Recently, I saw an advertisement on Social Media where Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners Ministry, has a new book. The title of the new book is, "The False White Gospel." Again, I must be honest, I have never been a fan of Jim Wallis, he seems to insert a lot of his politics into the Gospel. It is the very thing he has written about for years that conservative Christians are too political, yet he is guilty of inserting his political agenda in all that he writes.
In a 2013 interview, Wallis changed his position and declared his support for same-sex marriage. He said, "Marriage needs some strengthening. Let's start with marriage, and then I think we have to talk about, now, how to include same-sex couples in that deeper understanding of marriage.”
In a 2008 interview with Christianity Today, Wallis made mostly a traditional case for marriage. “I don’t think the sacrament of marriage should be changed,” he said then. “Some people say that Jesus didn’t talk about homosexuality, and that’s technically true. But marriage is all through the Bible, and it’s not gender-neutral. I have never done a blessing for a same-sex couple. I’ve never been asked to do one. I’m not sure that I would.” Asked specifically by the Baptist Press, whether he supports gay marriage, Wallis said, Yes.”
So, Jim Wallis' theology changed and has joined the ranks of other left-leaning Christians like Dr. Tony Campolo who supports gay unions. In his own words, “It has taken countless hours of prayer, study, conversation, and emotional turmoil to bring me to the place where I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the Church.”
This is the deception that will fill the last days. People will take it upon themselves to find ways to support human experiences defined by Scripture as sinful.
My question has always been, “Why does homosexuality get a pass with people like Tony and Jim? Why not say that adultery can get a pass too, because people who commit adultery cannot help themselves, they need to have multiple partners. Why do gay people get a pass because they say they are Christians, and they want to have equity in the Church as believers? Why can’t the Church accept any sin as being okay to have complete equity in the Church?” We all know that homosexuals in the Church are a special class of people and are convincing many Evangelicals to accept their unions.
For me, either the Bible is correct when it says homosexuality is wrong, or the Bible just got it wrong. If the Bible got homosexual sin wrong, then what else did it get wrong? Is stealing not that bad? Is lying just child’s play? How about murder? Maybe the Bible would justify murder because the person who was murdered was a bad person. You cannot say the Scriptures got it wrong, because if it got it wrong in one area, then it could mean that a poor man named Jesus died in vain.
I don't think the Bible got it wrong, I think people have it bad. People who support lifestyles that are not endorsed by the Scriptures are virtually saying they have knowledge that God doesn’t have.
Mankind has always tried to reposition what the Scripture teaches, and the Church has been complicit with it. Human dignity had been violated in slavery for years in society and the Church was complicit with it because slavery served a purpose. Jews were being killed in Germany and hauled off to concentration camps, and the Church was complicit with it and pretended it wasn’t happening. The Church is complicit with the get-rich schemes of the prosperity gospel and mildly addresses human trafficking, but in effect, not much is said to combat it.
As followers of Christ, we need to stand our ground, defend what we know is truth, and push back the falsehoods that have crept into the Church. The prophet Jeremiah had a word for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
Jeremiah 4:3-4 Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.
There is such a hatred for what God says is wrong, that people will restate it so that it affirms them and denies the truth. Here is one of those interpretations:
Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
It is not a surprise that this Verse seems to say that gay male sex is forbidden in the eyes of God. The dominant view of Western Christianity forbids same-sex relations. This Verse is one of the clobber Passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the Verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming interpretation of what this Passage means for the LGBTQ community.
Again, the Passage in Leviticus 18:22 is clear in how it was translated, it does not need a commentary to redirect its intent. Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9 are also clear that homosexuality is not acceptable by God. That does not mean God does not love the homosexual, but He wants them to turn from this sin and not allow it to control them.
Romans 1:26-27 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
Corinthians 6:9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality.
My point is, if homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle, then the Bible has it wrong. For me, the Bible is not ambiguous about sin, it clearly identifies it and makes it even clearer that we are to forsake sin and seek Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our salvation.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler
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