Evangelical Coalition Releases Nashville Statement: “A Manifesto On Biblical Sexuality”

A “manifesto” written by evangelical leaders has drawn the ire of the LGBTQ community, the liberal press, and has Progressive Christians ticked off as well.  Why? Because conservative evangelicals had the audacity to release a statement proclaiming that traditional sexual morality is based on the clear teaching of Scripture, not on the whims of an ever changing culture.

Liberals aren’t the only ones who have voiced their concern. Even some conservative evangelicals are apprehensive about the declaration. They point out that there are always risks involved with these sorts of issue declarations. And they’d like those who penned what is being called the Nashville Statement to address those concerns.

(Note: Our position on the Homosexual Agenda can be found in our White paper, stating that the identity “Gay Christian,” cannot exist. We have done extensive research into movements attempting to usurp biblical Christianity, and believe that the only “manifesto” needed for the Church is the authority of Scripture.)

So – our advice is this: Before you sign it make sure your concerns are addressed. Ask yourself, do I really want my signature on a statement just because some of my favorite Church leaders signed it?

Being a Berean means doing your research. Bereans investigate. So for starters, go to the scriptures and find out what our Creator has to say about what it means to be a human being. What was God’s design for marriage from the very beginning? Then carefully read through the Nashville Statement. Does it line up with Scripture?

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was a speaker at the event in Nashville, TN where the manifesto was announced and a signatory as well. On August 30th Dr. Mohler began The Briefing with a lengthy explanation of what the Nashville Statement contains.  Following is from the transcript, which we share not as an endorsement, but as a matter of public record from the event:

In a time of confusion, one of the greatest gifts that can be given to and by Christ’s church is clarity, and clarity requires at times that matters of truth, matters of truth in particular times of trial, should to be put into words in order to bear the testimony of that clarity. A manifesto was released yesterday; it’s known as the Nashville Statement, it’s a coalition for biblical sexuality. A group of evangelical leaders had gathered in Nashville for a meeting to determine how the statement should be released, and it was released yesterday morning by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. I should say at the beginning, I was a speaker at the event and a signatory to this statement, and there are many others, as we shall see, who signed it as well. The big issue is this: What took place as released on August 29, 2017 was a statement by Christians who believe that it is our responsibility to speak clearly to issues of gender and sex and sexuality and biblical morality in a time when these issues are commonly confused. By late yesterday the Nashville Statement was one of the most often discussed issues in social media and it had gained a great deal of media attention as well. More on that attention in just a moment, back to the statement for now.

The statement begins with a preamble that states,

“Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being.”

Now as the statement makes clear, there is a particular subversion of a biblical understanding of humanity — what it means to be human — at the level of denying the gift of what it means to be a man and a woman, and for that to be a part of God’s intention in creation for each one of us as revealed even in our anatomy; it’s a biological fact. In discussions as the statement was being framed, one of the points I really wanted to make is that our understanding of human dignity as grounded in creation has to acknowledge that in the very same verse in which we are told that God had created human beings in his image, thus distinctive creatures — the only creatures made in God’s image — it also states unequivocally that God has made those human beings in his image as male and female. Thus, one of the things we need to make very clear as Christians is that a subversion of what it means to be male and female is actually a subversion of human dignity of any adequate understanding of human dignity that can undergird what makes human beings distinct from other creatures, and furthermore, what undergirds the understanding that every single human being is made in God’s image.

Following the form of other important evangelical statements and manifestoes, this document includes affirmations and denials. This is a yes and no structure that has a long history in the Christian church. The structure’s explained by this: It’s not enough to say what we do believe when clarity also requires that we say what we do not believe. It’s not just enough to say this is what we believe the Bible teaches, we must also say this is contrary to what we understand the Bible to teach. Article 1 states classical Christian biblical doctrine in reality,

“WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.

WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.”

Continue reading…scroll down the page to “Show Full Transcript” – or listen to The Briefing 

See our White Paper on the Homosexual Agenda

Related:

Concerns About the Nashville Declaration

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12 Responses to Evangelical Coalition Releases Nashville Statement: “A Manifesto On Biblical Sexuality”

  1. Melvin Partido August 31, 2017 at 1:59 pm #

    A quote from Charles Spurgeon:

    “It is TREASON against the KING OF KINGS to tone down the Word of the Lord.

    What does the King of Kings (Jesus Christ) said in Matthew 4:4, Jesus speaking “It is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

    Yet today among Christians and Protestant churches, apostasy is flourishing where the Truth of God’s word is not being taught because it might offend a few. We are sometimes accuse of judging. According to God’s Word, we can judge a person according to God’s Word. We don’t judge a person’s heart, God judges the heart. But we judge for identification – if its the sin of homosexuality, say it If its the sin of adultery or fornication, say it! We identify the sin according to God’s Word not to CONDEMNED a person, but to restore him/her back to God.

    • Marsha West September 1, 2017 at 12:32 am #

      I agree with Manny. Well said, Melvin!

      Grace & peace,
      Marsha

  2. Manny1962 August 31, 2017 at 3:01 pm #

    Well said Melvin, the “don’t judge” mantra has done as much damage to the church as any false teaching. So many can’t make a call for the fear of being labeled “judgemental.” So the Apostasy rages!

  3. JM August 31, 2017 at 3:18 pm #

    It’s really just so nice that these nice people want to do such nice things. Gosh. I feel nice.

    Not!

    Why?

    Because another “nicer” thing has needed to be done for a very long time by church leadership. Sexual aberration in our society did not start with Sodomites and Lesbians. (…and it won’t end there.) This is simply a manifestation towards the end of a long road left to us by leaders who were better at doing nothing, save fulfilling their selfish ambitions. It started all the way back when churches looked the other way when many in their congregation engaged in unrepentant fornication. And why did this proliferate in some cases? The wrong attitude towards this sin from leadership on down. Many of the pastors had sexual pasts and did not fully repent and sorrow over this sin before inserting themselves into their pulpits. (They did not see it as the affront to God that it was.) It goes even further. Some of them were put in their pastorships by leaders who had also committed adultery. Leaven knows no bounds. Because these men were not discipled properly and brought to true repentance, these pastors handled the fornication issue horribly within the walls of their fellowships. Many of them went on to commit adultery and decimate their own flocks. Some multiple times before they were caught. Then there’s the issue of unscriptural remarriages among not only the flock–but among the pastors! With very little consequence, all kinds of sexual sin has proliferated. To treat this present horrific immorality like it was unforeseen is stupid. Once churches aligned with the world in their desensitization towards any sexual sin–this was inevitable. Frankly, if these “men” wanted to do something really “nice”–they would clean out their own house first and only then humbly speak on these vital issues. They need to find their “made in the image of God” “man parts” and speak out against all the philandering pastors who remain idolized and unrebuked–and they need to apologize for being slow about it. If these nitwits won’t do it–then congregants need to find their Biblical, righteous anger and show the perverted preachers the door. There will be a price to pay, but there will be a price to pay for compromise and mediocrity anyway, How could that kind of spirituality ever be pleasing to the Lord. If the pastor has failed and congregants are too lazy to throw him out, then they deserve what they get, too. I’m so done with the dead, over-organized thing that “Christianity” has become and mesmerized sheep who just sit there. No wonder we are laughed at and continue to lose credibility. We deserve it!

    BR, God bless all of you for the hard work you do.

    • Darrel August 31, 2017 at 5:24 pm #

      Well said, JM. I think we both know this is just the tip of the iceberg.

      • JM August 31, 2017 at 8:04 pm #

        Amen, Darrel, Amen.

    • lyn September 1, 2017 at 12:45 am #

      Good comments by Melvin and JM.

      ” Close every manmade church, strip all religious men of their worldly credentials and status and go back to the simple New Testament gatherings that had neither name nor need for money in which to function”. Many of the elect that I know have stopped attending church for a number of reasons. Some worship in their homes with very small gatherings, others have given up trying to find a sound, bible believing God fearing gathering. It will only get worse as time goes on….

  4. Michael August 31, 2017 at 5:49 pm #

    Once again, those professing to be Christian leaders come up with another “addition” (of their own I might add) to the plain revelation of Scripture. Why is this even necessary? And coming from men who in direct disobedience to Scripture utilize religious titles and so-called spiritual religious positions whereby they exalt themselves over the average believer. Don’t believe me? Did they consult any of you before drafting and promoting this idea of theirs? Of course not. The religious elite never ask you or I about anything- they just do as they please and then expect the average Christian to support in wholesale ideas that stem from their own imaginations.

    I’ve got a much better idea for impacting both the Christian and non-Christian in this present evil world in which we live. Close every manmade church, strip all religious men of their worldly credentials and status and go back to the simple New Testament gatherings that had neither name nor need for money in which to function. You remember right? When all Christians were actually treated as equals, where every voice and gift was needed, necessary and desired and where ONLY Jesus ruled over the local and universal saints.

    Don’t be fooled. These people most of you call Christian leaders don’t even remotely echo New Testament Christianity and are actually driving you in an opposing direction. Don’t believe me? Read the book of Hebrews again, and again and again.

    We don’t need more of what derives from men and their earthly creations, we never have. We need only to return to Jesus, ONLY Jesus and as we learn to relinquish everything else, our local and corporate testimony will be plain for all to see, hear, accept or reject.

    • JM August 31, 2017 at 8:06 pm #

      Very good points Michael! We always have to complicate and obliterate what God makes simple and plain!

  5. Darrel September 1, 2017 at 6:18 pm #

    Although I am unfamiliar with all those that signed this God dishonoring document, the first few dozen are ALL highly ecumenical, they all have their favorite false teaching that they love to say is “true”, and some are out and out heretical. Many of these false doctrines have surfaced in years past but all these men get the proverbial “pass” because of their “years of service” in the “church” or some para-church organization. When it comes to these guys everyone, it seems, leaves their “Berean Hat” at the door, least they be accused of being ‘unloving’ or ‘divisive’ or ‘judgmental’ in the end any excuse will do so as no to expose the frauds that these men are. Does such a thing please the Lord Jesus? We all know that it does not. I could get real specific with some of these hirelings that claim to be “pastors” but are not in the eyes of the Lord a shepherd of His people. Many of them also signed the Manhattan Declaration, many were involved in the ECT1 & 2, and the “Evangelical Celebration” (hope I got that name right) and ALL of their efforts were motivated by self, for NONE of these ‘documents’ ever glorified the Lord Jesus. This is just the tip of the ice berg for the heresies they hawk are ridiculous, but who REALLY cares any more? Not a whole lot. “To Berean or not to Berean, that is the question.”

  6. Dave September 8, 2017 at 6:26 pm #

    Who is the author of the Nashville Statement? Eliel Cruz, a leading bisexual activist.
    https://stream.org/rejection-nashville-statement-sexuality-rejection-bible/

    The bayblonbee.com is calling people homophobic, neo-nazi white supremacist who worship Donald Trump for disagreeing with the Nashville Statement.

    Out of the 14 Articles not one mention of scripture to back up their claims.

  7. john September 12, 2017 at 12:29 am #

    We are supposed to be in this world, not of it. To sign this declaration is a signature of blasphemy against Jesus and the cross. Proverbs 6:16-19 comes to mind. This country, and now the church, has eagerly violated everyone of Gods Commandments with impunity. God will not sit by for long.

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