The Problem of the Picky Prophet

I brought up in yesterday's sermon the Problem of the Picky Prophet.  You know this person.  It's the guy who has one issue that he just hammers.  It's the gal with one soapbox who can somehow tie flooding in Australia and rioting in Egypt to her issue, like a Kevin Bacon exercise on a spiritual scale.

In America, our two picky issues are pretty clear.  They are abortion and homosexuality.  As I did yesterday, I'd like to make my position clear:  the Bible teaches that both are sin.  If we as a society continue to allow (much less endorse) sins, the consequences will be ours to bear.

But here are my two issues with the picky prophet.

First, it puts us in a position where we are known for what we're against and not what we're for.  We're seen as constant nays and never yeas.  But the message of the Gospel is a big fat "YES!"  God says, "YES!" to Jesus' sacrifice and, "YES!" to us who trust Him.  We have a lot more to offer our culture than condemning abortion and homosexuality.

Second, it puts us in a position of only speaking against these sins when other sins might be more corruptive on a societal scale.  The example I used yesterday in the sermon was the Golden Parachute.  If a CEO runs a company into the ground through mismanagement and is handed a $38M get-lost compensation package while the company has to file bankruptcy to get credit relief and fire 2800 people, I consider that a problem.  And in light of how many verses in the Bible talk about how we treat those less fortunate than us, I think we might have more to reckon with on Judgment Day for tolerating that and not speaking against it than other more evangelically popular sins.  Isn't the love of money the root of all sorts of evil?

But that's just me thinking thoughts...