Andy Stanley Still Sending Mixed Messages on Marriage/Sexuality

Last year, when the Kansas House of Representatives passed their version of a religious liberty bill, Pastor Andy Stanley was quoted as saying that he found it “offensive that Christians would leverage faith to support the Kansas law.” He added, “Serving people we don't see eye to eye with is the essence of Christianity. Jesus died for a world with which he didn't see eye to eye. If a bakery doesn't want to sell its products to a gay couple, it's their business. Literally. But leave Jesus out of it.”

In response to him and others at the time, I penned "There's Nothing Wrong in Kansas (but is there something wrong with Andy Stanley?)." It seems that Pastor Stanley is still struggling with the idea of how the church should deal with all things homosexual. As the Christian Post notes, speaking at a church leadership conference in California this past Friday, Pastor Stanley declared that local congregations should be the "safest place on the planet for students to talk about anything, including same-sex attraction."

He added, "We just need to decide from now on in our churches when a Middle School kid comes out to his small group leader or a high school young lady comes out to her parents...regardless of what you think about this topic — no more students are going to feel like they have to leave the local church because they're same-sex attracted or because they're gay. That ends with us."

Of course, he's absolutely correct. Churches should be the "safest place on the planet for gay youth." I wonder though: does pastor Stanley have the same inclinations towards prostitutes or those who struggle with pedophilia (whose numbers are very similar to those with same-sex attractions). Shouldn't the church be a welcoming environment for those as well? (As the old saying goes, the church is a not a sanctuary for saints, but a hospital for sinners.) Of course, the answer to that depends somewhat upon the attitude of the attendee. Are they seeking the church in order to get help with their sin (or "struggles," or however it is they identify the pain they're in), or are they demanding that the church redefine sin?

"The church is mean to homosexuals" is a common straw-man tossed about by the secular left and other homosexual apologists. However, the pastor of one of the largest evangelical churches in the U.S. should know better than to borrow talking points from today's liberals. How long is the church at large going to be smeared by the words and actions of a few (i.e. the Westboro Baptist crowd)?

The vast majority of evangelicals take the same "hate the sin, love the sinner" approach to homosexuality that we are to take with all sin. However, this is not enough for today's left and their homosexual agenda. They are determined to eliminate homosexuality from the list of sins. 

If you doubt me on this, take note. Barely two weeks ago, no-less than an Op-Ed columnist, Frank Bruni, at The New York Times declared that Christians who see homosexual acts as sinful are making "a choice" to engage in "bigotry." Bruni boldly concluded that "homosexuality and Christianity don't have to be in conflict in any church anywhere." Right, they don't have to be in conflict, as long as we accept the liberal definitions of sin and Christianity. 

I don't think that Andy Stanley is of this mind on Christianity and sin (at least I sure hope not!); however, he must surely be aware that this mindset is prevalent within modern liberalism, and therefore he should more carefully weigh his words when speaking on these grave matters. 

Pastor Stanley also wants churches to "take a break" for a year from the culture wars. (I prefer "moral wars.") In NO WAY should this be the case! Does anyone think those pushing the homosexual agenda are going to take a year off?! Yes, within the church (and Christianity in general) there seems to be an inordinate amount of attention given to issues like abortion, marriage, and homosexuality. However, this isn't the result of the church suddenly deciding that these issues are a special class of sin. It is due to the fact that abortion, homosexuality, and the like have a massive political/cultural machine behind them that seeks legitimacy along with total and complete acceptance--whether by force, deception, or other nefarious means--for these behaviors. (See above.)

Along with dominating the mainstream media, the liberals behind this machine own a political party (Democrats). With these massive cultural hammers, liberals have sought to pound traditional Christianity, along with other like-minded people, into submission when it comes to most anything in the sexual realm. In other words, it is liberals who have sought this fight, not Christian conservatives. Thus, without apology, abortion, marriage, homosexuality, and the like, deserve the attention well-meaning Christians give them.

I'll say it again: Marriage is the oldest institution in the history of humanity--older than God's covenant with the nation of Israel, older than The Law, older than the church. Marriage is one of the earliest truths revealed by God. If ANYTHING is true, marriage as the union of one man and one woman is true. On this, there can NEVER be compromise.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

There’s Nothing Wrong in Kansas (but is there something wrong with Andy Stanley?)

Kirsten Powers wants to know what is wrong with Kansas. She asks this because of a bill that recently passed the Kansas House of Representatives that would protect the religious liberty of businesses and individuals who wish not to provide services to homosexual couples. Of course, this is because such businesses and individuals take the biblical view of homosexuality—that it is sinful—that has prevailed for centuries.

The bill was “blessedly killed” (her words) in the Kansas Senate. Bills such as this are in response to lawsuits against businesses such as the florist in Washington, the baker in Colorado, and the photographer in New Mexico because they refused to provide their business services in same-sex “weddings.” Powers likens attempts at these types of laws to “Jim Crow laws” that existed decades ago in the south.

Here again we see the pro-homosexual movement attempting to associate itself with the civil rights movement that swept America in the 1960s. Powers then adds this troubling, but unsurprising sentence, “Whether Christians have the legal right to discriminate should be a moot point because Christianity doesn't prohibit serving a gay couple getting married.”

First of all, time and again, those of us who oppose same-sex “marriage” are accused of “discrimination.” This is a ridiculous accusation that I have dealt with often. All law discriminates. Thus, those who support same-sex marriage also must eventually “discriminate” when it comes to defining marriage. You can usually easily reveal this by asking same-sex “marriage” supporters whether they support polygamous “marriage” or incestuous “marriage.”

Secondly, if you read the law, it takes great pains to speak in terms of “marriage,” or a similar ceremony. We are not talking about refusing to serve a customer in general simply because of someone’s sexual behavior. (Although such refusal can also at times be justified.) If this were the case, most of us would probably have failed such a test at some point in our lives.

Thirdly (and ridiculously), no, the Bible does not specifically prohibit serving at a gay “wedding.” However, as anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Christianity would know, this is because the Bible prohibits homosexual behavior, and thus by extension, same-sex “marriage” as well. As I have often noted, when Jesus is asked about divorce, He talks about marriage (quoting directly from Genesis chapters one and two) in terms of how it was “from the beginning:” a union of one man and one woman.

Most disturbingly, Powers obtains statements that are seemingly supportive of her pro-homosexual position from pastors of the “largest church in Kansas,” Adam Hamilton, and the “second largest church in the U.S,” Andy Stanley (whose church is in my home state of Georgia). Powers quotes Hamilton as saying that, “Jesus routinely healed, fed and ministered to people whose personal lifestyle he likely disagreed with.”

Stanley is quoted as saying that he finds it “offensive that Christians would leverage faith to support the Kansas law.” He adds, “Serving people we don't see eye to eye with is the essence of Christianity. Jesus died for a world with which he didn't see eye to eye. If a bakery doesn't want to sell its products to a gay couple, it's their business. Literally. But leave Jesus out of it.”

“Offensive?” Really? The “leave your faith out of politics” howls are supposed to come from the secular left, not the evangelical right. Far too many Christians (especially Christian politicians) have been brow-beaten into believing that their faith should have nothing to do with their politics.

And do Stanley and Hamilton really not see the difference between feeding a hungry prostitute and agreeing to photograph her next act of sexual immorality? Can they not tell the difference between helping a junkie get a job vs. baking a cake for his next crack party? In other words, sure we are to love all and worship One, but we are certainly not to wink-and-nod at or worse, participate in, sinful behavior.

This is especially true for homosexuality and same-sex marriage, as both are uniquely heinous in our culture. In other words, in spite of what many young people—especially those who call themselves Christians—today believe, issues such as homosexuality, marriage, and abortion deserve the attention they get from Christian conservatives. As Joel Belz noted years ago, it is time we stop apologizing for the attention we give these grave moral issues.

Why? Because, prostitution (at least not yet), drug abuse (well, there is the pro-pot crowd), murder (oops!—I forgot about abortion! Is there any sin liberals can’t co-opt in an attempt to turn out votes?)—and the like, do not have national movements and organizations that are devoted to preaching the value of such behavior.

As a result of decades of propaganda from organizations like Planned Parenthood, the Human Rights Campaign, a complicit media, and the Democratic Party, tens-of-millions of Americans have bought the liberal lies when it comes to abortion, homosexuality, and gay marriage. On these issues, we are a culture deceived, and if nowhere else, our pulpits need to be unambiguously screaming the truth in these matters.

Paul, in Romans—the “caput et summa universae doctrinae christianae” (“the summary of the whole of Christian doctrine”)—chapter 6 reveals something very black and white about humanity: “Do you not know that …you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” The question staring menacingly at America right now is, whose slave are you?

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com