Jesus Asked And Jesus Told

What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus asked them a question, saying,
“What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is he?”
Matthew 22.42

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe...
I and the Father are one.”
John 10.25, 30

I am sorry if anyone takes offense, but I just couldn't refrain any longer. You may have a very different opinion from mine, but I am convinced that a policy of “Don't ask, don't tell” is utter nonsense. It is a modern twist on the age old advice, “See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.” Well, I've always thought that there was more than a little monkey business contained in that old advice, and I am sure there's a whole lot of monkey business in the modern “Don't ask, don't tell” policy, which essentially encourages a whole lot of evil and sin to pass without comment, as it were.

The thing is, evil does not cease to exist when we close our eyes, cover our ears, and even shut our mouth. Sin does not go away because we avoid asking questions about it, or refuse to admit or confess it. I recognize that evil and sin are not popular topics for pastors and congregations to study these days, but, if you will, I believe Satan is very good at making a monkey of anyone who tries to pretend that there are no such things as evil and sin.

Similarly, faith and doctrine seem to be close to forbidden subjects these days as well. I suppose I could get in trouble with the BSA, but their position on faith, well it's ultimately compromised by basically saying that God is merely a matter of personal opinion or preference, and let's just leave it at that. Worse, when the Scouts try and say that all gods are in fact “One God,” they dishonor everyone's faith, and give great offense to the God who is the one, true, living God. If the BSA wants to encourage all its members to get along and respect one another, I am all for it. And, if the BSA teaches it members to consider themselves brothers with all Scouts throughout the world I believe that too is a good idea. And certainly I would agree that Scouts should have sincere respect for all people. But don't try to build these things on a foundation of “faith” in what amounts to nothing more than a syncretistic idol.

I find loving and serving the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit quite compatible with living my life according to the ideals of Scouting. But when the BSA in effect tells me that I must follow a policy of “Don't ask, don't tell” with respect to faith, they are asking me to abandon that which is important to me above all else, my commitment to Christ. How can I promise to “do my duty to God” and then set aside the very core of what I know to be true about God?

What it comes down to is this, so-called inter-faith services are in fact no-faith services. And encouraging anyone to “Don't ask, don't tell” is one hundred percent contrary to the spreading of the Gospel. Think about it. Jesus asked, and Jesus told. If the Son had not continually raised the subject of faith, and how to live faithfully, no one would have ever been offended at him, no one would have crucified him, and NO ONE would be saved.

The one thing I must ask others is what they think about the Christ, whose Son is he? There is only one correct answer to this question, and it is not found in the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita, the Vinaya texts, the Zend Avesta, the Jaina Sutras, the Tao-te Ching, the Confucian Analects, the Kitab-I-Aqdas, but only in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. What kind of trustworthy Scout would I be if I were to tell you anything else?

Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus told the world plainly, “I and the Father are one.” Peter nailed the answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Asking and telling are essential to discipleship, so we'd better open our eyes, open our ears, and open our mouths!

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4