Tag Archives: homosexuality

When Liberal Theology Invades

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church-of-scotland-authorizes-same-sex-marriage-days-of-lot-933x445The Episcopal Church released its 2016 denominational statistics recently.  In it researchers found decline of 34,179 in membership. This was an improvement from the decline of 37,669 in 2015.  To see the hard data click the 2016 Parochial Report.

Why the hard decline in the US Episcopal Church? I am sure there are a variety of reasons, as it is a complicated issue.  But one contributing factor, in my opinion, is their shift toward a liberal interpretation of marriage and sexuality.  In 2003 the Episcopal church ordained their first openly gay bishop, Rev. Gene Robinson.  It is a dangerous gamble for any church to redefine what God has established in regarding to sexuality which Christianity has been unanimous on for thousands of years.  If the things of this world creep into an individual’s, or an institution’s, priorities, you might find yourself at odds with God.

1 John2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

To be fair, Southern Baptists have their own issues. I admit they too have declined. But the data suggests mainline denominations are declining at a higher rate. (2016: Episcopal – lost 35,000 of 1 million membership = approximately 2%, SBC – lost 77,000 of 15 million membership = approximately .5%)  In the article “FactChecker: Are All Christian Denominations in Decline?” the author shows a clear distinction between theologically liberal and conservative denominations.  He says, “While conservative churches aren’t growing as quickly as they once were, mainline churches are on a path toward extinction. The mainline churches are finding that as they move further away from Biblical Christianity, the closer they get to their inevitable demise.”

Powerful words.

And a powerful reminder that faithfulness to sound doctrine is a key ingredient in the health and mission of the church.  Let this be an encouragement for biblically faithful doctrine personally, as well as in the leadership of the church you attended.  I did not say “your church” because it is not yours, it is the Bride of Christ, bought with His blood, and His alone.

ESPN Analyst Chris Broussard articulates a RATIONAL Definition of Tolerance and is getting Maligned for it!

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chris-broussardESPN analyst Chris Broussard has come under fire for articulating his personal opinion concerning homosexuality. This conversation took place on the sports talk show “Outside the Lines” concerning the recent announcement by NBA free-agent, Jason Collins, of his sexual orientation. This is news worthy because he is the first professional athlete to “come out” while still professionally active.

The interesting part of this controversy is the way Broussard is being attacked and maligned for articulating a RATIONAL and PROPER definition of tolerance.  Broussard never degrades Collins or any homosexual, but coherently states that it is HIS belief that the practice is sinful. And if he can tolerate a homosexual in the NBA without disrespecting anyone, he should receive equal tolerance from those who believe he is wrong without being disrespected on account of his lifestyle choice. Seems to make sense to me. Yet he is being attacked for the very act of suggesting that homosexuality is not perfectly normal.

Here is a quoted section of their conversation:

[Appearing with ESPN senior writer LZ Granderson, who is openly gay, Broussard was asked by the host], “How ready is the NBA and the locker rooms for having an openly gay teammate?”

Broussard answered, “The climate in society is very set for this thing to happen …. A lot of people feel like if you come out and say you don’t agree with homosexuality, you are viewed as a bigot, you are viewed as intolerant. So I think the climate is right for somebody to come out and say they are gay. I’ve been texting with players, GMs, coaches, agents throughout the day … and it’s been overwhelmingly supportive of Jason, from former teammates to guys who have played against him.”

[Later in the conversation, Granderson said], “If we really want to move toward progress and toward full acceptance, we have to have this conversation and this process.”  [Broussard then seconded that motion, and gave an example of that conversation and how it could be productive:] “I’d like to second what LZ said. “I’m a Christian. I don’t agree with homosexuality. I think it’s a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is. [ESPN’s] L.Z. [Granderson] knows that. He and I have played on basketball teams together for several years. We’ve gone out, had lunch together, we’ve had good conversations, good laughs together. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. I don’t criticize him, he doesn’t criticize me, and call me a bigot, call me ignorant, call me intolerant.”

“In talking to some people around the league, there’s a lot Christians in the NBA and just because they disagree with that lifestyle, they don’t want to be called bigoted and intolerant and things like that. That’s what LZ was getting at. Just like I may tolerate someone whose lifestyle I disagree with, he can tolerate my beliefs. He disagrees with my beliefs and my lifestyle but true tolerance and acceptance is being able to handle that as mature adults and not criticize each other and call each other names…”

“Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly premarital sex between heterosexuals, if you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian.”

From this 45 seconds of conversation Broussard’s career now hangs in the balance. Much debate has raged over this outward display of one person’s beliefs, that happen to contradict the new social norm.

How the tables have turned in our culture. The liberal media seems to be saying  – “We need to be tolerance of every person’s beliefs and lifestyle, and if you don’t agree with us, we will blacklist you and destroy your career! ”

Does anyone else see the self-contridiction here! They are changing the definition of tolerance to be accepting what they believe to be correct and nothing else! That is the opposite of tolerance!

Here are some interesting links to follow up on this issue! Check them out.

Albert Mohler’s Podcast on 4/30/13  – “The media has an unqualified celebration over NBA player declaring homosexual lifestyle. Meanwhile, those who refuse to celebrate full normalization of homosexuality are cancelled from events, protested, and ridiculed.”  – listen for free.

Bubba Watson thanks Chris Broussard through twitter for his words.

And excellent commentary on the events by Ben Shapiro – “When it comes to tyranny and tolerance, the case of Chris Broussard is far more telling than that of Jason Collins.”

Hang in there Chris. This is an uphill battle.

– Adam

 

The Response That Was Left Unsaid: This Is How Hate Sounds

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This powerful fictional letter written by David Murray, of HeadHeartHand.org and PRT Seminary, is one of the best examples of love communicated to a homosexual son I have seen. Unfortunately, the fictional letter was preceded by an actual letter of father disowning his son. Read all the way to the end and see the differences.

The best line, worthy of being quoted: “I hope you will not call this message hate. This is how love sounds.”

Check out the original article here.

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Five years ago, Redditor RegBarc ”came out” to his father. Shortly afterwards, his dad disowned him in a handwritten letter which RegBarc shared with the world on Tuesday, adding the comment: “This is how hate sounds.”

James:

This is a difficult but necessary letter to write.

I hope your telephone call was not to receive my blessing for the degrading of your lifestyle. I have fond memories of our times together, but that is all in the past.

Don’t expect any further conversations with me. No communications at all.

I will not come to visit, nor do I want you in my house.

You’ve made your choice, though wrong it may be. God did not intend for this unnatural lifestyle.

If you choose not to attend my funeral, my friends and family will understand.

Have a good birthday and good life.

No present exchanges will be accepted.

Good bye, Dad

As I find it hard to believe that a true Christian would ever write such a letter, I’ve drafted a letter that I hope a Christian father would write (although I’m sure we all hope we’ll never have to write it).

My dear James,

I’d rather say this man-to-man and face-to face, and I hope I will have a chance to do so soon. However, to avoid misunderstanding, and to ensure that you have something in black and white you can keep and refer to, I want to make sure you know one thing: I love you, and I always will. I do not hate you, and I never will.

Our relationship will probably change a bit as a result of your chosen lifestyle, but my love for you will never change. I will continue to seek your very best, as I have always done. In fact, I will probably, by prayer and other practical means, seek your good as I’ve never done before.

Maybe you’ve been afraid that I will reject you and throw you out of my life. I want you to know that you will always be welcome in our family home. Text, email, phone regularly. I certainly will. We’d especially love you to come home for birthdays and for other special occasions. I hope we can continue to go fishing together and to share other areas of our lives.

Your male friend may also visit our home with you, but we will need to discuss certain boundaries. For example, I can’t allow you to share a room or a bed together when you are here, and I will not allow open displays of affection for one another, especially in front of the other children. If you stay with us, you will attend family devotions, and if you are with us on a Sunday, you will come to church with us to hear the Gospel.

Perhaps these boundaries are not going to be easy for you to accept, but please try to understand that I have a duty to God to lead my home in a God-glorifying manner. Psalm 101 commands me to prevent sinful behavior in my home. While extremely anxious to preserve a relationship with you, I am especially concerned that your siblings are not influenced into thinking your lifestyle is fine with God or us.

I know that you don’t like me calling your lifestyle and sexual practices a sin. However, remember I’ve always told you that I myself am a great sinner, but I have an even greater Savior. I hope the day will come when you will seek that great Savior for yourself. He can wash us snow-white clean. He is also able to deliver us from the bondage of our lusts and from everlasting damnation.

I will not bring up your sin and the Gospel every time we meet, but I do want you to know where I stand right up front, and also that I’m willing to speak with you about the Gospel of Christ anytime you wish.

I hope you will not call this message hate. This is how love sounds.

I will always be your Dad. And you will always be my son.

As I will never stop loving you, I will never stop praying for you.

With all my love,

Dad (Ps. 103:13).

 

The Divine Institution of Marriage Video

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To supplement yesterday’s post on Chick-fil-a’s stand against homosexual, I turn to a lyrical description of the institution of marriage as prescribed by God. I believe this is one of the best understandings of what God meant for the husband and wife union to be a picture of Jesus and the Church.

Maybe the style of this video is not your thing, but listen to the words. Hear the plea for the Lordship of Christ in this incredibly necessary institution. Hear the sound theology undergirding the lyrics of this man’s view of marriage.

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam

Chick-fil-a Takes Stand Against Homosexual Marriage

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With the recent “coming out” of Oreo, JC Penney, and other businesses in support of homosexual marriage, the lines are being drawn. (Apparently it hasn’t worked out to well for JC Penney so far.)

Chick-fil-a has addressed the issue publicly also. In a day when being politically incorrect can tank a business, President Dan Cathy, son of founder Truitt Cathy, emphatically aligned his restaurant chain with the conservative view of traditional marriage.

“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'” Dan Cathy, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said in a recent radio interview. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”

In an interview with the Baptist Press published this week, Cathy doubled down on his stance against same-sex unions.

“Guilty as charged,” Cathy said. “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

“We know that it might not be popular with everyone,” he added, “but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

Find this quoted section in the full article as reported by Yahoo News, HERE.

I have to say, Good Job for standing up for what you believe in! I love how Cathy draws attention to the right in the United States to operate your personal and business lives according to the values you believe in! While the LGBT community champions this right for themselves, it works both ways. Conservative people and business owners have the right to operate according to their own belief systems too.

I honestly wish that this was a non-issue. I wish fast food chains didn’t have to declare a stance on heated moral issues. But these are the days we live in.

Chick-fil-a has communicated with nothing but kindness and respect while standing firm on their beliefs, yet they are recieving a lot of grief because of it. With a quick google search there are already tons of images being adjusted and turned into weapons against Chick-fil-a as the one posted to the right. There is talk of the LGBT community boycotting that golden fried chicken and waffle fries. We will see what impact this has on the bottom line of the company. But I know one thing for sure, my support of and respect for this restaurant will continue as normal, if not be increased.

Thank you Dan Cathy for standing your ground in difficult times.

Your fellow worker in the field, Adam

Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage will Impact ALL of Us.

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As we have all been aware of President Obama’s recent endorsement of legalizing same-sex marriage, we may not all be aware of the implications of such an action will have on all of us, even those who oppose it.  I’ve already read many versions of “if you don’t like it, then don’t do it”.

Psychologytoday.com posted this article defending gay marriage and ended with this quote:

From my perspective, it comes down to common sense. If it helps some people and it doesn’t hurt anyone, why not let in happen. I think the comedian Wanda Sykes put it best, “It’s real simple. If you don’t believe in same-sex marriage, don’t marry someone of the same sex.” In other words, why not allow gay marriage?

Why not?  There are many negative implications that must be considered!  Marriage is the foundational institution of our nation.  To redefine it changes the foundation and thus the trajectory we are headed as a nation.  Marriage was instituted first by God himself, before sin came into the world, and defined as one man and one woman. To redefine that is to reject God’s design and plan.

If same-sex marriage is legalized will it really effect you and me?  Yes.  We are seeing this already in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

This clip shows how the public schools are teaching same-sex marriage as “normal and acceptable”.  I just registered my daughter for Kindergarten in our town literally last week.  It scares me to think she will be exposed to anti-biblical, morally bankrupt lifestyles as “normal and acceptable”.

From kindergarten to high school, our children will be exposed to “tolerance” and “equality” as a way to impose an unbiblical worldview into their developing value system.

Whenever you hear the counter argument stating that “studies show” same-sex marriages do not have a negative impact on a child’s development, be ready to think rationally and critically.  Do your research to find what “studies” have been done.  We all know statistics can be used in a bias manner to prove anything.

In his blog article Same Sex Marriage: Good for Gays, Bad for Children, Dennis Prager quotes on this topic:

As Professor Don Browning of the University of Chicago recently wrote in the New York Times, “We know next to nothing” about the effects of same-sex parenting on children.” “The body of sociological knowledge about same-sex parenting,” he and his co-author wrote, “is scant at best. … There are no rigorous, large-scale studies on the effect of same-sex marriage on the couples’ children.”

With a sample size as limited and reclusive as practicing same-sex couples with children, even a non-scientific mind as myself sees a flaw in reporting any results as authoritative. Beware what the “studies show”, because the studies are extremely limited at best and conducted with bias at worst.

So lastly, what should Christians do and think about these issues in our day?  It is good to remember that Jesus engaged His culture, not ignored it.  We should take an active role as this is developing.  We are blessed to be able to voice our opinions and vote accordingly. Start there.  Also we need to think rightly about these issues.  Here is a post a good friend of mine, Mark Moore, used to direct Christians to 5 good blog responses to the current debate.  Read over these and know where you stand. There is some valuable wisdom written down here.

We know God is in control and trust Him through the thick and the thin.  Be in prayer for our country and our leaders as we traverse difficult days.  Teach the truth, even when it is not politically correct.  2 Tim 3:12-14 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,  while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it.”

Let us continue in what we have learned, because we know where we have learned it, namely the Word of God.

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam