Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The Christian Left Responds To The "Nashville Statement"

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Recently I wrote that a number of Christian evangelical leaders drafted, signed and published a statement clarifying the biblical position on human sexuality and the role of male and female as God created us.

The Christian Left has responded with their own so-called "biblical statement" titled, "Christians United In Support of LGBT+ Inclusion In The Church."

They are twisting Scripture to affirm an agenda that stands in absolute contradiction of Scripture.

And calling it a Christian "reformation" of sorts referring it to Martin Luther and John Calvin.

The deception that has been perpetrated by entertainment and public education, is now being advanced in the church.


The so-called Christian Left is aggressively recruiting biblically uninformed Christians---and those who have spiritual needs or inclinations but are unaware of what the Bible actually teaches on some of our most pressing moral issues today, including human sexuality and the sanctity of life.

In fact, the "Christian Left" has created a welcoming web site that lays out their deceptive use of scripture with this: "Welcome home. You have found your tribe. Conservative Christians are wrong, and you've been right about Jesus all along."

They label the Pharisees and Sadducees the conservatives of their time, and Jesus the liberal, claiming that's why they killed Him.

Jim Wallis, a banner carrier for the so-called Christian Left with his "Sojourners" social justice movement has been twisting scripture and misleading many for a long time.

Now, a response has been created to the evangelical "Nashville Statement" on biblical teaching on human sexuality.

I wrote about it recently, because I have personally signed the Nashville Statement.

The response---"Christians United in Support of LGBT+ Inclusion in The Church" says, "As followers of Jesus Christ, we are compelled to bear witness to the love, grace, and truth of God in every generation.

Then this follows:

In every generation there are those who resist the Spirit's leading in various ways and cling to the dogmas and traditions that God is calling us to rethink and reform. Throughout our history, those who have been on the leading edge of the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work have often found themselves initially excluded, marginalized, and demonized by some of those within established Christian institutions. In the twenty-first century, we believe that the Church finds itself once again on the brink of a new reformation, one in which the Holy Spirit is calling us to return to the Scriptures and our traditions in order to re-examine our teachings on human sexuality and gender identity. 
For decades, many pastors, theologians, and reformers have boldly responded to the Holy Spirit's call and have stepped forward to call the Church to a renewed understanding of Christian teaching on sexuality and gender identity that includes, affirms, and embraces the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary, queer community as created and fully blessed by God and welcomed in to the life of the Church and society just as they are, without a need to conform to the heteronormative, patriarchal, binary sexuality and gender paradigm that Christianity has come to promote and embrace. As these prophetic voices have stepped forward, some within traditional Christian institutions have gone great lengths to demonize, exclude, and marginalize those who have faithfully followed the Holy Spirit's leading to reexamine Scripture and the tradition, claiming that these reformers were false teachers or heretics, and represented only a small percentage of Christians worldwide.
Over the past twenty years in particular, hundreds of thousands of followers of Christ around the globe have begun to respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and have come to understand the teachings of Scripture and our tradition to fully affirm, embrace, and celebrate the LGBT+ community and its relationships. Whilst some within the traditional Christian establishment have sought to minimize the growing wave of prominent Christian voices that have reformed their perspectives on LGBT+ inclusion, the undeniable truth remains that the so-called "traditional" Christian teaching on sexuality and gender identity is being abandoned for a more faithful, Christ-centered, and, we believe, more biblical understanding of sexuality and gender identity that magnifies the creativity of God and celebrates the wide diversity in God's creation of humanity.
A new day is dawning in the Church, and all Christians are being called to step out boldly and unapologetically in affirmation and celebration of our LGBT+ siblings as equal participants in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, in the hope of serving the Church of Jesus Christ and promoting greater reformation and reconciliation between the Church and the LGBT+ community, this coalition of Christian leaders offer the following affirmations and denials.

Following the above statement, they have published 10 affirmations and denials.

You need to read them because it is likely some pastors who did not sign their statement will integrate some or all of their "new theology" into their sermons.

You will note there are leaders and pastors from Washington State, Oregon, and Idaho who have joined others from across our country, and in Europe, in signing this statement.

You will also note that in their perversion of Scripture, twisting it to affirm homosexual behavior, they are also identifying with historical Christian Reformation such as that of Martin Luther and John Calvin.

And claiming their efforts are the leading of the Holy Spirit in our day.

This is the most destructive kind of deception. Appearing to agree with God, while shaking a rebellious, questioning fist in His face.

It happened in Genesis, and it's happening now.

In II Corinthians 11:14 Paul writes, "And no wonder! For Satan, himself transforms himself into an angel of light."

This is an illustration of that transformation.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful.