I need men who unabashedly profess the whole doctrine of God, all of Scripture, who are not ashamed of its direct language. I need pastors who exegete these difficult and sometimes uncomfortable passages, who explain the entirety of God’s Word plainly to me and to my children without embarrassment. I need in my pastors’ examples of personal piety; men who do not shy away from words like purity or are bashful about devoutness. I need pastors who pursue holiness, not charisma. In short, I desperately need Jesus.
(Sarah Morris – The Aquila Report) A few weeks ago, I sat propped up in bed with an embarrassing number of pillows, Tums® bottle in hand, feeling unfathomably huge and wretchedly pregnant. While scrolling through social media in order to distract myself from my own uncomfortable enormity, I stumbled upon an open letter anonymously written by a group of Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) elders self-described as those “who minister where the sin and sadness of a fallen world intersects with the good news of the gospel” to another group of men who were apparently needlessly concerned, “divisive,” and engaged in scaremongering and spreading misinformation in the form of “alarming reports” within the PCA.
I read the letter twice. I was suddenly filled with such great inertia that I whipped my large self around to my poor husband, brandishing said Tums® bottle and violently scattering pillows and exclaimed, “Have you read this?!” The poor man was unfortunately too late to feign sleep.
What struck me the most in that letter was the “nothing to see here” approach to a serious theological concern amongst earnest and godly men in our denomination. The infamous Revoice debacle of 2018 and the intense debate following have largely been over the incompatibility of Side B Gay Christianity as a biblical, born-again Christian identity. Can a believer, a new creation in Christ, continue to identify himself as a gay-Christian? Furthermore, is he ordainable to the office of teaching or ruling elder? Even if he is celibate, even if he never “acts on” those inward desires, should that be his identity? Are those inward desires inherently sinful? Are we not discounting the work of Holy Spirit to work and to act in this man’s life? Are we content to allow our sanctification to purify us in some arenas of sin, but not others? Are we not then cheapening the blood of Jesus poured out in order to cleanse us from all unrighteousness?
Research
Progressive (Social Justice) “Christianity”
The conservative voice and Christian content are being silenced more and more. CRN offers a lifeline to conservative people of faith. We urge you to sign up to receive our FREE need to read articles. AD FREE! NO VIDEOS! NO POPUPS!
Join Marsha West on MeWe