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Evangelical College Defends Decision to Allow Homosexual Student Group on Campus
Christiannews.net ^ | 5/20/15 | Garrett Haley

Posted on 06/02/2015 10:18:34 AM PDT by Faith Presses On

WHEATON, Ill. – A prominent evangelical college is defending its decision to allow the formation of homosexual student group on campus.

Wheaton College is a private evangelical school located near Chicago. Established in 1860, the school enrolls approximately 3,000 students and operates under the motto “For Christ and His Kingdom.”

(snip)

The first group, “OneWheaton,” seeks to “affirm LGBTQ individuals and the relationships that are a natural expression of their identity,” according to the group’s website. Members of OneWheaton maintain that same-sex sexual attraction is to be celebrated. In a letter distributed across the Wheaton campus in 2011, the organization encouraged students with same-sex attractions to emerge “from the closet” and embrace their homosexuality.

“We do not believe there is anything wrong with being gay,” the group said in a media release.

(Excerpt) Read more at christiannews.net ...


TOPICS: Current Events; General Discusssion; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: wheaton
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There are quite a few twists to the story so I recommend reading the whole article at the link.
1 posted on 06/02/2015 10:18:34 AM PDT by Faith Presses On
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To: Faith Presses On

Sad


2 posted on 06/02/2015 10:23:04 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: Faith Presses On

“....LGBTQ individuals and the relationships that are a natural expression of their identity..”

It’s precisely the opposite...

their “habit” is to force the relationship to define the individual.

Wheaton has lost its moral compass.


3 posted on 06/02/2015 10:23:08 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: Faith Presses On
Chelsen told Christian News Network that Wheaton administrators “see no conflict” between the school’s Christian values and the homosexual community group.

So Wheaton has forgotten the story of Sodom and Gamorrah?

4 posted on 06/02/2015 10:24:55 AM PDT by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: grumpygresh

ping


5 posted on 06/02/2015 10:25:07 AM PDT by xzins (Donate to the Freep-a-Thon or lose your ONLY voice. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Faith Presses On

I will not judge if they have truly sought the Lord’s guidance on this matter, but mainline churches are littered with destruction time and time again after homosexuals entered the gates pleading for love, compassion and understanding only to see these very same homosexuals rise in the ranks of leadership with a few short years and, like cancer, eat their host from the inside out.

Wheaton is surely playing with fire here. I pray them Godspeed, but I strongly believe that in a few short years this great college will too soon be lost to “just a little bit of leaven”.


6 posted on 06/02/2015 10:26:44 AM PDT by Obadiah (This is Bravo-6, we have Zips in the wire! I repeat, Zips in the wire.)
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To: Faith Presses On

It seems to me that the big Christian Churches have pretty much been taken over by homosexuals.


7 posted on 06/02/2015 10:26:55 AM PDT by expat2
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To: Faith Presses On

Not reading it. What rationale can be used for a college proclaiming to follow the teachings of Christ to allow a group based on sinful practice?

Do they have the Adulterers Club? How about the Liars Club?


8 posted on 06/02/2015 10:28:09 AM PDT by Bryan24 (When in doubt, move to the right..........)
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To: Faith Presses On

“We do not believe there is anything wrong with being gay” ~ Wheaton College

“Guess again...” ~ God


9 posted on 06/02/2015 10:28:15 AM PDT by Old Sarge (Its the Sixties all over again, but with crappy music...)
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To: Faith Presses On
Evangelical College Defends Decision to Allow Homosexual Student Group on Campus

No it isn't. There is no defense for this. They are making excuses which they think will sound acceptable to secularists.

10 posted on 06/02/2015 10:31:36 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: Faith Presses On

The path to collapse always begins with a first step.

There was a first step for Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians. The first step is the hardest. The following steps become increasingly easier.

The ending is the same. The institution is destroyed.

Why do people go down such a path? Because they reject the truth of the Bible, and believe that their wisdom is superior to that of God’s.

Wheaton has taken its first step. How sad.


11 posted on 06/02/2015 10:32:48 AM PDT by Oak Grove (H)
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To: Faith Presses On

They are trying to make an impossible compromise. Sin is sin in the inner man. Homosexuality is no exception. They are trying to make it an exception and being player as fools.

I’ve noticed the old trend for lesbians to dress as men and homo men to act as women has relaxed some. It is probably a strategic move to look more normal. But they are still fundamentally saying they are sexually attracted to themselves.


12 posted on 06/02/2015 10:33:10 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: Faith Presses On
For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Jude 1:4
13 posted on 06/02/2015 10:33:27 AM PDT by Mechanicos (Nothing's so small it can't be blown out of proportion.)
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To: Old Sarge

Just to be fair, the quote you referenced was not made by Wheaton College. It was made by the homosexual group.

That gives me absolutely no solace as this group is insisting there is nothing wrong with homosexuality and apparently Wheaton is allowing them to make such public declarations.

Is there anything wrong with being an axe murderer? Where does repentance come in? Does not repentance include an act of contrition and a turning away from such sin?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then please explain how this represents repentance. More accurately, this appears to be the first stage in the revolution at Wheaton where the homosexuals enter the gates meekly and once their ranks have swelled with enough reinforcements they will bear their fangs and devour Wheaton piece by piece.


14 posted on 06/02/2015 10:35:18 AM PDT by Obadiah (This is Bravo-6, we have Zips in the wire! I repeat, Zips in the wire.)
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To: Faith Presses On
It appears that Hastert resigned and then they removed his name - just to be clear

Evangelical Powerhouse Wheaton College Removes Dennis Hastert’s Name From Center After Indictment
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3296044/posts

15 posted on 06/02/2015 10:35:53 AM PDT by donna (It is time for Americans to repent.)
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To: Timber Rattler

Ryken noted that “[t]he college does not have a position regarding the language that same-sex attracted Christians should use to describe their experience,” he said that students and faculty must “be clear that they do not advocate homosexual practice or find their identity in their sexuality.”

“Same-sex orientation is not good in and of itself, but is part of the brokenness of a fallen world,” he said.


Your quote is from the homersexual. Above is from the College President.


16 posted on 06/02/2015 10:37:04 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: All

I don’t usually provide an article in full, but in this case, so that what’s going at Wheaton can be looked at more fully, here it is:

WHEATON, Ill. – A prominent evangelical college is defending its decision to allow the formation of homosexual student group on campus.

Wheaton College is a private evangelical school located near Chicago. Established in 1860, the school enrolls approximately 3,000 students and operates under the motto “For Christ and His Kingdom.”

Due to the college’s Christian heritage, Wheaton’s Student Handbook requires all students to “abstain from … same-sex sexual behavior,” and the school’s Community Covenant condemns “homosexual behavior and all other sexual relations outside the bounds of marriage between a man and woman.” However, two groups of Wheaton-affiliated students and alumni have recently presented challenges to these policies.
OneWheaton encourages students to embrace their homosexuality.

The first group, “OneWheaton,” seeks to “affirm LGBTQ individuals and the relationships that are a natural expression of their identity,” according to the group’s website. Members of OneWheaton maintain that same-sex sexual attraction is to be celebrated. In a letter distributed across the Wheaton campus in 2011, the organization encouraged students with same-sex attractions to emerge “from the closet” and embrace their homosexuality.

“We do not believe there is anything wrong with being gay,” the group said in a media release.

In response to OneWheaton’s 2011 letter, Wheaton President Philip Ryken released a statement that reaffirmed the school’s position on sexuality. In the statement, Ryken also acknowledged that “the needs of LGBTQ individuals present a particular challenge for institutions like Wheaton.” The group has not requested official campus recognition from Wheaton administrators.

Refuge offers community for homosexual students

The second group, “Refuge,” was formed to provide “a biblically faithful community” for students who believe they are homosexual, according to documentation from Wheaton. Unlike OneWheaton, Refuge was approved by Wheaton administration in 2013, thus becoming a first of its kind official student group on campus.

Wheaton Provost Stanton Jones said the formation of Refuge demonstrated that the school had “evolved” on the issue of homosexuality.

“The [Wheaton] Community Covenant does not condemn homosexuality; it condemns homosexual conduct as one example of sexual immorality,” Jones said, according to a report from The Wheaton Record. “So that’s one of the fundamental ways that we have to in a sense ‘clean up our language’ and try to be rigorous in the way that we think.”

Refuge was founded by Justin Massey, an openly homosexual political science student who, according to reports, desired to also lay the groundwork for a “gay-straight alliance club” at Wheaton. Massey describes himself as a “gay Christian” and says his sexual identity is not only compatible with his faith, but “absolutely critical.”

“Regardless of our theology or political party,” Massey wrote in a column earlier this year, “let us praise God for His work and bring forward a new era of evangelicalism which embraces LGBT people as beloved children of God—worthy of inclusion and love.”

In mid-2014, about a year after Massey formed the group, Wheaton administrators reorganized Refuge from a student-led organization to a staff-led community club. Massey later told reporters that he was “absolutely angry” by the school’s decision to assume leadership of the group. Even though he was removed from his position of leadership, Massey graduated in Wheaton’s commencement ceremonies earlier this month.

Wheaton employs celibate lesbian to lead Refuge

Soon after Wheaton assumed leadership of Refuge last year, the Wheaton Chaplain’s Office hired Julie Rodgers, a “celibate gay Christian,” to lead the group as student counselor. Rodgers believes God uses her homosexuality to glorify Him.

“As God has redeemed and transformed me, he’s tapped into those gay parts of me, he’s tapped into those gay parts of me that now overflow into compassion for marginalized people and empathy for social outcasts—he’s used my gay way of being for His glory rather than making me straight,” Rodgers asserted on her personal blog last year.

On Twitter, Rodgers follows both Massey and OneWheaton. She also follows Vicky Beeching, who came out as a lesbian last year, and the Human Rights Campaign—a homosexual activist organization whose co-founder was recently jailed for sex abuse charges.

Wheaton clarifies school policies

Christian News Network contacted Wheaton to seek clarification on the school’s policy toward homosexuality. Dr. Paul Chelsen, Vice President for Student Development at Wheaton, told Christian News Network that Refuge was originally intended to be “a supportive community that holds to the biblical perspective on sexuality outlined in our Community Covenant.”

“At the end of spring semester of 2014, Refuge was reorganized from a student leadership structure to a staff leadership structure, in order to better serve the students involved,” Chelsen said. “Leadership transitions took place at that time. In contrast to student-led student clubs, Refuge is a community group under the leadership and oversight of the chaplain’s office.”

Chelsen told Christian News Network that Wheaton administrators “see no conflict” between the school’s Christian values and the homosexual community group.

“We see no conflict between our institutional standards and our attempts to support, whether individually or in groups, same-sex attracted individuals who concur with our biblically-grounded standards,” he stated.
President Ryken has spoken favorably of Rodger’s leadership of Refuge.

“The clear effect of Julie’s ministry has been to draw students in the direction of biblical faithfulness, including areas of sexuality,” he told WORLD.

However, while Ryken noted that “[t]he college does not have a position regarding the language that same-sex attracted Christians should use to describe their experience,” he said that students and faculty must “be clear that they do not advocate homosexual practice or find their identity in their sexuality.”

“Same-sex orientation is not good in and of itself, but is part of the brokenness of a fallen world,” he said.

In 2014, approximately 100 students protested outside as Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian turned pastor’s wife, shared her testimony during a Wheaton Chapel service.


17 posted on 06/02/2015 10:54:18 AM PDT by Faith Presses On ("After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations...")
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To: Obadiah
this appears to be the first stage in the revolution at Wheaton where the homosexuals enter the gates meekly and once their ranks have swelled with enough reinforcements they will bear their fangs and devour Wheaton piece by piece.


18 posted on 06/02/2015 11:10:08 AM PDT by Old Sarge (Its the Sixties all over again, but with crappy music...)
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To: Faith Presses On
“We do not believe there is anything wrong with being gay,” the group said in a media release."

Straw man. Gay is something you do not something you are.

19 posted on 06/02/2015 11:22:32 AM PDT by circlecity (')
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To: All

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

How long before the first seal is broken?


20 posted on 06/02/2015 11:35:27 AM PDT by QuisCustodiet1776 (Live free or die.)
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