kicking puppies and the World Vision controversy

being critical of popular writer and speaker Jen Hatmaker feels a bit like kicking puppies. if you are unfamiliar with Hatmaker, she is a blogging, self-depreciating, too-much-info sharing pastor’s wife and author of Seven and Interrupted. she manages to be funny and heartfelt all the while sharing her clear desire to see the Gospel impact the world around her. she also has a great collection of oversized earrings that i confess to greatly envy.

since setting off on my journey to become a published writer, Jen Hatmaker has served as a model for what i would like to achieve; walking that razor-thin line of approachable yet substantive. she is authentic and real but without making excuses or compromising her convictions. do you sense the giant “but” approaching? here it comes…

but, having enjoyed and been inspired by her writing so much in the past made reading her recent blog post regarding World Vision and it’s since reversed decision to allow for the hiring of married gay employees that much more disappointing.

it isn’t Hatmaker’s position on gay marriage that disappoints me since her position is unclear. (she has clarified her position in her latest post if you care to know.) What I find so disturbing is her dangerous mischaracterization of the nature of biblical truth and our ability to discern that truth, all in the name of peacemaking.

Hatmaker says “…the Christian community is not going to reach consensus on gay marriage.” i actually disagree with this view since the church has historically been in agreement on this issue for thousands of years. but putting that aside, supposing that we will never agree, in her opinion, mean that we should throw in the towel and just agree to disagree?

what if the early church fathers had taken this approach regarding the biblical canon or heresies that plagued the early church? Should they have simply thrown up their hands and agreed to disagree? despite her claims that there was a significant lack of agreement among the early church regarding major aspects of the faith, we have hard won creeds and doctrines that have been passed down to us that say differently.

speaking of the early church fathers, this brings me to my second beef with Hatmaker’s assertions that “we” will never agree. when it comes to the church—and i mean the church beyond 21st century evangelical protestant America—and its view of same-sex marriage, there is actually a larger consensus than she is willing to admit. when one takes into account the whole of the church, through history and across continents, the overwhelming majority comes down on the side of traditional marriage. i find it ironic that too often those who claim to speak for the open-minded crowd neglect the opinions and perspectives of literally billions of believers.

Hatmaker asserts that “Thousands of churches and millions of Christ-followers faithfully read the Scriptures and with thoughtful and academic work come to different conclusions on homosexuality (and countless others). Godly, respectable leaders have exegeted the Bible and there is absolutely not unanimity on its interpretation. There never has been.” this is simply not true. it isn’t true of homosexuality and it isn’t true of any of the major tenets of the Christian faith. if it were, we wouldn’t be a single religion but rather a collection of sects.

has there been disagreement among certain traditions regarding issues such as baptism, predestination, and more culturally relevant issues such as slavery and the role of women? absolutely. but there is also a rich history of common ground that as Christians we all enjoy and should fight, yes fight, to defend.

i absolutely agree with Jen Hatmaker that the world needs to see the Church work through these issues with love and respect. i just don’t want to see us sacrifice what is true in the name of let’s-all-just-get-alongitus. for then, if we allow the truth to slip away while we are too busy making nice with one another, what will we have to offer a lost and dying world? what Good News will there be left to tell?

we must wrestle with the truth and with one another not in order to prove we’re right or win points for our side. we must preserve it in order to give it to those who so desperately need it. The truth is there to be discovered and in the end it will set us all free.

3 1/2 Responses to Jen Hatmaker’s “7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess”

There is a hole in our house. Not a literal rain-allowing, seeing-daylight kind of hole but rather a growth-promoting, soul-exposing kind of hole. That’s right, folks. The fam and I have finally taken the advice from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and thrown away our television. Not actually thrown away, but dropped off at a friend’s garage sale and driven away, with a few tearful glances backward.

Before we were married, Jim had kicked his television to the curb and it wasn’t until the babies came along and movie nights at the university became too impractical and/or too expensive that we purchased a boob tube. In this we felt justified because it wasn’t  a real, hooked-up-to-cable set but rather it was elusively video tape (and later dvd) capable. Thus we could limit our viewing to those films which we thought artistically worthy of our time along with a few age appropriate, please-can-mommy-have-a-break shows for the kids.

Fast forward several internet sprouting years and suddenly anything and everything can flow through the iPad to the TV and computer via Netflix and Hulu. With the approaching fall full of resumed homeschooling and Jen Hatmaker, author of Seven, cheering me on, I sat the kids down and announced that a change was in order. For a season at least. If you aren’t familiar with Hatmaker’s book, I can’t recommend it to you enough. Here are a few of the changes we are making in response to her mutinous call:

1) Chuck the TV. Covered this one. This includes all my sneaky TV apps and our subscription to Netflix. Good-bye Downton, Antique Roadshow, and Biggest Loser. Hello more reading time, blanket forts and board games (or as I like to call them boring games, but don’t tell the kids).

2) A revised vision of what qualifies as dinner. I love, love, love cooking. Not only that but for years, cooking for my family has been an expression of love. I have often remarked (probably to myself) that food tastes better when prepared out of affection rather than out of duty. Dinner is my love materialized in the form of mashed potatoes and extra gravy. But I am figuring out that I can saying “I love you” with simpler and less expensive meals. My love is not reflected in our grocery bill, or maybe it is. By freeing up more resources to pour out on behalf of others in need of both material and emotional support, I am giving my kids a lesson in loving the neighbors more than we love our own, overstuffed bellies.

3) A renewed commitment to waste reduction. For a few years now, we have been composting. I have to admit while I feel great about sparing my scraps from a life sentence in the landfill, composting is stinky business. My trip to the bin in order to empty out the banana peel, coffee ground soup is not my favorite. But it does greatly impact the amount of waste we haul to the curb every week. Our community doesn’t offer recycling so we have to make more of an effort there. Today I drove with a literal car-full of cardboard boxes and milk containers to a near-by recycling center. I may have driven up with a load of junk, but I drove away with a light-hearted sense of satisfaction. And next week, I won’t waste several gallons of gas due to my refusal to call and ask for directions.

3 1/2) This response only merits a “half” because it is a bit more vague but somehow I think it might end up being the most powerful. It is a feeling of greater responsibility to love my neighbors. My neighbors both near and far. I feel as though the winter does something to my spirit; it gets cramped and closed-in during the grey months of cold and snow. Seven, along with a great deal more sunshine and warm weather, has me more outward focused, feeling open-eyed and on the lookout for those in need.

I think what I appreciated most of about Jen Hatmaker’s mutinous attempt to shake free of the excess of our culture is that it doesn’t read like a preachy, self-righteous lecture on self-denial. It doesn’t sound anything like the “sermons” I give the kids about starving children who would love to eat that bowl of oatmeal. When I finished the book, I felt energized rather than shamed. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to shake things up a bit. Just be prepared for what might shake loose in the process.