Some people just don't get it.

Some people just don't get it. In fact, there's probably more than we care to realize. I mean, can you explain to me why we really have to have warning labels on irons that tell us not to iron the clothes while they are on our bodies? (Don't believe me, read the label for yourself). Was there really that many people who thought it would be a good idea to iron out the blouse while it was on their back?

Then I read stories like this one from last week that make me think, "Hm! Maybe those warning labels aren't so far-fetched."

Seems there is an Epsicopal priest up north who is about to be "defrocked." (Sounds like a painful procedure. Glad they don't do that in Baptist churches.) That's not an unusual story in a denomination that has been defined by turmoil recently. But get this....the reason for the defrocking is that the woman in question is a professed Muslim. She has committed herself to the teachings of Islam and is shocked and dismayed that her Episcopal friends won't let her remain a priest in the Episcopal church. After all, they had allowed a practicing homosexual to remain as a priest, why not a Muslim? She believes that she can be an adherent to both Christianity and Islam and that the two do not contradict each other.

This story has so many twists and turns that my head hurts from scratching it so hard. For starters, there are major theological contradictions between the two, not the least of which is the teaching by Jesus Himself that He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6). In case you are not up on your Islamic teaching, people who believe in Jesus as Son of God are called "infidels" in the Koran and are not worthy of life much less friendship. Furthermore, Islam does not recognize the Trinitarian nature of God, that Jesus is the Savior of the world or that heaven is a reality for only those who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord.

Conversely, Christianity doesn't acknowledge the teachings of Muhummad nor does it advocate the teachings of the Koran. So, how does this woman believe she can practice both?

Before we jump on her case, though, I believe she has a legitimate complaint. Why "punish" her for holding to teachings outside of the Bible if you are going to allow others within the church to practice similarly unBiblical lifestyles? Why remove her from the clergy if others who lead the church are teaching non-Biblical practices without censure from other Episcopal leaders?

Bottom line for me is this...this is what you reap when you continue to stray further and further from the teachings of Christ and the Word. You allow a little bit of compromise on the truth and, before you know it, there is more error than truth to what you teach. This poor woman (like many others) is very confused. You can't follow Christ while leaving the gate open for diametrically opposed teachings. To do so would only speed the descent of a denomination (dare we say a faith) that has lost site of what it means to be a "holy priesthood" before God.