Reformation or Revolution? A Review of God and the Gay Christian | Canon and Culture

Imagine a book with a thesis that calls into question 2,000 years of established Christian theology and biblical exegesis. It recasts basic principles of biblical anthropology and human embodiment. It also puts two millennia of faithful obedience to divine revelation on the side of injustice and ignorance. Now, Christians are accustomed to either non-Christians or liberal Christians making claims of this nature, but not from individuals supposedly nestled confidently within the evangelical camp.

This week a book making such claims is hitting bookshelves written by a young author named Matthew Vines.

Reformation or Revolution? A Review of God and the Gay Christian | Canon and Culture

God, the Gospel, and the Gay Challenge — A Response to Matthew Vines – AlbertMohler.com

Evangelical Christians in the United States now face an inevitable moment of decision. While Christians in other movements and in other nations face similar questions, the question of homosexuality now presents evangelicals in the United States with a decision that cannot be avoided. Within a very short time, we will know where everyone stands on this question. There will be no place to hide, and there will be no way to remain silent. To be silent will answer the question.

The question is whether evangelicals will remain true to the teachings of Scripture and the unbroken teaching of the Christian church for over two thousand years on the morality of same-sex acts and the institution of marriage.

The world is pressing this question upon us, but so are a number of voices from within the larger evangelical circle —  MORE:

God, the Gospel, and the Gay Challenge — A Response to Matthew Vines – AlbertMohler.com

What will be the terms of our surrender? | Denny BurkDenny Burk

Ross Douthat has penned what I believe to be the most insightful analysis of what has happened in our country over the last week. He correctly observes that the debate over gay marriage in our country is all but over. Despite some regional holdouts, majority public opinion has moved in favor of recognizing gay marriage. And it’s only a matter of time before a majority of the holdouts—primarily in the South—move that way as well. The Supreme Court’s Windsor decision last summer ensures that legal gay marriage in all fifty states is a fait accompli at this point. MORE:

What will be the terms of our surrender? | Denny BurkDenny Burk

Baptist Press -Moore: Gay marriage issue dominating - News with a Christian Perspective

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Same-sex marriage's dominance is growing rapidly even in surprising places, so much so that churches that refuse to endorse such unions soon will be considered bigoted, Russell D. Moore has told Baptist state leaders.

Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), addressed gay marriage and other cultural issues in a Feb. 12 question-and-answer session with Baptist state executive directors and editors. The joint session took place during the annual meetings of the Fellowship of State Executive Directors and the Association of State Baptist Publications in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Moore, who answered questions via Skype, was scheduled to be at the meeting but was unable to attend because weather problems resulted in cancellation of his flight.

Same-sex marriage commanded much of the attention during the session.

Baptist Press -Moore: Gay marriage issue dominating - News with a Christian Perspective

Moore to the Point – How Should You Explain the Same-Sex Marriage Debate to Your Children?

With the recent Supreme Court decisions all over the news, some Christian parents wonder how they ought to explain all of this to their small children. I’ve faced the same question as my children have asked, “What is the Supreme Court doing that’s keeping you so busy?” So how does one teach the controversy, without exposing one’s children to more than they can handle?
First of all, you should, I think, talk to your children about this. No matter how you shelter your family, keeping your children from knowing about the contested questions about marriage would take a “Truman Show”-level choreography of their lives. That’s not realistic, nor is it particularly Christian.
The Bible isn’t nearly as antiseptic as Christians sometimes pretend to be, and it certainly doesn’t shirk back from addressing all the complexities of human life. If we are discipling our children, let’s apply the Scriptures to all of life. If we refuse to talk to our children about some issue that is clearly before them, our children will assume we are unequipped to speak to it, and they’ll eventually search out a worldview that will.
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Moore to the Point – How Should You Explain the Same-Sex Marriage Debate to Your Children?

Should We Boycott Starbucks? | the Cripplegate

I was asked that question last week, as a result of some controversial statements made last month by the coffee company’s CEO in which he publicly supported gay marriage.
If I were a coffee snob, I probably would have answered that we should boycott Starbucks because they burn their beans. But I’m not a coffee snob. And I knew that wasn’t really the heart behind the question.
My actual response went something like this:

Should We Boycott Starbucks? | the Cripplegate

Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: Homosexuality & humanity - News with a Christian Perspective

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- One of the most common ideas on offer in the cultural discussion of homosexuality is this: "humanity." As in something like, "Senator Rob Portman now affirms same-sex marriage because he has seen the humanity of his son." MORE -
Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: Homosexuality & humanity - News with a Christian Perspective

Frequently Asked Questions on R-74

Why should I vote to "Reject" R-74?

Same-sex couples ALREADY enjoy all the same rights and benefits as married couples in Washington under the domestic partnerships, “Everything But Marriage,” law from 2009. R-74 is an attempt to redefine marriage and remove the interests of children from the purpose of our marriage laws. We believe that children deserve the best opportunity to be raised by a mom and a dad, and that marriage is our best (and only) institution to encourage that result. Our opponents believe that marriage exists only to satisfy the demands of adults and that children have nothing to do with it. Furthermore, when marriage is redefined there are profound legal consequences to anyone—licensed practitioners, parents, children, and clergy—if they disagree. With over 247,000 signatures of Washington voters asking to bring the issue before the people, it is clear that Washingtonians want to preserve marriage from these activists who seek to radically redefine the institution of marriage.

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Frank Beckwith on Pres. Obama and The Golden Rule

(by Denny Burk)

Frank Beckwith has a short piece on President Obama’s facile application of the Golden Rule to same-sex marriage. Here’s the bottom line:

The Golden Rule is not about merely protecting your neighbor’s preferences, but rather, advancing your neighbor’s good…

Although the president is mistaken about the Golden Rule, it would be interesting to see to what extent he is willing to apply his version of it more generously, to really “treat others the way you would want to be treated.”   MORE

Pansies, Pearls and Pigs

by Barnabas Piper (World Magazine)
Late last month, nationally syndicated columnist and noted gay-rights activist Dan Savage made headlines for his abrasive (abusive?) anti-Bible comments at a high school journalism seminar. He encouraged students to “ignore the [expletive] in the bible about gay people” just like they do about virginity, masturbation, and a few other subjects. Then when offended students began leaving he called it a “pansy [expletive]” reaction.

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Marriage Facts on its Redefinition

(Harvard Journal of Law of Public Policy)

Do constitutional norms, particularly of equality and liberty, require the redefinition of marriage from the union of a man and a woman to the union of any two persons? In the present judicial contest over this issue, the real dispute is not over principles of law but about the facts of marriage. This Article identifies the marriage facts presented by those on each side of the debate and articulates each side’s responses to the other’s factual position. A critical examination of the two accounts reveals that the factual description of marriage advanced by proponents of man-woman marriage is more accurate.  The Article then analyzes the widely held assumption that judicial selection of the standard of review—rational basis, heightened (but not strict) scrutiny, or strict scrutiny—determines the outcome in cases addressing the constitutionality of traditional marriage laws.  That analysis concludes that the choice of marriage facts, not the standard of review, is ultimately dispositive. 

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Why Homosexuality IS Different

(Mike Goeke) MIDLAND, Texas (BP) -- For years, those of us doing ministry in the area of unwanted same-sex attraction and outreach to the gay community have worked diligently to help the church see that homosexual behavior is no different than any sin.

For those of us who struggled with same-sex attraction, the church's seeming placement of homosexuality at the top of some created "sin hierarchy" was frustrating and hurtful to us. And we worried that as long as the church treated homosexual behavior as the worst of all sins, people would continue to fear the church instead of finding hope in the church.  MORE...
  

Some of the Candidates on Same-Sex Marriage

 (Baptist Press)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (BP) -- Redefining marriage to include gay couples has negative consequences that rarely are discussed in the news media, Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney say.

The two men made the comments during an ABC News/Yahoo GOP debate Saturday (Jan. 7) in New Hampshire leading up to the state's first-in-the-nation primary. Gingrich, Romney, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman all were asked their opinions either on gay "marriage" or civil unions, with most of the questions centered on what they would say to the gay person who wants to be "married."

After several minutes of watching the back-and-forth between the ABC News moderators and the candidates, Gingrich pushed back. ...  MORE...

What is a Gay Christian?

 (Denny Burk)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- I recently read of an interview with a "gay Christian," and at once I was struck again by the use of this peculiar phrase. For some people, this term will appear immediately to be an oxymoron. For others, it represents a view of Christian morality that has moved beyond the heterosexual norm of Scripture to embrace all manner of sexual expressions. But what does this phrase really mean? When you hear it spoken or read it in print, what do people mean by it? And is it a helpful term for Christians to use?

We can observe at least two definitions of the phrase gay Christian -- the descriptive and the culturally normative:...MORE....

Evangelicals and the Gay Moral Revolution

(Albert Mohler)  "The Christian church has faced no shortage of challenges in its 2,000-year history. But now it’s facing a challenge that is shaking its foundations: homosexuality.

To many onlookers, this seems strange or even tragic. Why can’t Christians just join the revolution?
And make no mistake, it is a moral revolution. As philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah of Princeton University demonstrated in his recent book, “The Honor Code,” moral revolutions generally happen over a long period of time. But this is hardly the case with the shift we’ve witnessed on the question of homosexuality.:The Christian church has faced no shortage of challenges in its 2,000-year history. But now it’s facing a challenge that is shaking its foundations: homosexuality.
To many onlookers, this seems strange or even tragic. Why can’t Christians just join the revolution?
And make no mistake, it is a moral revolution. As philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah of Princeton University demonstrated in his recent book, “The Honor Code,” moral revolutions generally happen over a long period of time. But this is hardly the case with the shift we’ve witnessed on the question of homosexuality...."    MORE....

Unrealistic Expectations: Gay “Marriage” and Fidelity

by: (Chuck Colson)

"No doubt you’ve heard friends -- even Christian friends -- and you hear them say, “Well, why shouldn’t gays be able to marry like anyone else? What will it hurt? It won’t affect marriage, and it will help them build stable families.”
Certainly that’s the line of thinking that won the day in New York, which just legalized so-called gay marriage.
But nothing could be further from the truth, as illustrated by a recent New York Times article entitled “Married, With Infidelities.” The writer, Mark Oppenheimer, asked whether “we make unrealistic demands” on marriage. The “unrealistic demands” he's talking about are monogamy..."  MORE:

NY Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

The Empire State’s Moral Revolution: New York Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage (Al Mohler)

The legal, social, moral, and political maps of America were redefined last Friday night as the New York State Senate voted 33-29 to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The State Assembly had already approved the measure, leaving the Republican-controlled Senate the last battleground on the marriage issue. Shortly after the Senate approved the measure, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law. It will take effect in July, thirty days after the Governor’s signature was affixed.

It will be difficult to exaggerate the impact of New York’s move to legalize same-sex marriage. The statistics tell part of the story. New York State becomes the sixth state to recognize same-sex marriage, but its population is greater than that of the other five combined. When same-sex marriage is legal in New York next month, fully one in every nine Americans will live in a state or jurisdiction where same-sex marriage is legal.  MORE...

Gay Marriage

Is Gay Marriage Inevitable? (Maggie Gallagher) "WASHINGTON (BP)--When it comes to the battle for marriage, the question on many people's mind is: Can we win? The future is unknown. But let me tell you the present: This spring, we fought and won the battle against gay marriage in two of the deepest-blue states in the nation, Rhode Island and Maryland. I believe we are about to win, again, in New York. In each case we were told it was a done deal; gay marriage would be impossible to stop. It wasn't...."

Obessed?

Are Christians Obsessed with Gays & Abortion? (Baptist Press)

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (BP)--"I'm a card-carrying member of the professional religious right. No, that's an understatement. To simply call me a "member" would profoundly understate my antagonistic role in the culture wars. Fans of comic book movies may remember a scene in "X2," the sequel to "X-Men," when Pyro tells a frightened police officer: "You know all those dangerous mutants you hear about in the news? Well I'm the worst one!" and then proceeds to wreak fiery havoc on an entire neighborhood.
I am that havoc-wreaking mutant (in a peaceful sense). I sue governments and individuals who deprive Christians of their constitutional rights. I'm the guy you will see on the "O'Reilly Factor" or hear on conservative talk radio decrying the abortion lobby, opposing jihadist Islam, or fighting to end the leftist ideological monoculture on campus. To the secular and religious left, I am the equivalent of a Sith Lord (or at least a particularly nasty apprentice)...."

On Gay Rights, Keep Fighting or Adapt? (USA Today)

"You get the sense, observing the shifting cultural landscape, that we've reached a point on gay rights that is similar to that moment in a football game, or an election, or a relationship, when you know it's over even though it's not over.
It appears increasingly obvious that social acceptance of gay men and lesbians and insistence on their equal rights are inexorable. If the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" weren't enough to signal the turning point, or the classification of several gay-resisting Christian right organizations as "hate groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, there came news that Exodus International ..."