Nancy Mace’s sultry comments at Thursday’s prayer breakfast angered many Christian conservatives.
“I got up at seven this morning.” Mace Said at breakfast. “He picked me up at 7:45. This morning my fiancée Patrick tried to pull me in the bed and I was like, ‘There’s no baby.’ I don’t have time for that this morning. You have to go to prayer breakfast, and you have to be on time. “
Premarital sex is a common sin among Christians. Those who enter the wedding bed as virgins are commendable. Most of us are deficient. But there is a big difference between simply committing fornication and bragging about it in front of a room full of Christians. (Related article: Rep. Nancy Mace tells a dangerous story: ‘My fiancé tried to pull my waist in bed this morning’)
It has long been fashionable to point out that Christians are hypocrites. They preach high moral standards but do not practice them, hide their shortcomings, and more visibly condemn sinners who do not live up to them. This is a fair criticism, but the solution is not to remove the standard entirely. A society in which some hide their sins is far preferable to a society in which no one tries to cover up their sins.
Below is the full Wednesday Prayer Breakfast speech (including PG-rated jokes). In fact, my speech was about a very painful time in my life, and I cried a little as I talked about how the church changed my life. 🧵1/4 pic.twitter.com/ECp8QUFphJ
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) July 28, 2023
Look at the contrast between Mace and Senator Tim Scott, her spiritual leader and member of the Seacoast Church of South Carolina. Still unmarried, Scott was a proud virgin in her 30s. By age 46, he admitted to breaking his vow of abstinence. What he didn’t do is brag about it. “The Bible is true,” he said Said Reporter in 2012. I wish we could all be more patient. ‘ He spoke honestly about his struggles without flaunting or justifying his shortcomings.
Mace, on the other hand, has openly hinted that she is living with her fiancée and plans to have sex with him when she gets home that night. (Related: Republican Rep. Nancy Mace says Biden FDA should ignore Texas judge’s ruling on abortion drugs)
The rest of the speech was actually very moving. Mace tearfully told the story of how she came to her church as a twice-divorced single mother and found she had a place. Because of this weakness and integrity of hers, some Christians jumped to defend Mace.
“Basically, this woman is a fledgling Christian… who doesn’t have all the answers yet, but it seems like every Christian on this platform is trying to kick her out.” I have written Babylon Bee editor Joel Berry. “Everyone did their best.”
New converts certainly need guidance. Paul had to urge the young Corinthian church to do something about the members who were denouncing his own stepmother.
But a few years before 1 Corinthians was written, the Council of Jerusalem declared that all Gentile converts must abstain from sexual immorality, and the decree was immediately circulated and issued to all churches. read aloud in There was no excuse for the Corinthians who committed incest.
Neither does Mace. For the past four years, she’s been following that teaching first hand, with 2,000 years of church teaching claiming that extramarital sex is sinful. Not exactly a “baby Christian”. She doesn’t really call her 4 year old a baby, does she?
So basically, this woman is a baby Christian who just started attending a fluffy non-dome church in Washington, DC, and doesn’t have all the answers yet, but all the Christians on this platform are trying to kick her out. seems to be trying You guys have been worked hard. https://t.co/yrSuNXeThq
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) July 28, 2023
Corinth’s problem was not that he thought incest was OK. That is, they tolerated it anyway and then congratulated themselves for doing so. “And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather mourn and banish the man who was doing this from your fellowship?” Paul wrote. The members of the congregation were putting the sinner’s soul in jeopardy by not chastising him. I suspect Mace’s church betrayed her in the same way. (Related: Should Priests Reject Biden’s Communion? Theologians Seek Opinion, Too)
Five hundred years ago, Paul’s teachings about the undeserved grace of Jesus Christ set fire to the heart of Martin Luther and started the Protestant Reformation. But for centuries the idea that God’s love is a free gift has been something likeTheologians call the idea that “Jesus loves me no matter what, so I just keep sinning”.
Of course, this is not what the Reformers taught. If you suggested that, Luther would throw a mug at your head. John Calvin nearly turned Geneva into a police state in an attempt to enforce a pious life.But over the centuries, those merry people legalist The attitude that Paul condemned in Corinth (and elsewhere) resurfaced in American evangelicalism.
“I go to church because I am a sinner and not a saint!” Mace proclaimed twitter in response to the backlash. She knows her premarital sex is wrong. She doesn’t think it’s a big deal.
“Sinners are not saints” reminds us of the possibility of our own mistakes. It is not an invitation to sin. Some sins, such as anger and envy, are so intertwined with a person’s character that they require a lifelong struggle. Other things are very easy to quit. If your job is making porn movies, becoming a Christian means you have to quit. If you are having a sexual relationship with someone you are not married to, one of you must sleep on the couch until you are married.
“I’m glad the attendees, including @SenatorTimScott and my pastor, took this joke seriously. Pastor Greg and I have more to talk about on Sunday,” Mace tweeted, adding that this is all a big deal for her. I added laughing and crying emojis to make sure it was a joke. (Related: Super PAC partnered with Tim Scott to make $40 million ad buyout)
What would Pastor Greg say? Her appropriate response would be to urge her to live in her celibacy with her fiancé and threaten excommunication if she refuses. This poses another big problem for the American church.
I go to church because I am a sinner, not a saint.
It was good to include those who participated @TimScott Senator And my pastor took this joke for granted. Pastor Greg and I have more to talk about on Sunday 😂 https://t.co/lQ3plPVhbf
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) July 27, 2023
In medieval Europe, the only Christianity on offer was Roman Catholicism, and the sacraments of the Church were the only way to salvation. Back then, excommunication had real teeth.
But today there are many denominations. As consumers, we want choice. Most Protestants now believe that the Church is bigger than any denomination. No Southern Baptist would argue that a member who moved to a new city and started attending a Presbyterian church has strayed from salvation. This belief may be laudable in some ways. It may be inevitable in a pluralistic society.But it makes a church discipline meaningless.
If my Episcopal Church excommunicates me for unrepentant sexual sin, I can go to the non-denominational church right next door. As a result, Christianity becomes purely personal.
Church discipline once humbled kings and emperors. In the 4th century, Bishop Ambrose of Milan forced the Roman emperor Theodosius, who had massacred 7,000 civilians, into public repentance. In the 11th century, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV waited barefoot for three days in a snowstorm to beg pardon from the pope. In the 12th century, King Henry II of England agreed to be whipped for the murder of Archbishop Thomas Beckett. (To me, this is the ideal model of the relationship between church and state.)
Today, most clerics, be they politicians or whoever they are, don’t care about discipline at all.
If you’re wondering why Nancy Mace didn’t feel comfortable making light of her fornication before a Christian audience, it’s because of a combination of legalism and the lack of church discipline. And until the church starts preaching true repentance and enforcing the real consequences of lack of repentance, we are going to see more incidents like the Thursday Prayer Breakfast.
