Questions for understanding any Christian denominational problems, part III

        "* Are biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus accurate? Did this happen?

"* Is salvation found through Jesus, alone? Was Jesus being literal when he said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

"* Is sex outside of marriage a sin?" 

       -Original source article can be found here. 

I have been doing a short series on news reporter Terry Mattingly's class "tMatt Trio" of questions he would always ask when investigating a religion story involved various Christian churches or denominations, particularly traditions with which he was not particularly familiar. These questions are particularly useful is one is trying to objectively report on a Christian church or tradition without overt bias on the part of the reporter. 

My first two entries in this mini-series can be found here and here. I discussed the first two questions he would pose in somewhat more detail. Today I will conclude this little series by looking at the third and final question. As one can guess, this final question is likely the one to generate the most response from an interviewee. Squishy Christians can find interesting ways of dancing around or finding ways to nuance their ideas of the Resurrection and Salvation as found in Christ. Sex, however, is a hot button topic that can get most anyone from any theological point of view talking, oddly enough. 

One will notice in this third and final question how deceptively nuanced it is. It appears almost simplistic, but therein is the disarming trap to get someone being interviewed to tip their hand. The question is framed on the surface as a basic yes or no question. There is no judgement on the part of the interviewer. Is sex outside marriage a sin? Seems simple enough. 

Upon further review, one sees how much of a "eye of the beholder" question it really is. One will notice is does not state one way or the other whether we are talking about traditional male-female relations or homosexuality or other gender-bending categories of the modern "Pride Month" crowd with the ever increasing acronym: GLBTQIABCXYZ+-/%... (I write this somewhat tongue in cheek but partially out of my own ignorance because some of the letters and symbols this group keeps adding to this acronym make little to no sense to me. Sometimes when I query, I can't even get the people advocating some of these categories to me to make it in any way digestible.

 I say these things not to be openly disparaging. I do honestly try to understand these categories. I may not agree with them, either in terms of their inherent morality or that some such categories actually exist in biological reality. For instance the so-called "two spirit" thing that is said to be derived from some sort of ancient Native American belief. Being an historian by trade, that's complete ahistorical nonsense. There is no historical evidence in any actual tribal history to which I am aware that such a believe actually existed. It appears to have been conjured out of the ether based on no actual primary evidence as a social construct by white people who have a fixation on things Native American back in the post-1960s era.  But I digress...

Going back to the "tMatt Trio" of interview questions, my point is that in that third question, the one being interviews is free to interpret 'sex' by any definition he or she wants and thereby spin out their answer to whether or not why they believe sex is or is not wrong outside of marriage. For that matter, they are even free to define "marriage" in whatever way they would presume to do so. 

One could easily imagine a minister in any denomination or Christian tradition chomping at the bit to define what moral sex is and what marriage is or is not. All of their own free will, I might add. For instance, one could easily imagine a extremely conservative fundamentalist Christian type clearly saying "Yes, sex outside marriage is a sin." Period. Full Stop. And then go one to give whatever Scriptural or theological reasoning to back that up. 

The converse would also be easily imagined in a liberal Protestant minister hedged around and would say, "Well, as long as it's a committed relationship" or if the couple were engaged, that's ok, or homosexual activity in permanent unions is ok, Again, I am not casting aspersions here. The point of the reporter is to get a feel for, as objectively as possible, what a minister or a denomination teaches (both officially and unofficially) and how that might lead to conflict within a denomination.

For example, I am familiar with two United Church of Christ (UCC) parishes within a 20 mile radius of where I live. One is the poster child extreme liberal Protestant parish that puts up rainbow flags all up and down their premises during Pride month. That's fairly typical of what the UCC publicly teaches and advocates as a national denomination. 

But the rub is that the other, more rural parish, is actually pretty conservative. They support the local pro-life pregnancy clinic. The members that I know in that parish are pretty politically conservative farmer types as well. The retirement age pastor is more old school UCC, the like of which is rarely seen anymore in the UCC generally anymore. While the UCC has always tilted pretty liberal in the last 75 years, there was a time when at least some UCC pastors of a more traditional bent could be allowed to serve.

Certainly, individual parishes could be as liberal or conservative as they chose, as the UCC polity is an extreme form of congregationalism. The local parish is supreme. They hire and fire clergy. They locally ordain clergy. There is not really a bishop or presbytery that really has any real power, at least in theory. So, a gradual top-down takeover of a denomination of free range congregations can create conflict over doctrinal issues for the minority hold outs, whether that be conservative hold outs in a liberal denomination (a la the Episcopal Church, the UCC, etc) or a liberal hold out in a conservative denomination (a la the Southern Baptist Convention, the Nazarenes, etc.)

So, again, when trying to figure out what is going on in other Christian traditions in turmoil you do not understand, do try to ascertain what the issues are by asking these three simple question. They really are quite helpful in finding out the crucial how, what, where, when, and why of investigative work.