It is not ‘character assassination’ for the church to be the church

Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, contends “for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” In this piece, he takes on “Progressive Christians” and deals with their propensity to erase 2,000-years of Church history in an effort to see that the Church becomes more inclusive, more relevant, more open-minded.  In other words, PC’s are “re-imagining” Christianity to look less like historic orthodox Christianity and more like the world. Burk writes:

Last night, Jonathan Merritt penned an article for Religion News Service excoriating Christians who have distanced themselves from Jen Hatmaker. He writes:

Hatmaker’s original sin is that she broke ranks with the evangelical powers-that-be on same-sex relationships. In an interview with me last October, Hatmaker stated that if she found out one of her children were gay, she would love that child just the same. If an LGBT friend of Hatmaker’s got married, she said she would attend the wedding. And Hatmaker said she believed LGBT relationships could be holy.

In the interview, Hatmaker did not deny a line in the Apostles Creed. She did not promote a historical heresy. She merely claimed that after a careful study of the scriptures, she had arrived at a different understanding of same-sex relationships. But this was enough to outrage some conservative Christians. Lifeway Christian Stores even banned her books from their shelves.

Merritt says that Hatmaker has not only been “blacklisted” but that her detractors have engaged in “the nastiest character assassination.” In sum, Merritt believes Hatmaker’s endorsement of same-sex relationships should be treated as within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy and that evangelical churches and ministries are mistreating her by excluding her because of her views on sexuality.

There are more problems in Merritt’s article than I can address in a single essay, but it is worth pointing out some of the more significant mischaracterizations. The entire 2,000-year history of the Christian church has spoken univocally about homosexuality. Faithful Christians have always believed what the scriptures teach about this. Homosexuality is sexual immorality and is therefore sinful (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:10). We understand that this is an unpopular point of view today, but it is nevertheless what the church has always believed and confessed.

There are many voices within the North American evangelical movement that are turning away from what the church has always believed and confessed. Hatmaker is now among them. They are trying to tell people that sexual immorality is compatible with following Jesus. And they are asking the rest of the church to accept their point of view as within the orthodox stream.  Continue reading

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10 Responses to It is not ‘character assassination’ for the church to be the church

  1. Manny1962 May 9, 2017 at 4:34 pm #

    Actually this is not hard to believe or even accept, hast it taken this long to see the obvious, crass separation that has been happening in Christendom? The attack on the veracity of scripture began on the onset of Christianity! Paul fought heated battles against the Hatmakers and Merritts of his day. God warned through the prophets, Jesus Himself warned this was going to happen and it would gain speed and weight as the birth pangs increased signaling the return of our Lord. Folks, expect these attacked coming from within to increase and get more vocal as The Great Apostasy unfurls, Hatmaker and Merritt are both apostates, they voice and approve the devil’s gospel, under the hypocritical banner of acceptance. Where’s the reverence for God’s holiness?

  2. Robbie May 9, 2017 at 4:35 pm #

    Watch John Pipers article on “is homosexuality the worst sin?”

  3. Mark Gallagher May 10, 2017 at 4:01 am #

    Do not shop Life Way Christian Stores~!

    They support many False teachers and heretic’s~!

    Beth Moore – 324 products and her very own page
    with her blown up face on it, I believe she may own a piece of the action, here~!

    Rick Warren – of 202 products.

    Steven Furtick -18 products,

    T.D. Jake’s – 6 products.

    • Manny1962 May 10, 2017 at 12:28 pm #

      Thanks Mark, everyone should know that. Christians cannot support wolves or those that do.

  4. Deana M. Holmes May 13, 2017 at 10:03 am #

    People said the same thing 200 years ago when it was about slavery. I could rewrite the entire article using slavery as the example. You’d be appalled, you’d be horrified, you’d deny it, but face it–200 years ago, Christians were defending slavery with the same words you use today to denigrate LGBT people and their supporters.

    It took radical Quakers to get it through the heads of the evangelicals of their day that they needed to do something about slavery, which is how you ended up with William Wilberforce and Hannah More in England campaigning for an anti-slavery law. Interestingly, we didn’t have the same thing here in America, because most of the evangelicals were south of the Mason-Dixon line and supported slavery up until the bitter end. There are no American evangelical equivalents of Wilberforce and More. (Trust me, the Grimke sisters were not evangelicals, they were Quakers who were then given the left foot of fellowship because they took up public speaking against slavery.)

    So when a Jen Hatmaker decides she is going to treat LGBT people as human, you all attack. And I do mean *human* when I say it. That’s because whenever there’s a move in a city to have an equal rights ordinance which would ban discrimination in housing and employment, it’s always evangelicals out there speaking against it. Seriously, folks, it’s a bad look when you decide you want to continue to discriminate against LGBT people in housing and employment. These are basic human requirements, and you people are saying by your opposition: “We do not think LGBT people are human.”

    It’s not about supporting wolves. It is about loving your neighbor as yourself, about loving your enemy, about blessing those who curse you. Do I need to remind you who said that? (And yes, I do struggle with those things as well. All the time.)

  5. Manny1962 May 13, 2017 at 1:27 pm #

    “you people are saying by your opposition: “We do not think LGBT people are human”

    Absolutely not true, what we are saying is: to say homosexuality is NOT a sin, and that it’s ok and “spiritual” as Hatmaker and myriads of false teachers say, is NOT ok…….to group slavery with homosexuality is being disingenuous, one sin does not cover another. You’re expounding the social justice gospel, it doesn’t save and it “loves and accepts” people straight to damnation. You’d rather have someone face God deceived? Or would you rather be unpopular and warn them? Loving a person is warning them, leaving a person to wallow in sin is un-Christlike, and it shows you put your sensibilities and your “love and acceptance” ahead of their eternal life.

    • lyn May 13, 2017 at 2:37 pm #

      Amen Manny, well said. It’s sad that so many who profess Christ side with sin and tolerance. It’s a sign of being void of the new birth, which is essential. Tolerating what God hates and not warning sinners to flee the wrath to come is the most hateful thing one could do. Yet, we have followers of Hatmaker come here and point their fingers at God’s people for doing what we are supposed to do.

      No true born again believer of Christ hates another person, regardless of their sins. We speak and uphold His truth, which causes the unregenerate to gnash their teeth, falsely accuse, and speak lies against us. They are void of the Spirit and carnal minded, which means they do not understand God’s truth. So, they lash out.

      God is still saving sinners, even at this very, very late hour. The command is this, ‘repent and believe on the Lord’. May grace and mercy save sinners caught in the deceit of women like Hatmaker, may she too be elected unto life.

      • Manny1962 May 13, 2017 at 3:55 pm #

        Amen sister, amen…… remember this, the ones that say they follow Christ, are the ones who will turn on His bride first! It’s happening, there’s so much deception and apostasy. Under the guise of tolerance…… sin, corruption and apstasy spread like gangrene, that’s why The Lord is shouting “come out from her and don’t partake of her sins.” People cannot see the separation, they wonder why church attendance has dropped in alarming numbers, ridiculous survey after survey points to a lack of marketing techniques, not reaching young people, bible message being to dour, everything under the sun is blamed for the massive exodusl, BUT the truth. God is separating the tares from the wheat. It will be such untill the culmination. God bless you Lynn, maranatha! He’s returning soon!

        • lyn May 13, 2017 at 5:57 pm #

          Amen brother…even so, Come Lord Jesus!!

  6. Manny1962 May 13, 2017 at 1:42 pm #

    Quakers and homosexuality

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_Quakerism

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