October 2011:
“Eugene Peterson’s New Message”
“Message Bible Creator Eugene
Peterson
Changes Mind on Homosexuality;
Would Perform a Same-Sex
Marriage If Asked”
“Eugene Peterson on Changing His Mind
About Same-Sex Issues and Marriage”
“Lifeway Prepared to Stop Selling the
Message
Over Eugene Peterson’s LGBT Comments”
“Eugene Peterson’s Theological Sigh”
I can’t
bring myself to print the furiously celebratory and condemning headlines,
bylines, texts, and tweets that would make even President Trump wince.
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Because I
didn’t miss the course on original sin and still hold credentials in one of
those mainline denominations increasingly notorious for thumbing their noses at
over 2K years for Biblical, confessional, constitutional, historical,
traditional, and common sense Christianity, I don’t expect anyone, especially
me, to be pure and perfect in every way when compared to Jesus by the book.
Besides, when I spent one of the most
significant weeks of my life with Jan and Eugene along with a few brothers back
in October 2011, I spotted an autographed picture of President Obama on their
refrigerator.
Now that the dust is settling a bit, I’m
glad I didn’t knee-jerk and lament another fallen hero.
While Eugene is not as guiltless as
his idolaters pretend, he’s not as off the wall as those who’ve been looking
for a way to get back at him for making the Bible more accessible suggest.
When I made a fool of myself and asked
if he used The Message during his devotions, he smiled so disarmingly
and humbly and revealed, “I use my Hebrew and Greek texts.”
I remembered my absurd moment before
jumping on the bandwagon of those who are so quick to celebrate and condemn;
for it’s hard for me to imagine a man of such primary source and
reverence for Holy Scripture could ever fit neatly into the idiosyncrasies,
eisegesis, and hysteria of the extremes ruining so many churches.
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He got into this mess when a reporter
for RNS asked, “If you were pastoring today and a gay couple in your church who
were Christians of good faith asked you to perform their same-sex wedding
ceremony, is that something you would do?”
Peterson: “Yes.”
The left celebrated.
The right condemned.
Those re-imagining, re-inventing,
eisegeting, and putting words into God’s mouth to contradict the clarity of
revelation in Jesus by the book had found a hero.
Those still believing in Jesus by the
book prepared their barbecue pits for another book-burning to lament another
fallen hero to join Achtemeier, Barnes, Campolo, Rogers, et.al.
But in less than 24 hours, Peterson
recanted: “To clarify, I affirm a Biblical view of marriage: one man to one
woman. I affirm a Biblical view of
everything.”
The right celebrated.
The left condemned.
Peterson went on to confuse his
lionizers and demonizers: “I presume I was asked this question because of my
former career as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which recently affirmed
homosexuality and began allowing its clergy to perform same-sex weddings. Having retired from the pastorate more than
25 years ago, I acknowledged to the reporter that I haven’t had a lot of
experience with it…I’ve never performed a same-sex wedding. I’ve never been asked and, frankly, I hope I
never am asked.”
Just before or after his yes to
the RNS reporter’s interrogative, he admitted, “I wouldn’t have said this 20
years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian and they seem
to have as good a spiritual life as I do.
I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over. People who disapprove of it, they’ll probably
just go to another church. So we’re in a
transition and I think it’s a transition for the best, for the good. I don’t think it’s something that you can
parade, but it’s not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.”
The right cringed.
The left saw an opening.
My guess is the phone is ringing in
Lakeside, Montana.
Then the man who has been used by God
to bring me closer to Him, His, and the world in a John 3 kinda way said
what I consider to be consistent with the Eugene that I know as a man of primary
source with a reverence for Holy Scripture not distracted, plagued, or
polluted by left or right but guided by the Holy Spirit: “When put on the spot
by this particular interviewer, I said yes in the moment. But on further reflection and prayer, I would
like to retract that. That’s not
something I would do out of respect to the congregation, the larger church
body, and the historic Biblical Christian view and teaching on marriage. That
said, I would still love such a couple as their pastor. They’d be welcome at my table, along with
everybody else.”
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Thank you, Eugene.
Thank You, God, for keeping Eugene in
my life as a catalyst for getting closer to You.
Thank You, God, for using Eugene to
open the Bible to people who can’t relate to Elizabethan English and other
truncated tongues.
Thank You, God, for Eugene who reminds
us that You invite, welcome, include, and agape: “Come to Me, all of
you, everyone, anyone, and I will take care of you.”
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You can
read more about how God continues to use Eugene in the lives of people like me
in the May 1, 2016 edition of www.koppdisclosure.com.
Yet, for now, maybe a word from his
wife Jan during our time together sums up the problem with the celebrating,
condemning, lionizing, demonizing, and other dolts who’ve missed the first few
of the big ten, Psalms like the 62nd, Beatitudes, and countless
parallel textual revelations on the dangers of idolatry and blessings of
increasing intimacy with Jesus by the book: “Some people are like farts in the
elevator. It takes just one. Everyone suffers. Nobody escapes.”
Behind every good man is…
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Blessings and Love!
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6 comments:
"When God changes His mind about the nature of sin and it's consequences, so will I."
Amen. And thank you.
This story is rocking the church world because Eugene authored the very popular and best-selling translation/paraphrase of the Bible called The Message and countless other best-sellers. Up until this incident, he has been one of the greatest bridge-builders in contemporary Christendom. The hysteria has convinced me that the RNS reporter is a Russian.
Jan sounds like a real down-to-earth person! Would I use that illustration in the pulpit? Maybe, because I also told the “story” about the guy trying to get a woman to sleep with him for the lowest amount of $$. She said yes to a million and finally he got down to $100. To her response of “Hrrumph! What do you take me for?” he replied, “we’ve already established that; now we’re haggling over the price.” One woman DID call me on that after the service! But the story WAS very relevant to the point of the message.
Check out: http://breakpoint.org/2017/07/breakpoint-eugene-peterson-and-same-sex-marriage/?utm_source=Colson+Center+Master+List&utm_campaign=d9974ad523-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_84bd2dc76d-d9974ad523-6666149
I to, "am a sinner, saved by grace."
Thank you, brother! Tell Gene Peterson many who appreciate his honesty are praying for him.
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