What?!

We just read of the megachurch, High Point Church, that denied (canceled, actually) the funeral service of a navy veteran after they found out he was gay. They claim that it would compromise their principles to administer the funeral of a person persisting in a life of sin. Here's our question, does that mean no unbeliever can have a funeral at the church, since anyone who does not confess Christ persists willingly in the worst of sins? Why are people so insistent to condemn some sins, like abortion or homosexuality, and not more common, pervasive, and perhaps more deadly ones, like gluttony, laziness, lust, greed, unjust war, gossips, lack of thankfulness.....? Did persistent sin stop Jesus from weeping over Jerusalem? Did the blatant choice of sin stop Paul from wanting to endure Israel's punishment for them (in Romans)? Did we not read in Ezekiel that God does not delight in the death of the wicked when referring to rebellious Israel? Does such mourning somehow give approval of sin?

You don't have to agree with a person's sin to mourn over death, to mourn with those who mourn (which is also a command from God). In the coming year, with the presidential election around the corner, please, for each of our soul's sake, don't fall prey to the selective naming of sins, such that we choose not to be gracious with some outside the church people but grossly tolerant of others inside the church building. Please don't become seduced by one political party over another as if one side had the corner on moral issues. Worst of all, may we not begin comparing ourselves selectively to others so that we conveniently ignore our sin, coddling and justifying it as "not that bad". The wages of sin is death...how I wish that all our brothers and sisters knew that we should mourn death...after all, God does (Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11).