Do you know that strip club down by the airport? You've probably
never been in there. You likely have no interest in going in there. The
only reason you even know about it is because your uncle, the one you
have to pick up from the airport every Thanksgiving, makes a joke about
the sign that says they have an all-you-can-eat buffet. (It's a lame
joke made lamer by the fact that he tells it the same way every year.)
There's
something you probably don't know about that buffet: Jesus would have
no qualms about sitting at the bar eating scrambled eggs. In fact, Jesus
probably wants you to go in there and join the patrons eating cold bacon.
You might be thinking to yourself, "Um . . . what?" Yeah, I was
surprised too. But that is the argument many Christians have been making
lately. Oh, they don't make that argument directly. But that is the
implication of their argument (whose logic they often fail to follow to
its conclusion).
Their argument, in enthymematic form, is:
Since Jesus [had dinner with/partied with/hung out with] sinners in the places where they congregated, we should do so too.
The problem with this argument is not that it is wholly false but
that it is partially true. If it were false, we could rebut it and move
on. But because it contains a kernel of truth we have an obligation to
try to salvage it and fashion it into a respectable and biblically sound
form.
The first way we can fix the argument is by adding an obvious clause:
Since Jesus [had dinner with/partied with/hung out with] sinners in the places where they congregated, we should do so too when they are not engaging in sin . . . Continue at Joe Carter
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