Begging Your Pardon, But I Must Disagree: An Alternative Opinion to that of Adrian Warnock on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia

I really am a nobody in the larger Christian world.  Chances are I will remain as such.  Adrian Warnock however has a platform within conservative Christianity in both the United Kingdom and in the United States.  While Adrian is considered an influential voice in some sectors of Charismatic Christianity, my sphere is only this blog.  He has influence over a broad range of people, whereas my influence is very limited.  Adrian Warnock is a psychiatrist.  I'm just a working stiff.  He is an elder at his church, whereas I am just a member at mine.  And not only that, but I really do hate these internet controversies that pop up a few times each year.  Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they are just foolishness.  I think the only other time I ever commented on anything of this nature was the Strange Fire conference from a year and a half ago, which was much bigger in scope. 

So why then am I publicly disagreeing with him?  Why get involved in this controversy?  Why would I go out of my way to suggest that his recent blog posts on why Christians should support the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia as well as the plausibility problem, are not only wrong and naive, but potentially dangerous ways to think about these issues?  Why would a young thirty-something nobody do such a thing?  Of course part of it is the fact that the Day which we are told we should support is not just about fighting against discrimination and violence (although we absolutely should oppose civil discrimination and violence).  It is, as the website says, "A worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities!"  This is clearly beyond what any Christian can do.  First Corinthians 10 tells us that:

¹⁸ Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? ¹⁹ What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? ²⁰ Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. ²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

(1 Corinthians 10:18-22 NKJV)

Most of these internet blowups don't concern me so I stay away.  It's not my fight.  I believe this one is.  As I stated above, Adrian Warnock is an influential voice in the broad Charismatic Calvinist stream.  While I am not so endowed with such influence, I am a constituent member of that stream; and so for the honor of the Church and that of the Charismatic Calvinist movement, I feel like I should make my dissenting opinion known.

I think I can also speak to this as someone who is aware of the need to be compassionate and sensitive to the emotions that many people feel who experience same-sex attraction.  I can count some people that I know personally who do.  Some of them are practicing homosexuals, and some are Christians who still battle these attractions daily.  Additionally, anyone who knows me well knows of my generally favorable stance toward the late Lonnie Frisbee, the hippie evangelist who ministered during the days of the Jesus Movement and who sadly died of complications resulting from AIDS in 1993.

One last word of introduction.  In my mind, this really isn't ultimately about the homosexual movement or the related issues of same-sex attraction within Evangelicalism.  What I hope to challenge are what I perceive to be some of the underlying assumptions in Adrian's article.  To borrow terminology from the Protestant Reformation, the homosexual/transgender issue is the formal cause, but the material cause is much deeper.  The material cause is the manifold ways Evangelicals think that if only the Church would just get its act together and support in some prophetic sense the same issues the larger culture does, the secular Western culture would finally take notice and begin to listen to what we have to say.  As I hope to demonstrate, this attitude is wrong and I believe deadly and is found in a host of other issues not sexual in nature.  However, I should say up front that it is not my intention to issue a point-by-point rebuttal.  There are some good things in his two blog posts.  Again, my only concern is that the underlying assumptions are off and have lead and will lead to very dangerous places spiritually.

I really don't know where this idea came from that the Church is somehow a sad, sorry bunch of mediocrities that are completely out of touch with the real world.  Now I am sure that may be true somewhere, but I have rarely seen it.  Much current evangelical thinking seems to lean to this idea that if we all could only get our heads out of our proverbial rear ends, we could somehow really begin to affect the world for Christ.  But I believe this misses the mark substantially.  That is just not what our Lord Jesus said would happen.  The truth of the matter is, no matter how lovingly we preach, no matter how accepting we biblically can be, and no matter how much patience and compassion we show, the world will simply hate us: 

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake

(Matthew 24:9 NKJV)

I recognize that this passage likely had most direct relevance in the period just before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but the principle remains.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.

(John 15:18-21 NKJV)

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ¹² having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

(1 Peter 2:11,12 NKJV)

This passage is particularly relevant since Peter tells us that even despite our good conduct, those in the world will speak against us a evildoers.  But we still do good works, so that God will ultimately be glorified on the day of visitation, which I take to be the Day of Judgment.  A similar statement from Peter later in his first epistle makes much the same point:

  ³ For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. ⁴ In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. ⁵ They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

(1 Peter 4:3-5 NKJV)

Hopefully this small section makes the point well.  I am convinced that even if the world wasn't convinced that the Church hated LGBT people, they would just find some other reason to hate us.  If they don't hate us for this, they will hate us for that, or at the very least consider as being uncool and archaic.  This would be true even if we began to champion all the liberal social causes. 

A second area of concern is Adrian's follow up article, which deals with what he calls the "plausibility problem."  Adrian says this in this article:

"What Conservative Evangelical Christians believe the Bible says no longer seems plausible to outsiders.  This is not just because of what Christians say, but also because of how it is said, and what church communities display to the world."

Now it very well may be true that the presentation is off.  I am sure there are many places where that is indeed the case.  There is nothing I can do about that.  What concerns me though is that first sentence, that what evangelical Christians say is no longer plausible to the world.  To be truthful, I can barely contain my incredulousness!  I do not mean any disrespect, however I wonder when plausibility became a criterion for truth.  Since when did it matter what the world thought about how "plausible" our message was?  How "plausible" is it that an obscure Jewish carpenter, albeit one with supernatural powers, can die for the sins of the world (by crucifixion no less) and rise physically from the dead, fulfilling centuries of prophetic predictions?  How "plausible" was it to the ancient, idol-worshipping pagans that surrounded Israel that there is only one God, who is invisible?  How could it be "plausible" in a Europe used to centuries of sacraments, indulgences, pilgrimages, monasteries, popes and archbishops that justification is by faith alone?  Presbyterian Carl Trueman, a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary is helpful here:

"...Some of the greatest preaching ever known was designed precisely not to communicate to the contemporary culture.  Just check Isaiah's commission in Isaiah 6, and the use of that text in Jesus' ministry to see how not communicating in comprehensible categories as determined by the immediate culture is a critical sign of judgment on an idolatrous people.
(Carl Trueman, Fools Rush in Where Monkeys Fear to Tread, Kindle edition, location 1228)

As helpful as Trueman is, I think the Apostle Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit) said it best:

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

²⁰ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. ²² For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men....¹⁴ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

(1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:14 NKJV)

Again, I don't wish to be disrespectful, though I have been forceful.  I care very much for the honor of the Church and I have seen this kind of thinking over and over again.  I believe it is high time to challenge it.  I believe the right answer in this issue and others is to continue to love, continue to preach and teach, continue to suffer, continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and continue to do good works.  These are all things that Christians throughout the ages have done.  I, as a good Calvinist, will leave the saving to God.  I am certain that Dr. Warnock would agree.  Blessings in Christ Jesus.

   

What Does a Word and Power Movement Look Like? Part 2, Preaching and Teaching

In the first part of this series, I began to explore how a Word and Power movement values having doctrinal absolutes that are in line with historic Christian orthodoxy.  In this post, I will explore a similar theme.  I will suggest briefly that Word and Power churches should have an unapologetic commitment to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, the Bible.  

Without spending too much time complaining, it does seem that in many places, clear and precise preaching and teaching has fallen on hard times.  The reasons are many.  Some want the teaching to be short and "practical" (as if the Bible by itself was somehow not practical).  Others want the teaching to be "relevant."  Practicality and relevance are not bad things in themselves.  I would suggest however that by simply and plainly teaching the Bible (which seems to primarily be the responsibility of the elders of the Church, though not exclusively), relevance and practicality take care of themselves.

Some ministries so emphasize teaching that they forget to preach, admonish, and exhort.  Others make the opposite mistake.  The truth is that Jesus Himself used both approaches and there really is a lot of overlap between them (Luke 4:15, 43-44).  The job of the man occupying the pulpit is to both convey information from the text and its backgrounds, well as to exhort, rebuke, and admonish the hearers to do something about it, all under the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Scriptures themselves put a high premium on the clear and regular teaching of the Bible to the Church.  Consider these Scriptural examples:

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  (Acts 2:42 NKJV)

In this example, the fledgling Church gives great attention to hearing the Word of God being preached by gifted men.

 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.  (Nehemiah 8:5-8 NKJV)

This has to be one of the most clear Scriptures about how the Word read, taught, and preached can affect a whole community of people.  It is not just enough for the man of God to read from the Word, he must help the people understand the reading.  Another thing in these verses that stands out is the there were many men who read the Word and taught.  Part of this may have been a logistical necessity with the virtually the whole nation gathered together, but I still believe that churches should make room for a number of gifted men to use their gifts of teaching and preaching.

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.  (1 Timothy 4:12-16 NKJV)

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.  (1 Timothy 5:17 NKJV)

These two examples speak for themselves, but I want to point out a few things.  Firstly, Paul instructs young Timothy to "give attention" to the reading and expounding of the Word.  This tells me that preaching is not an obligatory exercise between worship sets, but something that has to be an emphasis in Timothy's life and ministry.

Secondly, as verse 16 makes plain, eternal destinies ride on how Timothy discharges his ministry.  Now of course I believe in justification by faith alone, but if the Word is not taught properly and regularly, people may never actually hear the Gospel and be saved!

Thirdly and finally, the last Scripture I referenced makes plain that teaching and preaching are hard work.  The elders "labor" in word and doctrine.  I am not an elder, but I have prepared and delivered sermons before.  Believe me, it is hard work! 

All of that said, I am only beginning to scratch the surface of what a Word and Power movement might, by God's grace, look like.  I hope that I can have some small part to play in God bringing it to fruition.  Amen.

What Does a Word and Power Movement Look Like? Part 1, Doctrinal Absolutes

Blogging is not always easy.  One reason is that I am a regular guy with a regular job and a family.  I don't always have spare minutes to write and publish. But another reason is that I have had difficulty in finding topics to blog about, or the topics I want to address would almost require a book to be written.  

With all of that said, as sort of a New Year's resolution of sorts, I have decided to begin a new emphasis and to begin discussing those elements that specifically pertain to what I believe is biblical ministry, i.e., word and power.  In that vein, this post will start a series exploring specific applications of the same.  Today I will discuss doctrinal absolutes.

What exactly do I mean by doctrinal absolutes?  Basically, I mean that any individual, church, ministry, etc... will be committed to certain propositional truth statements about important biblical topics.  I know I know; how horribly foundationalist, fundamentalist, literalist, etc..,  Nevertheless, that is how the Bible speaks.  It tells us certain things about itself, God, creation, humanity, sin, salvation, the Church, and so on.  It certainly offends (post)modern Western sensibilities, but I hold to it without apology.  Any ministry of word and power will also hold without apology doctrinal standards that are enforced and that are in harmony with the historic Christian faith of the creeds and reformation era confessions.  

So what does the Bible exactly say about the doctrinal aspect of the Church's ministry?  I am glad you asked!  Here is a small sampling:

 “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.  Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.  For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.   (Acts 20:25-27 NKJV)

Please notice how Paul reasons.  He declares to the elders of the Church at Ephesus that he is innocent of their blood should they fall away and be destroyed.  He can say this because He has not withheld anything profitable (Acts 20:20).  Indeed, he has declared to them "the whole counsel of God."  Eternal destinies are at stake in maintaining doctrinal absolutes and teaching them boldly.

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.  (Romans 6:17 NKJV)

What does this verse imply except that there is, in fact, a "form of doctrine" which exists and which is taught to the churches.

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.  (2 Timothy 1:13,14 NKJV)

One thing I like about this passage is that Paul tells Timothy that it is through a special work of the Holy Spirit that he is able to hold fast to the "pattern of sound words".  Having a strong doctrinal basis is not something that we do on our own.  God the Holy Spirit Himself is assisting us.

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  (1 John 2:24 NKJV)

This passage is yet another exhortation to hold on to something previously given.  In this case, John is instructing the churches under his care to cling to that which they had heard from the beginning.  What was it that they had heard from the beginning?  Among many other things is that God is light and in Him is no darkness (1:5), that Jesus Christ Himself is the propitiation for our sins (2:2), that they must not love the world nor the things in the world (2:15), that Jesus is the Christ and implicitly is one with the Father, and that anyone who denies that is the antichrist (2:22,23).  

Again, these are but a small sampling of Scriptures that make plain that part of the mission of the Church is to maintain a healthy, sound doctrinal basis.  It must have no part of watering down the unpopular truths of the Bible to suit the whims and fancies of the world.  As the passage from 2 Timothy makes plain, all of this is done by and through the power of the Holy Spirit who has been given to the Church.  Amen.