Coming Waaaaaay Out

Okay, the news "came out" recently, and has been burning up the grapevine for a few days now, so I doubt that anyone will be shocked to hear that Ray Boltz is gay. For the record I've taken a deep pull of the same cocktail of sadness, disappointment, concern, shock, confusion, and indignation as everyone else -- well, okay, maybe I just sipped, since I'm one of those old curmudgeons who thinks Christian pop is kitsch at best, a complete oxymoron at worst. But I admit that even I felt the emotional impact of songs like "Thank You" and "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb".

My point, though, and I do have one, is more about the typical imbalance we have seen in the reaction to the news. As soon as I read the story the first time I could hear the wheels of the boycott-o-matic cranking up. Sure enough, as soon as the knee-jerk conservatives caught a whiff of scandal in the breeze they started their spiritual heimlich (and, as is usually the case, ejected more baby than bathwater). I say this not to disparage conservatives -- I are one -- but to decry the standard knee-jerk, reactionary, often ill-considered, scorched-earth response. Maybe if blogs came with a waiting period . . .

Anyhoo, I'm not saying we should run out and buy his next album en masse, in the highly-touted but completely misguided spirit of mutual Christian support (really nothing more than sanctified consumerism and back-door ecumenism). For one thing, in reading his "testimony" in recent interviews there is no compelling reason to take his word that he is in fact a believer, so we might do with a more moderate level of credulity to begin with. Fans of the Fallwellian half-gospel that is so popular in areas where "Baptist" is the default denomination may take umbrage at that suggestion (after all, if he prayed a prayer he's in, right?) but Biblical data is on my side on this one.

So, no, we don't continue to buy his albums and throng his concerts in some smarmy show of love-over-discernment. But that's not where the loppers are currently poised to snip. The hue and cry that has been raised is, "stop singing any of his songs". And while there may for some be a painful connection with some of those songs to a fallen hero (next time pick a hero who has already finished the race -- may I suggest Adoniram Judson or C. H. Spurgeon), there is another question that begs to be asked:

Did Ray Boltz' admission of his sinful proclivities change true statements into false ones? Did songs he covered that proclaimed truth suddenly cease to be true? Again, for some, "Thank You" is a Ray Boltz song; and for their sake should not be sung because of the painful connections to Boltz' sin. But for most it is not a Ray Boltz song. Set aside for the moment the larger debate over whether this sort of music should be sung by Christians at all, and focus on this specific question. Did the fact of Boltz' sin make the song de facto inappropriate?

I would argue that we need to rethink the scorched earth, knee-jerk reactions that Christians often have to these issues, in favor of more careful reflection on the issues and a more measured and thoughtful response. Christians are, after all, to be a thoughtful people (e.g., Isa. 1:18)

AND, since we are also to be a discerning people we need to recognize that homosexuality is a sin, no matter who commits it.

AND, since we are also to be a compassionate people, let's be sure that in our rush to denounce we do not forget to pray that God would grant Ray Boltz repentance and draw him to the only One Who can give him the love that he obviously is desperately seeking.