by Emmett Smith

A week or two ago there was considerable discussion in some of the on-line news publications about a Christian school in Sacramento. The school was threatening to expel a woman's child because of her occupation. She made her living as a strip tease dancer in a local club. She had signed an agreement with the school that she would uphold Christian values at home so her child would see consistency at home and in school. The school's board and administrators felt that she was in violation of that agreement. They offered to help the mother financially while she found other employment, and assured her that doing the right thing would be best for her and her child.

I doubt that any of us would disagree that working as a stripper is not suitable employment for a Christian. The interesting thing about this situation to me was the reader response in letters to the editor. Some were very critical of the school's position, even going so far as to accuse them of being unchristian and judgmental. At least one of these responses cited Jesus' statement to the woman taken in adultery (John 8) in support of his position. You know the one I'm talking about - "Neither do I condemn thee:...". Interestingly, this respondent didn't quote the entire passage.

Of course, to have done so would have significantly weakened his case, because the very next phrase from the Master's lips was "...go, and sin no more." Of course this is not a unique situation. Many professed Christians in today's world seem to forget that last phrase. In their insistence that we must be "tolerant" and "inclusive", they seem to forget that Jesus never condoned sin. In fact, He died to cure it! He used similar language with the crippled man at Bethesda, saying "sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee". What could be worse than being crippled for 38 years? I think you can figure that out.