Really Bad Arguments and Some Hypocrisy in Modern American Evangelical Thought

Over the past couple of weeks, I have witnessed extremely poor judgment, hypocritical decision-making, and outright stupidity coming from those who should know better. It is coming from Christian leaders, some of whom I know personally and respect. It seems to me that we have simply parked any and all discernment preferring instead adopt the infamous herd mentality. These arguments and behaviors I have read about range from Christian leaders exposing young children to anti-abortion clinic protests exposing them to the vile pictures of dead babies ripped apart cloaked in the idea that they are teaching their children mercy and justice and showing then what it is like to stand up for the helpless. The Kim Davis story continues to rumble down the tracks gathering bad argument after bad argument as it goes with Mike Huckabee being the most recent one to weigh in on the matter and come to Kim's defense. Then we witness Tullian Tchividjian's moral failure, his resignation, his application for divorce, and within two weeks, his hiring by Willow Creek Church to be their new director of ministry development. And then we discover that R.C. Sproul Jr. gave his email address to Ashley Madison in a moment of weakness. I think any man understands sexual temptation and weakness. It is bit more difficult to understand a website that, if I am correct, caters to the sexual escapades of only people who are married. The sad fact is there will likely be more to come. Indeed, it has been a difficult few weeks. What should we do? What should the churches response be to these things? What should leaders and teachers do to help fellow believers think and speak correctly about these matters?

• For starters, stop lumping Kim Davis into the Christian community. If the reports about her "Christian experience" are correct, she is involved in a heretical sect. Apostolic Pentecostalism has a variety of false doctrines, not the least of which is the outright denial of the Trinity. Just because Kim Davis chose the right side of the gay marriage issue, that does not mean she is a true believer. Pastors and teachers need to STOP teaching us that it ok to rally together around issues...like homosexuality, abortion, religious freedom, etc. The Church rallies around the truth, and Jesus Christ is the truth, His Word is the Truth. The unifying principle of Christianity is the Christ we know and nothing more.

• I wish we could oppose abortion without exposing young children to such obscene imagery. I wish we would be more discerning to be careful not to allow the methods we use to distract from the message we bring. I wish abortion protesters would stop blaming abortion on the rest of us. Stop judging your brother sinfully by accusing him of being complacent because he does not oppose abortion the way YOU think he should. Stop judging pastors who don't preach against abortion as often or how YOU think they should.

• I wish the Church would do the right thing when it comes to men like Tchividjian. He and his wife cheated on each other, refuse to forgive each other, are petitioning for a divorce, and somehow, in the middle of all this, he is deemed fit to lead ministry development at Willow Creek Church. What does the world see when they see this? For starters, these matters ought to be kept private. How can we allow divorce within our own community to reign as freely as we have, all the while arguing against gay marriage because it violates God's law? Well, divorce for any reason violates God's law and the Church has tolerated it with little more than a wink. The issue here is that some of us hate homosexual sin more than we do the sin of illicit divorce and so we elevate it to a place of higher importance. The truth is that this points out serious hypocrisy in our thinking and we must work hard to correct it. It is embarrassing and shameful that we should ignore God's design for marriage where divorce is concerned WITHIN our own communities and then wag our fingers at the world because they want to ignore God's design for marriage differently. The situation as I see it is absurdly hypocritical.

• Finally, godly men visiting adultery sites. While this story is upsetting and disturbing, it is also one that demonstrates what justice, mercy, and grace look like. R.C. Sproul Jr. was fired by his father's own ministry. Sproul Jr. had a moment of weakness. We are all sinners. We all have moments of weakness. I would NEVER point my finger at Sproul Jr. I love and respect him. Should we consider the fact that he lost his wife? Yes we should. Should we consider that he is a sinner just like the rest of us? We most certainly should. Sproul Jr. made no excuses. He took full responsibility. He lost his post. He is being shamed for all of us to see which I think is unbiblical. It should have remained private. Did he confess that he had sinned to anyone else? A fellow disciple or accountability partner? We don't know. Would he have ever confessed? Only God knows. But God has a way of bring his discipline to bear on each of us and so it is with Sproul Jr. He is a good man with a lot to offer and I pray that after a period of counsel, prayer, and healing, he is fully restored to serve the body. For he is indeed a strong servant with a lot to offer the body of Christ.

By now it should be obvious to us that the Church is infected with worldliness. Our passions rest in places other than the gospel. The gospel is often used as a device used for political expediency. We want particular practices to end or to begin or to continue. And we pour nearly all our energies into making sure our desires are realized. We want homosexual marriage to once again be illegal. We want the murder of innocent babies to cease. We insist that American Christians retain their religious freedoms so that they can avoid persecution which is unlike their fellow Christians across the globe and precisely contrary to what the New Testament says about what we should expect when it comes to this issue. Preach Christ! Condemn godless living but do it within the context of the gospel, not Americanism. Condemn the murdering of innocent babies but not in the context of making abortion illegal. Do it within the context that it is something God hates. God hates hands that shed innocent blood. Repent and believe the gospel. Homosexual marriage is not a concept Christians can accept. We must oppose it in our teachings, our thinking, and in our personal conversations. But we do so within the context of the gospel, not within the context of making it illegal again or using our Christianity as an excuse to engage in civil disobedience.

Why I take Certain Anti-Abortion Practices to be Unwise

First, preaching at women going into an abortion clinic is, in my opinion, not the wisest approach in our culture. And yes, we do have to pay attention to such things. The reason I think it is unwise is because the method has the effect, most often, of drowning out the message. In other words, the women in that setting generally only here anti-abortion rhetoric rather than the gospel. The gospel takes a back seat in their mind to the tactic that is being employed.

Rather than use a megaphone at the clinics, I would suggest that you simply do your best to approach the women calmly, respectfully, and politely. Ask them for their permission to speak to them for a moment, or to just ask them a few questions. Or, you could simply provide them with a gospel track and ask them to read it before they make a decision and ask them to contact you. Tell them that you would like to help them make a fully informed decision about their future and that you may be able to provide assistance in their circumstances.

Second, holding up signs of dead babies having been ripped to pieces during abortions is not at all a wise approach. Not only do such images distract from the gospel, they make you seem calloused and insensitive to the woman’s plight. They do not communicate love in any sense of the word love. And in most cases, they only desensitize people that see them, over and over and over again. I must confess that I am not at all a fan of this method in any way. Some conservative fellows are afraid to speak out about this for fear of being painted as soft on abortion. I am not at all soft on abortion. This has nothing to do with abortion. It has to do with a tactic. Those who employ this tactic are no more opposed to abortion than I am and if they think using these tactics means that they are, then they are sadly mistaken. It simply isn’t true.

Instead of holding up these kinds of signs, if you insist on holding up a sign, hold up a sign of a baby at whatever stage that is completely intact so that mothers can see what their baby looks like at that stage. That is a much better, more tasteful, less distracting, and more sensitive approach. And in my opinion, it is an approach that is far more consistent with Christian charity even if we are demanding repentance while holding up those signs.

Third, you should never, ever, under any circumstances allow young children to enter the anti-abortion protest environment. They will be exposed to these images and that is not something young children ought to be exposed to. You may think your children can handle it. But that is a hollow response that has little to support it. It rings empty. The truth is you have no idea what impact these images could have on your children’s psyche. To think that you’re doing this with the approval and endorsement of God is another error in judgment. God has nothing to do with your decision to expose your children to such nonsense. That decision is all yours. It isn’t good ministry and in my opinion, it isn’t good parenting. A second reason you should not bring your children into that environment is because you have no control over who will be there and what tactics they may employ in the name of God. Once your children are exposed, they are exposed. Third, it can be a dangerous environment and one that children should not be placed in if it can be avoided. Going to an abortion clinic is not nearly the same thing as going shopping or whatever. These locations attract all sorts of people for and against abortion who will resort to all sorts of tactics to protest or defend abortion, even violence. It is exactly the wrong environment for young children. If these facts are not enough to give you pause, and to help you get over yourself for a moment, and rethink your actions, then I suppose there is no argument that would convince you to do otherwise.

Abortion is a very wicked practice in this world. It is one that we have to expose and reprove as Christians living in a very dark, very fallen world. It has been around for thousands of years. Christians have had to deal with it for 2,000 years. Let us take care to deal with it using all the wisdom we can acquire and let us not allow our desire to end abortion (something God has not called us to do) bring division and disharmony in the body (something God has certainly called us to avoid). That’s right. Some people are willing to disregard God’s command for unity in order to engage in certain tactics that have no divine imperative behind them at all. And that is a very sad state of affairs. We must all be willing to assess our passions, motives, and actions to make sure we are attempting to be kind of New Testament witness to the New Testament message we all have a duty to carry.

The Church, Complacency and Abortion

A friend of mine recently told me that he thought the church had been complacent about abortion over the years. We didn't have time to get into his measuring stick for what I think he really meant by complacency, but I wanted to share a few more of my thoughts here. The word complacent means self-satisfied, smug, content. Has the Church taken a stand against abortion? The true Church? Please understand that I am not talking about those churches where everything is challenged from Christ's deity to eternal damnation to the inspiration and authority of Scripture and even the exclusive nature of salvation. I am talking about the true Church of Jesus Christ. Has she been complacent on the issue of abortion? If you were to ask secular culture, they would surely say that the Church has been anything but complacent, refusing to mind her own business on the subject. They would affirm that religious nuts have been far too outspoken on the issue. So what does my friend mean when he and others who think like he does claim that the Church has been complacent on the issue of abortion?

I think what he really means is that the Church has been complacent on the legality of abortion. I think he means that we have not done enough to change the laws that protect and allow for abortion. And that is really a very different accusation. You see, if I accuse the Church of being too complacent when it comes to basic bible teaching, or to holding firmly to core doctrines, I am saying that the Church has a God-given responsibility that many of her members are ignoring. But what is it that I am saying when I say that the Church has been complacent about the laws that protect abortion? Is my friend saying that the Church has been complacent about the structure of the American legal system? And if so, based on whose standards? Do the NT authors issue clear mandates for the Church to go out and change the legal system in their respective culture? Is there even the slightest hint that the authors of the NT even implied that the civil government was to come under the guidance and direction and yes, the authority of the Church? That is after all what many anti-abortion activists are advocating whether they say so or not.

You see, dear Christian, there is a remarkable difference between being complacent about our God-given responsibilities and being complacent about the standards that others wish to place around our necks. Would it be a good thing if abortion were illegal? Of course it would. So my friend would say that we ought to work toward that end then. But this would leave the Church in a very awkward position, seeking to impose divine law on her respective cultures. For instance, would it be a good thing if homosexuality were illegal? Of course it would. Would it be a good thing if taking God's name in vain were illegal? Yes it would. Would it be a good thing if it were illegal to violate the law of God? I think it would. Does that mean Christians have a responsibility to work toward that end? If you think so, then you would be classified as a theonomist. My friend denies any links to theonomy in his thinking. Does the New Testament advocate for such action? Does a single apostle or any one of their associates, under divine inspiration, instruct or command a single local Church to engage in such political activism? The answer is clear. There isn't a single incident in the NT where God directed the Church even once to engage in activities designed specifically to change the civil codes of their culture. Not one!

Where abortion is concerned, the Christian is not complacent about the issue so long as we stand in opposition to it the same as they stand in opposition to any other sin. They are not complacent when they refuse to practice abortion. They are not complacent when they share the gospel with women considering abortion, urging them to repent and place their faith in Christ. They are not being complacent when they take those opportunities to speak out against it. But when the goal shifts to restructuring the laws, and when we infer that God has laid the responsibility of changing existing laws in a culture, on the Church in order to conform that culture externally at least, to Christian values, we have stepped outside the mission of the Church given by Christ Himself. The Church has a responsibility to preach the pure gospel. She has the responsibility to make disciples. She has the responsibility to do good deeds and to let her light shine into this dark world. She has the responsibility to expose and reprove the sins of her culture. She does this by living a peculiar lifestyle. She does this by preaching the gospel. She does this by preaching the biblical doctrine of repentance. She does this when she helps unwed mothers navigate through their pregnancy. She does this when she helps these mothers find loving homes for their children.

I realize that the anti-abortionists will think this tone is far too soft. They will think that it does not go far enough. Some will probably claim that I am part of the problem...just one more complacent member in a complacent Church. Others will even accuse me of not loving the unborn children and not showing mercy. And some will question my devotion to Christ and the legitimacy of my conversion. That is unfortunate. I only hope that they can do a better job of managing their emotions when it comes to this issue rather than allowing their emotions and passion about the issue to consume them.

The Church of God will continue her stand against abortion. Some of her members will work with young mothers through ministries like Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Others will hand out tracks and speak with women entering abortion clinics. Some will preach at abortion clinics. Some will simply teach, preach, and write about the sins of abortion. But the Church of God does not have a mission to end abortion in the world. She cannot possibly accomplish such a lofty goal. Some may retort we just want to end it in America. Really? Why? How dare you stop with America! Abortion, in case you have not noticed is a worldwide problem. And babies that are being aborted in Asia and Europe and Africa are just as much your neighbors as those being aborted in America. The Church of God remains in the earth not to stop abortion. She remains in the earth to preach the gospel and make disciples. Let us NOT be complacent about that!

Opposing Abortion without Losing Your Salt

Planned Parenthood has yet another video exposing them for the murderous organization that they are. The Center for Medical Progress has revealed a video exposing Planned Parenthood for intact harvesting. The behavior is incredibly disturbing. But I find American shock to be outrageously hypocritical and extremely inconsistent. After all, if the fetus is not really a human life, then why not harvest the organs? Is selling the organs any worse than murdering the child? What this admits is that deep in their conscience, Americans know what abortion really is. It is murder. And they have known this all along with few exceptions. Still, it remains high on their list of demands. Don’t worry America, God has some demands of His own and sooner than later, I suspect you’ll be paying the piper his due.

There is no question that the sin of lust, the sin of murder, and the sin of greed combine to create a tsunami of demand for the murder of the unborn in this country. Unrestricted sex, undisciplined greed, and a wholesale disregard for the sanctity of life have created a country that is about to become drunk with the wrath of the divine barring radical repentance. What is the Church to do? It should be noted that the ancient Church of the first-century had to deal with conditions far worse than the ones we deal with in modern America and the West, to include abortion, homosexuality, idolatry, and extreme persecution of the worse kind imaginable. We haven’t even scratched the surface of the sort of environment that early Christians lived in. Not even close. In fact, most of the Church has lived in much more desperate times across the world and throughout her history than modern Christians in American culture. Indeed, we have been incredibly blessed and there are more than a few that think it is high time we join the rest of our persecuted brothers and sisters in the world. And perhaps it is.

The issue of abortion has become one of contention even within the body of Christ. The manner in which some people approach the subject can be classified as quite extreme. Some within the Church preach about the sin of abortion within the context of calling the culture to repent in general of her rebellion against God and to place their faith in Christ trusting in Christ alone for forgiveness and redemption. Others, however, are not so measured in how they take up the issue of abortion. For them, abortion stands out above other sin or at least their actions indicate that such is the case. These people, in the name of loving their neighbor, and in the name of showing mercy march down to the abortion clinics, hold up signs of ripped up little babies, and use megaphones to preach (scream?) to/at women who are going in to get an abortion. While I am perfectly fine with abortion clinic ministry so long as its main aim is to preach the gospel and make disciples. However, when it graduates to holding up repulsive signs, screaming on megaphones, and even exposing one’s children to such an environment, I am seriously opposed to such practices.

To approach women at an abortion clinic calmly in order to have conversation with them, handing them a track, and perhaps some accurate information on abortion I think is a good deed. Perhaps asking them how you can help with their situation could be the sort of loving act that might actually influence more of them than we might imagine, to not kill their babies. But to take it to these extreme measures is without justification in Scripture regardless of what abortion activists claim. It is unnecessary to carry signs of dead babies in order to preach the gospel at abortion clinics. It is unnecessary to use megaphones or scream at people entering the clinic in order to preach or give the gospel at abortion clinics. Preaching/Screaming at women entering abortion clinics is not required to love your neighbor or to show mercy. The approach undertaken by these individuals has nothing to do with God-given convictions about a calling and everything to do with their own personal preference for how to stand against abortion. I am not saying their approach is prohibited at all. What I am saying is that their methods are entirely the product of their own personal preferences. And if these methods are a matter of personal preference, no amount of Scripture at all can be used to defend them. At best, Scripture defends opposing abortion and evangelism. But it does not defend the carrying of these signs and it certainly does not defend bringing young children in such an environment. If you think young children ought to be exposed to screaming down at the clinic and signs of twisted, mangled babies in order to expose them to the truth, something is surely wrong with your thinker. While it is true that Scripture provides no imperative for engaging in such activities, the next question is does Scripture provide any prohibition against engaging in such activities.       

A friend of mine says the Church has been complacent about abortion over the years. He thinks the Church must change. In other words, the Church is partially to blame for legal abortion. Seemingly, he thinks the Church ought to focus more time on the activity of making abortion against the law in America. And apparently he thinks this is loving your neighbor and showing mercy. I think focusing on making abortion illegal is a misplaced goal for Christians. Christians are not called to end murder, adultery, stealing, war, or world hunger. We are called to shine the light of the gospel into a dark and sin-loving, God-hating, self-worshipping world. We can end abortion, but for the most part, only in cases where the gospel has produced the supernatural change of regeneration. Has the Church been complacent about abortion? The Church has been complacent about a lot of things. But surely the reality of abortion is not the fault of the Church and those who use such rhetoric ought to be ashamed of themselves. Such tactics are nothing more than emotional arguments designed to guilt people into signing up for their cause. And their cause is usually, hook, line, and sinker their way.

Where does that leave us as Christians grappling with the sin of abortion? It leaves us in the same place we are in grappling with every other sin in our culture. We don’t do it. I think it is a mistake to single out one sin, such as abortion, or homosexuality, or human trafficking and focus more on those sins than on others. Jesus commanded us, where the culture is concerned, to focus on one and only one sin: the rebellion of unbelief. The Church, where the culture is concerned, is to condemn all sin equally. American culture is guilty of rejecting God at every level. The Church must preach Christ and Him crucified. The law of God convicts the human heart of its need for radical change. Repentance from their rebellion against God means entire repentance. It does not mean peace-meal repentance. When the gospel of God overwhelms the sinners heart, that sinner will be set free from sexual sin, murder, lying, stealing, idolatry, and the whole lot of wickedness.

What does this mean? It means that Christians do not need to feel guilty that abortion is a reality of American culture nor feel like they are responsible in some way. It means that Christians do NOT have to go down to the abortion clinic in order to avoid sinning against God in not loving their neighbor or not showing mercy. It means that Christians do not have to carry megaphones in front of abortion clinics to oppose and condemn the sin of abortion. It certainly means that Christians do NOT need to carry signs and images of babies ripped apart by the pernicious procedure of abortion in order to oppose abortion. And it certainly means that Christians have much better means available to them than carrying their young children down to abortion clinics and exposing them to this environment and especially to such disturbing images in order to educate them on this sin. This means the Christians who engage in anti-abortion activities are engaging in an activity that is not the product of any divine imperative. Christians are not instructed, encouraged, or commanded anywhere in Scripture to engage in these kinds of activities. And this means that Christians who do this, are doing what they want to do, not what God has commanded them or called them to do. Is it wrong for Christians to go to abortion clinics and give the gospel? It depends on their motives for doing so. If their primary motive is to stop abortion, rather than to glorify God by giving the gospel, it is possible that such a motive is misplaced. Is it wrong to hold up signs of dead, ripped apart babies? It could be. I think great wisdom must be brought to bear here. We should not allow our tactics to give offense and detract from the gospel. And such tactics can have the tendency to do precisely that very thing. Offense, if it exists, ought to be caused by the gospel itself and not our personal method for delivering it if at all possible. Should we take young children down to the clinic or expose any young child to these images? A resounding no is my response! Where is the wisdom in exposing young children to such horrific images? Where is the discernment?

Let it be the gospel opposition to abortion that causes offense and nothing more! That is my point of view.