Resist

We all have to struggle with the flesh, and one of the key challenges of the Christian walk is to put down sinful desire and allow our desires for Christ to be pre-eminent. Colossians 3 identifies some of those areas and offers help:
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Later in the chapter, Paul addresses the concept of rejecting the old nature and embracing the new:
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him...

Each of us has our areas of vulnerability. We possess desires that do not honor God and the instruction of God's Word and power of the Holy Spirit enable us to resist sinful desires. We should not allow those desires to take up residence in our hearts and minds, and use the resources God has made available to us to "pull down" those strongholds, according to 2nd Corinthians 10. Our goal is not to accommodate sinful desires within us, but to walk in victory through our Savior. 

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The Bible instructs us to guard our hearts - that means placing the Word of God as a high priority in our thinking, and to reject philosophies that do not line up with Scripture. James chapter 1 issues insight into allowing temptation to get the best of us, saying:
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

There have been several flashpoints recently in the Church that have reflected the tension between Biblical fidelity and attempts to hijack the truth of Scripture.  The corruption of Biblical standards in the area of sexuality seems to be a never-ending struggle.

For one thing, we know that the Bible is very clear - and very loud - about sexual sin.  That includes the practice of homosexuality, which is condemned in no uncertain terms in Romans chapter 1.  Unfortunately, there has been a dual controversy recently involving a sermon which was preached by one high-profile pastor, and sections were copied almost word-for-word by another; both of them in leadership in the Southern Baptist denomination.  But, in the midst of the plagiarism charges, the fact is the sermon material was faulty and, as I understand it, reflected this growing acceptance of the normalization of homosexuality.  Seems the point was that the Bible "whispers" about sexual sin.

Another Southern Baptist leader generated controversy recently when he called attention to a "sermon" preached by his son, who is a professing homosexual. The Conservative Baptist Network, which was formed with the expressed purpose on calling members of the denomination to Biblical faithfulness and to counter what a significant number of people see as a "spiritual drift," strongly condemned the endorsement, saying in a statement: "Scripture is clear that homosexuality is a grave sin (1 Cor. 6:9-10, Rom. 1:24-28), and that sin separates mankind from God (Isaiah 59:2, Rom. 6:23). To present to Southern Baptists a man living in unrepentant sin as someone to whom they should listen for a sermon that is 'faithful to the gospel,'...is wholly illogical and demonstrably dangerous."  CBN, by the way, has on its Steering Council Faith Radio programmers Charles Stanley, Jeff Schreve, and Tony Perkins, as well as Christian leaders such as former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain.

An analysis of the son's message by Gabriel Hughes described the central focus of the message as: “Nothing lasts forever,” and “Jesus is always coming, again and again and again, even in this terrible, wonderful time.”  His analysis of the preacher's material:

...the return of Christ is not “a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), but it is something that is continually happening if you will just open your eyes and embrace the change. “There is another way to keep watch in times like these,” he says. “We can simply open our lives to the truth that just as the world is always ending, Christ is always coming.”

Fortunately, the father has now resigned his position at a Southern Baptist Seminary because he reportedly said he didn't want to be a distraction. 

And, over the weekend, an author who has sold a lot of books decrying what she perceives as "white patriarchy" within the Church was asked specifically on Twitter if she believed that homosexuality was a sin. A blog post provided no direct answers, but I would contend that one has to assume that she does not. 

It's quite infuriating that there is a whole front has been opened up regarding a greater tolerance of behavior that the Bible clearly calls sinful.  And, this stems from inward thoughts that have developed into strongholds.  Now, you have people out there that claim to be "same-sex attracted," and it becomes part of their ministry identity to the point where you wonder if anyone would even listen to them or read their books if they didn't embrace that philosophy.  But, SSA is not treated as a sinful root that should be addressed Biblically and crucified daily, but as some sort of disability that has to be accommodated.  We have this whole business of "Side B Christianity," in which people who struggle with these sinful desires identify with those desires, but claim that because they do not act on them, that they are Biblically faithful.   

The Bible is clear - our tolerance for sinful desires (and that will be different for each person) leads to a deterioration of our relationship with God.  Those desires should not be accommodated, but brought under the power of the cross through identification and repentance.  We are all vulnerable, we are all tempted - but there is hope in the Lord.

So, how do we respond to these vestiges of what could be called "gay Christianity?"  We reject them and refuse to believe that sin in any form possesses nuance.  Put another adjective in front of the word and you see how preposterous this tolerance becomes.  Greedy Christianity?  Is that OK?  I identify as a gossipy Christian - is that what I want to be?  God loves us as we are, certainly, but He wants to change us inwardly so that we reflect who He is.