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WHO WINS THESE ELECTIONS?

In my own denomination, it happens only every five years. For about ten days, just twice each decade, Seventh-day Adventist delegates from all around the world gather together in one place to pray and study together, and to conduct official business in what we refer to as a "General Conference." This is very common for most major denominations around the world.

But there was a dilemma out there, and those of us traveling to Indianapolis in 1990 and then Utrecht, near Amsterdam, in 1995, knew it before we ever got on the airplanes. One theological issue had to be discussed, and was going to be discussed in a big way. It was there on the agenda in big, bold letters. Should this denomination choose, for the first time in its history, to ordain women as ministers?

All this week here on the Voice of Prophecy, our topic has been that of debating unresolvable issues. And I guess right here, this is as good a case as any. Because there are some Christian denominations that ordain women, and some which don't. And I think it's safe to say that in all of those churches — including my own — there are pastors and theologians and seminary professors who are on both sides. Those opposed to ordination quote from First Corinthians chapter 14 or Galatians chapter five; those who are in favor of women being ordained quote Paul too! — from Galatians chapter three, just a few pages back. And there are other Bible passages as well, and study groups on both sides of the aisle had parsed and dissected the Greek and the commentaries for many long months and years. Many good books and treatises had been written favoring both viewpoints.

Now here's the dilemma. According to First and Second Timothy, where we've been camping this week, it would seem that this issue is the very kind of thing Paul warns us of. It's an unwinnable war! You have two perspectives, and they go around and around and around, generating more heat than light, and at the end of the day, hardly anyone in town has switched flags. It starts out at 56 to 44, and it ends up right there too, with nothing accomplished.

Is this particular issue an important one? Well, certainly not as important as Calvary or the Resurrection or the Second Coming or the divinity of Jesus. But many, many people in Indianapolis and then Utrecht were extremely interested in this discussion; they wore lapel buttons and had banners and publications to share. Some very dedicated women had been waiting for years for this affirmation from the church. To them it was much more than a "disputable point."

The bottom line is this. If it were just two good Christian individuals discussing, they might have agreed to give it one hour of clanking swords . . . and then drop it. Agree to disagree, as we say. But this is a denomination! Ten million members needed to receive something official from the "(quote) General Conference." We had to have a policy. We really didn't have the luxury of going with Romans 14:5, where Paul writes:
"About nonessentials like these, everyone needs to make up his own mind." "Fully persuaded in his own mind" is the King James.

And so, like it or not, and even if it involved disputing and arguing and debating and lining up at the microphone to have your two minutes, the delegates to these two world gatherings had to wrestle with this very difficult issue.

Well, I was there. I saw the words fly back and forth. I saw the machinery grind so slowly, eating away precious hours and even days. And then, when the ballots were finally cast, they went almost exactly as the pollsters might have predicted. The issue of women being ordained was voted down by substantial margins in both sessions. And delegates got on their planes, flew home, regrouped, and here we are.

But there are certainly lessons for all of us to learn. I don't know that things could have been different in Indiana or over there in the Netherlands. Being that we're a world church, these discussions had to happen. We had to have these votes, have a policy. However, I have to confess that I think of the many hours used — and of course, considering that we only get together for these "quinquenniums," these five-year gatherings — every hour in session with all the delegates there is like gold. You hate to spend them spinning your wheels. The meter's running at tens of thousands of dollars per hour. And it hurts to realize that so much time was lost on an issue with these two sides to it. What's more, we knew that outside media pros were watching the process; everything discussed was flashing around the world via satellite. And this internal debate wasn't probably the most attractive thing to have beamed to a watching world, with a very large non-Christian audience.

It's very, very difficult when there appear to be issues or doctrines within a church that are virtually unresolvable . . . and yet some stance has to be adopted. In personal faith, a man or woman can simply pick up his lunch box and move on from there. C. S. Lewis, one of the most eminent apologists for the faith, admits that he's sometimes at a loss to find an answer for this or that.

"There are questions at issue between Christians," he writes, "to which I do not think I have the answer. There are some to which I may never know the answer: if I asked them, even in a better world, I might (for all I know) be answered as a far greater questioner, [Simon Peter], was answered: ‘What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.'"

In other words, I as an individual believer might admit about some question: "I don't know." Maybe I've studied it, and just don't know. Or maybe I haven't even gotten to that one yet. But as long as I HAVE accepted the cardinal truth that Jesus Christ died for my sins, it's all right to have some blank areas in my Christian resumé while I keep on studying and growing.

In his helpful book, Living Faith, former President Jimmy Carter shares some helpful observations which are admittedly more workable for individuals than for a ten-million-member denomination like my own. He quotes from well-known theologian Søren Kierkegaard, who says:

"Faith means the betting of one's life upon the God in Jesus Christ . . . the giving or commitment of one's whole life."

Well, no debate on that. But another good writer of faith in recent years, Paul Tillich, balances that with this equal truth:

"Doubt is an acceptable, even necessary aspect of faith — that faith implies a continuing search, not necessarily a final answer."

And then, speaking more about denominations and the sometimes heated discussions that go on between groups, or even just within one faith community, Carter reminds us of this:

"These differences among Christian groups sap a tremendous portion of our ability, time, money, and influence. Much of our energy is spent in internecine warfare, in arguments and debates that not only are divisive but incapacitate us for our work in the name of Christ." Some of those words are painfully real. Here's a bit more: "Our faith should be a guide for us in deciding between the permanent and the transient, the important and the insignificant, the gratifying and the troubling, the joyful and the depressing. We must study the principles on which our faith is founded, but we can't become obsessed with the belief that we have a special ordination from God to interpret the Scriptures and to consider anyone who disagrees with us wrong and inferior."

All of these are valuable, even for entire churches to consider. Don't be obsessed with just one issue. Don't spend the entire ten days grinding out a divided answer to an impossible question. Don't be arrogant if you win or angry and bitter if you lose. And leave Indianapolis or Utrecht determined, more than ever, to reflect the love and character of Christ.

In his bestseller, What's So Amazing About Grace?, Philip Yancey writes about the admittedly painful, controversial Bible issue of homosexuality. Talk about an impossible discussion, a hard vote! Christians on both sides have their proof texts and construct their own theologies. I'm sure you have a point of view, and so do I. And yes, while individuals can say "I don't know," or admit to their neighbor, "You might be right," a denomination has to wrestle with Scripture at a Lambeth Conference and then take a vote. Is homosexual practice a sin or is it not? Will you ordain actively homosexual men or women to serve as priests or bishops or pastors? It's an issue that may be hard to resolve, but is certainly not "small."

But then Yancey, after writing about the difficult Scriptural passages, describes how we're unwilling to then calm down and humbly put away our swords. Some ministries focus on this one issue week after week, year after year. It becomes the only tune in their hymnal. And he also writes about men and women who struggle mightily in their own lives with this curse.

"Every gay person I interviewed," he says, "could tell hair-raising tales of rejection, hatred, and persecution. Most had been called names and beaten up too many times to count. Half of the people I interviewed had been disowned by their families."

Well, friend, God does point us to a better way. Doctrines are difficult, but Jesus is love. Isn't He? A Catholic employee at a pro-life counseling center looked out one snowy December morning at the pro-choice picketers out in the parking lot. Instead of debating this hard issue with them, shouting them down, she ordered coffee and doughnuts for everyone. "I know we disagree," she told them, "but I still respect you as people, and I know it must be cold standing out here all day. I thought you might want some nourishment."

You know, sometimes an action is worth a thousand words. Or even a thousand votes.