The lion’s share of Christian responses I’ve seen to what happened in Orlando have been some version of “let’s not make judgments right now—our job as Christians is just to love, weep, mourn, comfort,” etc.
First, a confession of my own sin…
A week and a half ago, 49 people were shot and killed at a gay night club in Orlando. Multitudes have taken to the web (myself now included) to comment on how we should respond to this tragedy. Each person who says anything is standing on some moral high ground from which they’re condemning or approving of other people’s responses. Let’s be honest: we’re all making judgments. Even if your message is “Stop judging, just love people!” guess what, you’re making moral judgments. I’m going to make some judgments too, because my hope is to help us all “judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
The lion’s share of Christian responses I’ve seen to what happened in Orlando have been some version of “let’s not make judgments right now—our job as Christians is just to love, weep, mourn, comfort,” etc. First, a confession of my own sin…
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Today we went on campus to help freshman students and their families carry mini-fridges, futons, and other dorm-room paraphernalia from their cars to their new rooms.
This week is Welcome Week. It's one of the University's most intense times of assimilating new students into the decadent culture of the University. Don't know what I mean? Here's a poster that shamelessly adorned the hallway of one floor we were on today:
In a recent blog post, Julie Rodgers indicates her predictable movement from believing that Christians can call themselves gay and still be Christians to plainly approving of same-sex romantic relationships. She writes, "I've become increasingly troubled by the unintended consequences of messages that insist all LGBT people commit to lifelong celibacy."
In Rodgers's mind, there appear to be only two possible ways of proceeding for the "gay Christian": either you commit to lifelong celibacy (the option insisted on by gay-harming Conservatives) or you give yourself to a same-sex "marriage." But are these really the only two options? There's a segment in many Christian marriage ceremonies called the Declaration of Consent. If you've been to a traditional wedding, it was that part where you got confused and thought to yourself, "Wait, I thought they were supposed to say, 'I do.' Why'd she just say, 'I will'?" That's the Declaration of Consent. Here's the wording from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship: Will you have this man to be your husband, and will you pledge your faithfulness to him, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness, to live with him, and cherish him, according to the ordinance of God, in the holy bond of marriage? Indiana University is currently on an ostentatious crusade against sexual violence, and it's very tuned in to this whole consent thing. Here in Bloomington we're in the midst of Little 500 week, one of the most decadent times of college partying in the entire nation, and a time each year when sexual assault becomes commonplace. Last week…
On my way into Wright Food Court at IU, I saw this bulletin board display, courtesy of IU's Residential Programs and Services: This coming weekend is IU's renowned Little 500—an historic bike race and an excuse for students to give themselves over to drunkenness and immorality.
So what's the best reason we can come up with to keep students from getting wasted out of their minds, acting like fools, committing crimes, getting arrested, and maybe even dying? How can we make self-restraint palatable to impetuous young partyers? Never mind the fact that drunkenness is destructive to their lives, that it corrupts their minds and endangers their eternal souls… ![]() IU President Michael McRobbie just released this statement earlier this week in response to Gov. Pence's signing of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). People like the woman at the head of the Disciples of Christ denomination will browbeat you into thinking that the RFRA encourages Christians to spurn sinners, the very people Jesus spent His time with while on earth, instead of helping them. (We'll set aside the irony of this argument from liberal Christians, who do not even consider homosexuals to be engaging in sin…) No faithful Christian is suggesting that we ought to avoid associating with sinners, or even decline to serve them. That's the wrong question. We are to be friends of sinners. The question is not one of whether or not we are to love sinners. The question is, What qualifies as participating in and promoting ungodliness? Read this account of a man who believed he was a woman, had a sex-change surgery, and then regretted it.
Then tell me if it's loving to those tempted by such sexual perversion to encourage them in it? The Gospel calls men and women to confess their sins and live lives that are pleasing to God. Part of this is submitting to how God made us: male and female. And don't gloss over the fact that perversion like transsexualism springs out of the perversions of sexual abuse and molestation. And the two feed each other. Most sexual predators have been abused by others, and the more we promote and encourage the practice of sexual perversion, the more we put our little children at risk and beckon God's judgment on our sin. May God have mercy. Let us fight the good fight of faith by calling souls in bondage to their immorality to walk in the freedom of a clean conscience by trusting in Christ and repenting of their sins. NOTE: This sermon manuscript (edited and polished) is part 1 in this semester's Killing Sin preaching series. Listen to the sermon here. Check out part 2 [read|listen], part 3 [read|listen], part 4 [read|listen], part 5 [read|listen], part 6 [read|listen], part 7 [read|listen], part 8 [read|listen], and part 9 [read|listen]. You are going to die…
It's only the first day of classes at Indiana University–Bloomington, and we just received this Crime Alert from the University:
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