One of the besetting difficulties surrounding discussions of sexuality is terminology. Many of us are simply not on the same page when it comes to the meaning of the terms we use to frame the discussion. Also, many of the terms we use are loaded with baggage from secular theory that does more to confuse than to illuminate. I’ve been thinking recently about one of these terms and how its current usage does indeed confuse rather than clarify. That term is attraction. Many people who write about sexuality tend to use “attraction” and “desire” as synonyms. Thus to say that someone experiences “same-sex attraction” is just another way of saying…
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Supreme Court vacates lower court’s verdict against florist
Good news about Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman, who was sued by the Attorney General of Washington State for refusing to create floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding. Here’s the report from the Alliance Defending Freedom:
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Are Southern Baptists turning into feminists?
Margaret Bendroth has a provocative op-ed in the New York Times today titled “Could Southern Baptists Actually Become Feminists?” In short, she is reflecting on recent events in SBC life and what they might mean for Southern Baptists going forward. She focuses on what happened at the SBC annual meeting last week with the passage of a resolution on abuse and the election of J. D. Greear to the presidency of the SBC. Her observations lead her to wonder aloud whether the SBC might be moving in a feminist direction. I think the answer to that questions is a resounding “no,” especially based on what I observed at the meeting…
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If same-sex attraction is sinful, then what?
Recently, there has been much debate about sexuality and human identity. A great deal of it has been related to the upcoming “Revoice” conference in St. Louis. That controversy is ongoing. As I have mentioned previously, evangelicals have not come to a consensus whether same-sex attraction is sinful and whether it is the proper basis for constructing an “identity.” Heath Lambert and I wrote a book back in 2015 arguing that SSA is sinful as it is a part of our fallen Adamic nature (see Transforming Homosexuality, P&R 2015). Our argument goes against some celibate gay identity proponents who argue that SSA may be a part of the brokenness of…
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The SBC’s Resolution on Abuse
Andrew Walker, Katie McCoy, and I co-authored a resolution “On Abuse” that was approved overwhelmingly by the Southern Baptist Convention yesterday. Much of the language that we submitted was based on CBMW’s statement on abuse, which was published last March. The final text of the resolution is below. Many thanks to the SBC’s resolutions committee for reporting this out to messengers for a vote. Read below: ON ABUSE WHEREAS, God has created every person—male and female—in His own image and with equal value and dignity (Genesis 1:26–27); and WHEREAS, God abhors violence against the weak and defenseless and calls His people to defend the hurt and oppressed (Psalm 82:4), to…
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The End of BibleWorks
If you walk into my study at any given time of the day, you will find that there is one program that is almost always open on my computer—BibleWorks. I use this software not only in my private study but also in nearly all of my college courses. For me, losing this software would be like losing a limb. That is why I was so sad to read the news today that BibleWorks has decided to cease operations as a provider of Bible software tools. When I say sad, I mean really grieved. I have used this tool so much and for so long, I can hardly believe that it…
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What about the Revoice conference?
I’ve had a number of readers ask me about my thoughts on the upcoming Revoice conference. For those of you who haven’t heard, this is a conference featuring celibate gay identity proponents such as Wesley Hill and Gregory Coles. For those asking, I have heard about the conference, but I haven’t written about it for two reasons: 1. I’ve already written extensively about the celibate gay identity movement. For starters, you can check-out the book that Heath Lambert and I co-authored Transforming Homosexuality in which we argue that same-sex attraction and sexual orientation are morally implicated in scripture. I make a similar case in an article I wrote for The…
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What was lacking in Bishop Michael Curry’s royal wedding sermon
After the royal wedding this past weekend, there was a lot of celebratory discussion about Bishop Michael Curry, who delivered the sermon during the ceremony. It was a sermon on the love of God, and Bishop Curry even referred to Christ as the exemplar of this kind of love. Nevertheless, there are many bible-believing Christians who are less than enthusiastic about this message. I am one of them, and here’s why. The way I see it, there were at least two major problems with Bishop Curry’s address.
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A word about criticism from anonymous sources
Over the weekend, Ivan Mesa posted a quotation from Charles Spurgeon that seems particularly apt in our social media age: Charles Spurgeon: “Never write what you dare not sign. An anonymous letter-writer is a sort of assassin, who wears a mask, and stabs in the dark. Such a man is a fiend with a pen. If discovered, the wretch will be steeped in the blackest infamy.” Truer in the social media age. — Ivan Mesa (@IvanTable) May 12, 2018 Truer words have never been spoken. I can remember as a young man hearing my pastor talk about what he does with anonymous letters. He ignores them. And now I get…
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Do LGBT people have to choose between following Christ and sexual immorality?
Julie Rogers is a former evangelical who embraced a lesbian identity while she worked in the chaplain’s office at Wheaton College a few years ago. Since then, she has become an outspoken advocate for the “Christian” gay identity movement. On Saturday, she penned an op-ed for The New York Times that caught my attention. It is worth noting because it gets at the heart of the conflict unfolding among evangelicals about LGBT identities and lifestyles. Rogers writes,