Christianity,  Culture

Albert Mohler on Homosexuality in WSJ

Albert Mohler has an opinion piece in tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal about the moral revolution we have been witnessing concerning homosexuality. Speaking of evangelicals, he writes,

We cannot accept the seductive arguments that the liberal churches so readily adopt. The fact that same-sex marriage is a now a legal reality in several states means that we must further stipulate that we are bound by scripture to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman—and nothing else.

We do so knowing that most Americans once shared the same moral assumptions, but that a new world is coming fast. We do not have to read the polls and surveys; all we need to do is to talk to our neighbors…

It is now abundantly clear that evangelicals have failed in so many ways to meet this challenge. We have often spoken about homosexuality in ways that are crude and simplistic. We have failed to take account of how tenaciously sexuality comes to define us as human beings. We have failed to see the challenge of homosexuality as a Gospel issue. We are the ones, after all, who are supposed to know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only remedy for sin, starting with our own.

We have demonstrated our own form of homophobia—not in the way that activists have used that word, but in the sense that we have been afraid to face this issue where it is most difficult . . . face to face.

My hope is that evangelicals are ready now to take on this challenge in a new and more faithful way. We really have no choice, for we are talking about our own brothers and sisters, our own friends and neighbors, or maybe the young person in the next pew.

There is no escaping the fact that we are living in the midst of a moral revolution. And yet, it is not the world around us that is being tested, so much as the believing church. We are about to find out just how much we believe the Gospel we so eagerly preach.

Read the rest here.

3 Comments

  • BaptistJim47

    In this most welcome op-ed piece Dr. Mohler states: “Our greatest fear is not that homosexuality will be normalized and accepted, but that homosexuals will not come to know of their own need for Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.”

    I almost cried when I read those words because I wish this was true of my brethren. I am a conservative Southern Baptist, a visible lay leader in my church. I am married, a father, and grandfather. For all outward appearances I am a “good and respected Christian.” Yet I have the disorder of which Dr. Mohler speaks, and I have fought this disorder all of my life. The Word is true and must always remain so for those of us who cherish it as transcendent, transformative, and objective Truth that gives us true life in and with God. I understand the full import and power of the Word as it speaks to my disorder. I understand Sin because I have seen its awful face. I know the wonder, hope, power, and the unalterable brutality of Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”.

    I have no choice in what I feel. It is a compulsive and convulsive sensuality hovering at the core of my being that incessantly demands my obedience in ways that are difficult to describe. There are days I would just like to say that I was born this way (it really feels like it) and stop fighting it. However, through the ministry of the Word, God’s steadfast love, and the Holy Spirit’s power, I know my disorder is of nurture. As I have struggled, God has never wavered in His love for me, Jesus has never spoken harshly to me, and the Holy Spirit gives me courage beyond measure to make this the fight for my life and gives me words I cannot even express. God is real, holy, and without His Word and His Love, I would simply surrender because, if you want to know the truth, the world and the so-called “Welcoming Church” offers me peace while God can only offer me war. The paradox my brethren find so hard to understand is that it is only through this war that I can, and do, possess the true peace that passes understanding.

    My point: I do pray my brethren listen to Dr. Mohler. I know what my brethren say, I know how we say it, and I know the anger and bitterness that attends this discussion within my community of believers. They are angry, hurt and resentful of the changes in the world and they do battle instead of love. They really do try to hate the sin and love the sinner but they fail to see that only God can love and hate at the same time. The best we can do is merely temper our hate with a bit of love. So no matter how my brethren seem to say it within our communities (and to those who listen on the outside), it always sounds like hate. I have never, in all of my long years in community with my brothers and sisters in Christ, whom I love dearly, heard someone speak gently of people disordered like me. So I hide what is within and I turn my face toward God. God always smiles back, and I know it is time, once again, to prepare myself for battle, and I look to the exemplar of my faith, Jesus, for the courage to face what will come in my struggle, and sometimes just for the slim thread of hope to stay alive because there are days I just want to quit and lay my life down.

    There is a power in the gospel I think we have forgotten in our righteous assurance of salvation and heaven. We forget that Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous and faithful. I cannot tell you how much lighter my burden would be if I could just come to church and be among people who love me in Christ while knowing of my struggle. People who could look at me in the kind of love I only get from God (and, by the way, my extraordinary wife who loves like Jesus). A safe place to fight, an accepting place to learn of the Word, a secure place of accountability and love, and a community of faith where I could carry all of my integrity with me as I worship would be a blessing beyond measure.

    So, I do exhort my brethren to listen well to Dr. Mohler. He is one of those rare instances where holiness, humility, courage, and prophetic insight have been given to a people who cannot seem to find a way to simply love as Jesus loved. The evidence for this is simple: for obvious reasons, and I wish it were not so, I write under a pseudonym. With God’s help, there will come the blessed day when I can put my name down in open testimony to God and His Love and walk openly among my brethren.

  • Diane Woerner

    BaptistJim47 wrote:

    “God is real, holy, and without His Word and His Love, I would simply surrender because, if you want to know the truth, the world and the so-called ‘Welcoming Church’ offers me peace while God can only offer me war. The paradox my brethren find so hard to understand is that it is only through this war that I can, and do, possess the true peace that passes understanding. . . .I have never, in all of my long years in community with my brothers and sisters in Christ, whom I love dearly, heard someone speak gently of people disordered like me.”

    Thank you for your poignant and profound testimony. I would like to be at least one person who has attempted to “speak gently” to you. I am deeply grieved by the strong shift in our culture which not only sanctifies what is ultimately a torment, but which also deliberately endeavors to fan into an eventually unquenchable fire those small confused sparks of sexuality that are felt by most adolescents.

    I have written out my thoughts in the context of a letter to young Christians. If you are willing to read it, it’s at http://www.dyscletter.com (scroll down to Question 19).

    God bless you,

    Diane

  • Jason

    You’re on my prayer list, Jim.

    Your dependence and testimony give glory to God. Among many other things, I will pray that you find a place for you, one in which people will bear up with you, knowing entirely your struggles, and loving you in the midst and through them.

    Thanks so much for sharing!!!!

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