[rhema]

While the mayors of three large cities and a few University administrators were publicly threatening to ban Chick-fil-A, and while the discussion was the hot news topic of the week, there were many ministers who said little or nothing at all. Church members from across the country are puzzled as to why. When a Christian brother is beaten up by the world and left wounded on the side of the road why would church leaders just pass by on the other side and not get involved?

[rhema]

So while the world wages war against Biblical marriage, many Church leaders hunker down in foxholes of silence hoping the fighting will subside and church-life will get back to normal. But like it or not, we are involved in an intense spiritual battle. Martin Luther once said, “If I be valiant all along the battle line except at the point where Satan is pressing his attack, I am not valiant for Christ.”

[fwdude]

Great article. It hits all the main, but painful, points. People need to hear this.

[elcid1970]

While the faggies are assaulting priests & preachers on the street, I’ll pass on evangelizing them.

They’re already the smartest & most sophisticated people in the world so it can’t be said they’ve never heard of the message of salvation through Christ.

[scottjewell]

Yes, there really is no excuse for silence or being lukewarm on this issue. The whole thing becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy: If churches can’t take a firm stand on this, that really sends a message to the younger generation.

[jboot]

What the silence on homosex is about is nickles and noses. The churches remain filled with nominal Christians who come out to hear the music and smell the incense but don't want the truth. If the church takes a stand against the homo zeitgeist and preaches true to the scriptures, people will leave. Even in small churches, many families are grappling with a son, daughter or grandchild who is either "experimenting" or is openly living the pervert lifestyle. In my experience if a family is given the choice between fidelity to God or affirming their child's sexual preference they will almost always choose the child. If the church afterward has the terminity to preach on sexuality they will take it as a personal attack and leave, often taking other families with them. So churches stay quiet.

I don't see this situation getting better, but the churches will HAVE to decide soon, and by extension so will we. I will not attend any church that performs SSM. If this means that I have to worship in secret in a basement or a forest clearing, so be it.

[Alex Murphy]

Martin Luther once said, “If I be valiant all along the battle line except at the point where Satan is pressing his attack, I am not valiant for Christ.”

Thanks for posting this, rhema!

[ejonesie22]

Easy answer to this. Modern Churches in America have been weakened by a clergy trained by more liberal instructors. It has cascaded into the general body where “Judge not” and such are now applied to those outside the faith and “I am the way the truth and the life” is excluding people outside the faith and that is just mean, all paths are equally valid you know...

And heaven forbid we defend the faith, that could hurt someones feelings...

[redgolum]

There is another reason lightly touched on in the article. Most churches, no matter what the denomination, don’t want to fight about sexual morals.

Divorce, fornication, and such are so common that a pastor/priest making a point about it will be driven from the pulpit. I have seen it.

If the pastor won’t tell the young people to be chaste, and preach against divorce, because it is to “painful and hateful”, how can he stand up to homosexual practices? Most young people don’t see the difference.

If you cede the field for the sexual practices for the rest of the congregation, you come off as very odd targeting just one group.

[Responsibility2nd]

RE: The blog that was mentioned in this article...

 

READ IT. Read it now. Its very good...

 

How to win a culture war and lose a generation

488 Comments

 

When asked by The Barna Group what words or phrases best describe Christianity, the top response among Americans ages 16-29 was “antihomosexual.” For a staggering 91 percent of non-Christians, this was the first word that came to their mind when asked about the Christian faith. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers. (The next most common negative images? : “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” and “too involved in politics.”) 

In the book that documents these findings, titled unChristian, David Kinnaman writes: 

“The gay issue has become the ‘big one, the negative image most likely to be intertwined with Christianity’s reputation. It is also the dimensions that most clearly demonstrates the unchristian faith to young people today, surfacing in a spate of negative perceptions: judgmental, bigoted, sheltered, right-wingers, hypocritical, insincere, and uncaring. Outsiders say [Christian] hostility toward gays...has become virtually synonymous with the Christian faith.”

 Later research, documented in Kinnaman’s You Lost Me, reveals that one of the top reasons 59 percent of young adults with a Christian background have left the church is because they perceive the church to be too exclusive, particularly regarding their LGBT friends.  Eight million twenty-somethings have left the church, and this  is one reason why.

In my experience, all the anecdotal evidence backs up the research. 

When I speak at Christian colleges, I often take time to chat with students in the cafeteria.  When I ask them what issues are most important to them, they consistently report that they are frustrated by how the Church has treated their gay and lesbian friends.  Some of these students would say they most identify with what groups like the Gay Christian Network term “Side A” (they believe homosexual relationships have the same value as heterosexual relations in the sight of God). Others better identify with “Side B” (they believe only male/female relationship in marriage is God’s intent for sexuality).  But every single student I have spoken with believes that the Church has mishandled its response to homosexuality.

Most have close gay and lesbian friends. 

Most feel that the Church’s response to homosexuality is partly responsible for high rates of depression and suicide among their gay and lesbian friends, particularly those who are gay and Christian. 

Most are highly suspicious of “ex-gay” ministries that encourage men and women with same-sex attractions to marry members of the opposite sex in spite of their feelings. 

Most feel that the church is complicit, at least at some level, in anti-gay bullying.

And most...I daresay all...have expressed to me passionate opposition to legislative action against gays and lesbians. 

“When evangelicals turn their anti-gay sentiments into a political campaign,” one college senior on her way to graduate school told me, “all it does is confirm to my gay friends that they will never be welcome in the church. It makes them bitter, and it makes me mad too.  This is why I never refer to myself as an evangelical. Ugh. I’m embarrassed to be part of that group.”

I can relate. 

When Tennessee added an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage (even though it was already illegal in the state), members of my church at the time put signs in the yard declaring support for the initiative. From my perspective, the message this sent to the entire community was simple: EVERYONE BUT GAYS WELCOME. 

Dan and I left the church soon afterwards. 

Which brings me to North Carolina and Amendment One. 

Despite the fact that the North Carolina law already holds that marriage in the eyes of state is only between a man and a woman, an amendment was put on the ballot to permanently ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution. The initiative doesn’t appear to change anything on a practical level, (though some are saying it may have unintended negative consequences on heterosexual relationships), but seems to serve primarily as an ideological statement

....an expensive, destructive, and impractical ideological statement. 

Conservatives in the state—who you would think would be more opposed to tampering with constitutions—supported the amendment, and last night it passed. Religious leaders led the charge in support of the amendment, with 93-year-old  Billy Graham taking out multiple ads in publications across the state supporting the measure. 

As I watched my Facebook and Twitter feeds last night, the reaction among my friends fell into an imperfect but highly predictable pattern. Christians over 40 were celebrating. Christians under 40 were mourning.  Reading through the comments, the same thought kept returning to my mind as occurred to me when I first saw that Billy Graham ad: You’re losing us. 

I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again...(though I’m starting to think that no one is listening): 

My generation is tired of the culture wars. 

We are tired of fighting, tired of vain efforts to advance the Kingdom through politics and power, tired of drawing lines in the sand, tired of being known for what we are against, not what we are for.

And when it comes to homosexuality, we no longer think in the black-and-white categories of the generations before ours. We know too many wonderful people from the LGBT community to consider homosexuality a mere “issue.” These are people, and they are our friends. When they tell us that something hurts them, we listen. And Amendment One hurts like hell. 

Regardless of whether you identify most with Side A or Side B, (or with one of the many variations within those two broad categories), it should be clear that amendments like these needlessly offend gays and lesbians, damage the reputation of Christians, and further alienate young adults—both Christians and non-Christian—from the Church.

So my question for those evangelicals leading the charge in the culture wars is this: Is it worth it? 

Is a political “victory” really worth losing millions more young people to cynicism regarding the Church?

Is a political “victory” worth further alienating people who identify as LGBT?

Is a political “victory” worth perpetuating the idea that evangelical Christians are at war with gays and lesbians?

And is a political “victory” worth drowning out that quiet but persistent internal voice that asks—what if we get this wrong?

Too many Christian leaders seem to think the answer to that question is “yes,” and it's costing them.  

Because young Christians are ready for peace.

We are ready to lay down our arms. 

We are ready to stop waging war and start washing feet.  

And if we cannot find that sort of peace within the Church, I fear we will look for it elsewhere.

[TropicanaRose]

Thank you for posting this. I was shocked to find a (younger) member of my own conservative church condemning the Chik Fil A appreciation day, & these were some of her reasons. Great rebuttals here.

[Wings-n-Wind]

For the blogger/author...

Who are you to judge another man's servant?

Every pastor I know was passionately engaged with their own flock with these issues and events; cooperating with colleagues across denominational lines, and encouraging the CFA Support Day at every turn.

Several local ministers who know Dan Cathy personally called him and prayed with him... and continued to pray after the phone conversation.

Priests, rectors, and ministers serve God in the pulpits and lead prayer groups; they do not stage press conferences--that is not their calling, and the press will not inquire.

These leaders fight this very spiritual war on their knees--according to the Word, and with many tears and pleadings.... in a place where only God sees...

You should reconsider your criticism.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Actually many churches brought buses full of people to CFA on Aug. 1.

Sadly my own Catholic Church did choose to remain in a neutral corner.

[GOPJ]

While the mayors of three large cities and a few University administrators were publicly threatening to ban Chick-fil-A, and while the discussion was the hot news topic of the week, there were many ministers who said little or nothing at all.

Liberal ministers have 'grown'.

Grown past God. Grown past the Bible. THEY are the new standard - THEY have replaced God's wisdom with THEIR wisdom.

Liberalism is the new religion... What is God compared to THEM? God calls for marriage to be between one man and one woman. Liberal minister laugh - God's such an idiot. Marriage should be between ANY and all groups that want their union sanction - Two women? sure. Six men and one woman? Why not? One woman and 500 potential 'immigrants'... hey, if it works for them... The only thing thing the 'Church of Liberal Elites' preaches is that we must accept all things liberal...

[subterfuge]

I am happy to say our pastor in central Florida mentioned the assault on the constitution and freedom the week of the CFA thing. Then at the end of the sermon he said “every one of you should be at the chick Fil-A Wednesday night.” We were already planning to go and we did.

[1010RD]

The purpose of hate crimes is to silence Christian and other opposition to Leftist ideas. They serve no other purpose.