Top Theological Stories of 2009

Colin Hanson at Christianity Today weighs in on what he feels are the top theological stories of 2009. The SBC and the ELCA are among notables as well as names such as Rob Bell and Rick Warren. Some of the listed events are encouraging while others are deeply disheartening.

Pray for 2010.

Uganda, Rick Warren, and the Media

Rick Warren got himself in hot water with the secular media by not speaking out immediately against Ugandan anti-gay laws. Foreign Policy did a short web piece titled "Rick Warren finally speaks out against Ugandan anti-gay law." They called the incident a hit on his credibility.

Rick Warren posted this video and a brief refutation of the rumors surrounding this topic.

The details aside, I only have one question. How did Rick Warren even get himself in this situation where the media is on his tail so often?

I understand that he is a big spokesperson for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and it is his "role to speak out on moral issues" and not his "role to interfere with the politics of other nations." But the media doesn't make that distinction. Especially when you host political debates in your church and pray at presidential inaugurations. I know he said "other" nations, but getting involved in politics is getting involved in politics; in a global world, Uganda's problems become Rick Warren's problems.

The media always misconstrues things; we can all agree on that. I think Rick Warren's conclusions concerning the anti-gay laws in Uganda are correct (although I think some of his reasoning is faulty). It's the quickness of the media to get on Rick Warren that concerns me. I fear he brought at least a little of it on himself.

Foreign Policy claimed this incident hurt Rick Warren's credibility. The fact that Rick Warren had credibility with Foreign Policy to begin with is the root of the problem.

Suffering and Rick Warren

I watched this interview excerpt of Rick Warren on suffering and I am speechless... kind of.

Pastor Rick says that he would ask God why there is so much suffering on Earth; however, as the video demonstrates, Pastor Rick thinks he already knows the answer to the "unanswerable question."

"God's will is not done most of the time on Earth."

Paul warns against this thinking:

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will" But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Romans 9:19-25

Suffering, for the Christian, is a calling. We are called to walk as Christ walked; Christ suffered. We are called to suffer.

Those who are not in Christ are not "innocent," as Pastor Rick put it. They are guilty and the wrath of God is upon them. 

It's not "my will" that causes people to suffer; it is the warning that God's wrath is pending in order for God "to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory."