Jennifer Knapp comes out
By mattsmallbone. Filed in God, Music |
Dear Christian blogging community,
Jennifer Knapp recently announced that she is gay. You can read an article about it in USA Today. Jennifer is one of CCM’s greatest songwriters of the last 15 years and has won a Grammy and a Dove Award (which is a Christian Grammy… yep… there is such a thing)!
Some things that she said in the interview include:
Everyone around me made it absolutely clear that this is not an option for me, to invest in this other person, and for me to choose to do so would be a denial of my faith.
The Bible has literally saved my life. I find myself between a rock and a hard place — between the conservative evangelical who uses what most people refer to as the ‘clobber verses’ to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics, and various other Scriptures we could argue about.
I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church. There’s a spirit that overrides that for me, and (that is) what I’ve been gravitating to in Christ and why I became a Christian in the first place.
I hit the blog-o-sphere for a while today to get a vibe on what people are feeling about this… and I must say that there is a lot of judgement being cast by some neo-pharisees.
Now… in instances like this I am very glad that I am not God… as this is a complex scenario way above my pay rate. Actually, awareness that I am not some kind of deity is a great starting point at times like this.
Please join me by saying the following three times out loud: “I AM NOT GOD”.
Good. Now let’s move on.
The book of John gives some insight as to how Jesus would manage this situation.
He would have said to all of us as we were about to make our first blog comment,
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
We would all close our Mac books and Jesus would say to her, ”Girl, where are they? It looks like no one is here to condemn you?”
And she would say “Not one, Lord.”
And Jesus would say, “I do not condemn you either. Now go and sin no more.”
I understand that a lot of you now are yelling at the screen saying, “THAT’S RIGHT… JESUS SAID TO GO AND SIN NO MORE. JENNIFER KNAPP ISN’T TRYING TO STOP SINNING”.
I get it. But let me say to you… “STOP TRYING TO BE GOD”. Sin management is God’s department.
We all have logs in our eyes. Our righteousness is like rags. The Bible tells me so.
“Love the sinner, hate the sin” is about as theologically correct as ”God helps those who help themselves”.
Rather, I prefer…
“Love the sinner… and hate your own sin” – Mike Rayson, 2010
Now… go out there and make us all proud to be Christians in how you respond.
Love,
smalls
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 1:58 pm |
I am behind you 100% on this blog. I also stand behind JKnapp 100%. I’ve been trying to get ideas of where others stand as well and this is the BEST
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 2:14 pm |
I agree with you on this topic Matt. I’m convinced it is sinful behavior but then so is the thoughts in my mind when I see a bikini-clad woman cross into my vision! Which is worse? Sin is sin. The Holy Spirit convicts but one needs to be in fellowship with the Spirit for the conviction to happen… as christians our judgement and condemnation often prevents that fellowship from happening. I admit I am uncomfortable with this issue but I know that Jesus asks me to love others. He didn’t withhold His love from the Gentiles or the Romans. I will let the Father judge in His own time. I only know I deserve condemnation, judgement and punishment for my sins yet I have been offered only love and grace. This is the Model I seek to follow.
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 2:17 pm |
well said Mark
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 2:44 pm |
So then blog-o-sphere Matt… Sin is sin. granted. You sin, I sin we all sin.
But is it possible that in our attempt to appease the conviction in our own lives we downplay the sin in others? Should we continue to sin so that grace can abound in greater measure?
Is it our position to judge? Certainly not. But a woman who is in an ongoing relationship with another woman leads me to ask the question, what is Romans 1 all about?
They did not know God (as they thought), professed themselves wise, became fools and the end result was giving them over to unnatural desire. What does that all mean?
Do we bandy about a type of Jesus that appeals to our own opinions as those who are obsessed with our own comfort?
I hate to say it, but I think Paul might disagree with modern theology just a little.
thoughts?
comon matt, you knew it would probably be me who throws a wrench in… haha
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 4:11 pm |
Hey Matt, love your guts and heart bro in beginning to wrestle with this situations implications for Jesus’ church. I definitely hear your pastoral heart for this lady and anger at people who’re coming across all self-righteous when it comes to discussing her and her ‘sin.’ I think you are right in these areas Matt but I don’t understand what you’re really getting at when you say “We are not God”. I’m actually struggling to understand exactly what you’re trying to express Matt. Of course we aren’t God, but I’m sure you would agree that if we’re truly committed to Jesus we’re also called to be in relationship with His body the church. We aren’t God but Jesus definitely calls us to minister His gospel to each other and people far from God. Agreed? We are his ambassadors right? I’m sure you would agree Jesus does send us out into the world to deliver His message of reconciliation?
Yes God is Sovereign but we are responsible for our actions or lack of, both individually and in our interaction with others.
Furthermore, the gospel demands that we comes as we are, no perfect people are allowed, but the Jesus I meet in the Bible just will not leave us that way. We come to Jesus in repentance and faith and that’s the same way He leads us across the finishing line, by us following Him in repentance and faith. So I’m concerned if we respond to another Christians sin by just dropping everything and saying, “Well I’m not God…” I don’t see the option of abdication anywhere in the Bible. I keep hearing “instead, speaking the truth in love…” Ephesians 4:15
Let’s just take the focus off this young woman for a sec. I’ll be honest, when it comes to MY sin I don’t love to face up to my darkness much less deal with it. In fact I’d rather hide it, excuse it, ignore it or pass the buck than work through it with Jesus (Interestingly Jennifer throws down the ‘ignorance’ card claiming she is personally incapable of engaging with Jesus about this particular sin. I also feel sorry for her if she continues to claim ‘I’m not responsible’ for her relationship with Jesus). I hate the pain of dealing with my sin but thankfully Jesus in all His love and faithfulness continues to work his saving restoring grace in my life. He does not leave me drowning in my rebellion. Instead He reaches out through His Word and His Body (other followers) and graciously saves me from myself. Let’s face it, we all sin and we all need forgiveness and restoration in our relationships with God and others. That’s why Jesus came, died and rose again – so our sin can be dealt with and we can be born again into His life. Now the sticking point is if we’ve truly come to know and follow Him and be recipients of His grace we can’t stay unaffected by His presence in our lives. As I noted before Jesus uses three things to change us; other followers, His Word and love. I need, you need, Jennifer needs, we all need all three in our lives all the time. Jesus’ followers need each other. I think God expresses it best in the letter to the Hebrews, “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” Heb 3:12-14 The reason we need each other to speak the truth in love is simply because if we don’t we end up far from God, hardened and ultimately deceived and unbelieving. Fact.
I’m concerned because to some the statement “well I’m not God” can be used as an excuse to do nothing. To claim well it’s not my problem. But it is our ‘responsibility’ to lovingly reach out to each other with the truth. In fact it chanting the statement “I am not God” reeks of a Mac wielding Hyper Calvinist Matt
What do you think Matt? I think your advice is well meant but could be unhelpful. Could you take the time to actually flesh out your next steps for this situation… I think it would be very, very helpful to all the people who are influenced by your example and teaching of the gospel. Love you bro.
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 4:47 pm |
I just randomly came across a link to your blog in someone’s tweet, and wanted to see what people were saying. Incredible blog expressing what our response as Christians should be. Thank you so much for reminding us to always LOVE!
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 6:39 pm |
The way I read Matt’s statement of “I am not God” is in reference to judgement, not the speaking of truth.
Surely in Ephesians 4:15, the emphasis is on ‘in love’ and not ‘truth’. I would suspect that truth without love isn’t something most people are interested in hearing.
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 6:48 pm |
Hey guys,
I guess some of you missed what my blog was about.
I was hoping that the Christian online community would take the opportunity not to be the first to throw stones at Jennifer Knapp. That’s all.
I guess I was hoping I could encourage us to a higher road.
Will… I have no idea what the next steps for Jennifer Knapp are… but I don’t believe its my place to cast the first stone… and that was the point of this.
The Pharisees were always keen to throw stones…
That’s all I meant.
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 7:06 pm |
Hey Ben,
It’s all fair enough what you said. However… I’m afraid that you mistakenly read my blog as a pro-homosexuality piece. This really had nothing to do with homosexuality at all.
I think if you re-read it… you will see that it is a plea for sanity from the online Christian blog community.
I was hoping that we could learn a tip or two from Jesus when he was asked to deal with a sinner.
I’m afraid I’m not as deep as you hoped!
Love you man,
matt
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 7:10 pm |
Hey Will….
Please accept my comments that I wrote to Ben.
I do think that there are some responsibilities that God holds that are not for me. I feel comfortable in saying that judgement is one of those.
Again.. this was not really a blog on homosexuality… but rather a call to bloggers to handle this thing in a Christlike manner.
Thursday, April 15th 2010 at 8:14 pm |
hey matt,
you are not as deep as i hoped? you are a deep well full of kindness. It is true that i read the post that way. you are gracious in keeping me on track…
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 12:29 am |
Matt S – Again I reaffirm your heart for Jennifer and her situation, let’s be praying for the gospel of grace to be rerevealed to her (and us) in all this. That is Jesus’ heart. But there’s no getting around it, there is a next step in this for Christians. Jesus does not leave His brothers and sisters in our muck and He wants to use us to work His healing grace into each others lives. Yeah? I’m sorry that there seems to be a disagreement about what is ‘judgement’. All I’m saying is that Jesus actually wants His followers to discerningly, loving, graciously rebuke one another. Bottom line brother, we are called to lovingly speak the truth into each others lives when it is of eternal significance. What if I was sitting on your front steps watching your boys play on the road. A truck was coming down the road, what would you want me to do? What would the loving thing be to do? To throw my hands in the air and mutter “I’m not God” or get off my but and rescue the boys? Action always requires judgement, and for it to be received in love it also requires an environment of trusting relationship. Something in my experience the blogosphere does not provide.
Matt E – I understand your statement, and I honestly hear what you’re saying. All I’m saying is that I couldn’t clearly get that from the blog, it was assumed. But apart from that I was just concerned that the “I’m not God” comment is often received as a reason to say “I have no responsibility to say or do anything when it comes to hard stuff.” I know my brother well enough to know He truly loves Jesus and people. In no way did I seek to elevate the truth over love in what I wrote earlier. I support Matt S for his pastoral heart but I can’t honestly see how you can divide or elevate ‘love’ over ‘truth’ from the context of the book of Ephesians or theologically either, for God is both Love and Truth. Bottom line – You can’t truly love someone and not be willing to speak the truth to them. And this is not about Jennifer per se, it’s about the way all of us who call Jesus King should relate to each other. Truthfully, lovingly. Bless ya mate.
Over and out
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 2:23 am |
Very good post Matt. My thought is if Christ can forgive, why can’t we?
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 10:11 am |
What I can say about this is that I was so disappointed when I read the news earlier in the week about Jennifer Knapp… Indeed, it is not my place to judge, but it is safe to say that her behavior and choices are not appropriate for a Christ loving person (or anyone for that matter). What ‘casting the first stone’ means to me is that I cannot and should not in any way or form think that I am better than anyone else, because I have my own baggage. Thing is, I know that I’ve been forgiven, and with that, my baggage- poof- disappears. I have that assurance, as long as every day I strive to be like Christ. It doesn’t mean I don’t fail, because, ooohhh, do I ever.. every day.. but as soon as I do, or soon after, I tell myself- ‘Self!!! Knock it off!!!’
However when someone knowingly continues to live in sin, and they know it’s wrong, I think they lose that assurance. That is not to say that if she (ohhh- I so want to say – snaps out of it!!!) -but ok- if she ‘turns from her sin’ she will not regain that assurance, because she will, and our job is to pray for that.. Perfect time to mention the famous 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin..”
So yes, call sin sin, but the trick is to stop right there. Don’t take it further than that with the judging part that’s God’s job.
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 10:16 am |
Thanks Zorina. Interesting thoughts.
Tuesday, April 27th 2010 at 6:38 am |
The way I read Matt’s statement of “I am not God” is in reference to judgement, not the speaking of truth.
Surely in Ephesians 4:15, the emphasis is on ‘in love’ and not ‘truth’. I would suspect that truth without love isn’t something most people are interested in hearing.