Daily Kos has proof that the real culture war American Christians need to fight is the one going on inside their own hearts. Yesterday, there was a political piece about Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor who supported the President. Hintz said:
“Where we are in this world, with not just the war on terror, but with the war with our culture that’s going on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the White House like President Bush, that’s going to stand by what he believes.
Today, it came out that Hintz may have had a log to remove before talking about waging a culture war against others’ specks:
A Des Moines youth pastor is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child.
KCCI learned that the married father of four recently turned himself in to Johnston police.
Rev. Mike Hintz was fired from the First Assembly of God Church, located at 2725 Merle Hay Road, on Oct. 30. Hintz was the youth pastor there for three years.
Police said he started an affair with a 17-year-old in the church youth group this spring.
My point here is not to come down on Mr. Hintz. He’s a sinner just like the rest of us and now he’s going to have to deal with his sin and try to repair his broken family and reputation. I pray that God gives him a tremendous amount of grace and that one day his story will give glory to Him.
My point is simply that each and every person who claims to be a Christian has areas of sin which they need to confront. And rather than fighting a “culture war” over what we consider to be the sins of others (or our society), we should be focusing on our own hearts and our own relationships with God.
Are we upset with the amount of sex and violence on television? Then maybe we should turn it off.
Are we outraged by the number of abortions being performed? Then perhaps we need to advocate programs (government or otherwise) which give women who would otherwise terminate their pregnancy an alternative to a life of poverty for themselves and their child?
Are we upset about the fact that the institution of marriage in our country has weakened significantly in the last half century? Then perhaps we should work on making our own marriages work rather than fighting against a group of people who are seeking to have MORE committed relationships, not less?
In short, maybe it’s time we started doing what Jesus’ told us to do and pulling logs out of our own eyes, and let Jesus deal with the specks that others may or may not have in theirs.
