Posted on 12/13/2018 3:21:18 PM PST by fwdude
By now, everyone who is paying attention knows the depths to which the Boy Scouts of America have fallen, culminating in their very recent consideration of filing bankruptcy. In it's wake a new boy leadership development organization has risen: Trail Life USA.
Trail Life is purportedly a grounded Christian organization which bills itself as an alternative to the now compromised and hemorrhaging BSA. But is its structure really steeled against the same attacks which brought down the BSA?
I was somewhat confused, if not shocked, to learn that Trail Life does NOT explicitly address the presence of "gay" young men in their midst. In fact, they seem to talk around it. Trail Life does seem to allow that some of their young members may have same sex attraction, but that it isn't an absolute bar to membership, as long as it isn't made a centerpiece of activism.
I find this a problem. In the absence of explicit language, the organization remains wide open to the inevitable onslaught of the queer barbarians.
If anyone has a different take or information about this, please inform me. Otherwise, I see this as a very serious and short sighted flaw.
Given their refusal to address the issue head-on, if I had a son, he would not be joining trail-life.
Nobody is immune. No organization.
Trail Life is very clear regarding its adult leaders. It does not exclude boys because they are trying to lead boys to Christ - all boys.
But I would recommend that every adult male invest in Trail Life and make a substantial impact on our youth-- particularly in an era of broken families. There are a lot of orphans out there.
In the “old Boy Scouts” - the historically good Boy Scouts - if a boy could raise his right hand and take the oath he could join and serve as long as he kept the rules. Even if the boy wrestled with internal conflicts, he could be in the scouts if he took the oath and followed the rules.
As a scout, and later as an Eagle-dad, I never knew of a scout that was dismissed from the organization if he kept the oath and followed the rules, even if he had internal conflicts. It may have happened somewhere but I think it was rare.
The “new Scouts” are facing disaster because their adult leadership renounced reason and the organization's timeless values.
It is my understanding that Trail Life - like any good Christian church - will accept children with problems, yes even sexual identity problems and place them in an environment where the children can receive wholesome mentoring and see healthy role models and be taught right from wrong.
The Scout organization is now willing to publicly say wrong is right; Trail Life will not do this. That's the difference I see.
The Bible does not condemn being gay. It condemns acting on it.
One could say it is a burden as so many people are born with burdens. It is a test of character to not act against God’s specific wishes.
So long as the organization requires adherence to the Bible, including acting on gay feelings, it should be endorsed.
Of course, how long that will be allowed by the courts is a whole different animal.
Don’t care.
Adherence to Christian principles is more important than being a member of an Un-Godly group.
You realize you are describing every single church in the world, right?
Nobody adheres to Christian principles. That’s why Jesus had to die, chief.
My best work, on my best day, is like a pile of filthy rags.
That doesn’t mean you stop trying.
This is the thing that pisses me off about most Christians - they conflate being saved with being better than everybody else.
They aren’t. And when they’re that snooty and arrogant, they are worse than the sinners they disparage, because they ought to know better.
The one Christian principle I struggle the most with is not judging. It appears I’m in excellent company.
Well said!
And yet Jesus command us to come out from among them and be ye separate, does he not?
We’re not talking about individuals here, we are talking about purposely joining a group that condones Homosexual behaviour and by so-doing, condoning that same behavior that God has called explicitly an Abomination.
And might I add, by condoning that behavior, even if implicitly, we are not acting in God’s love to the sinner caught-up in the sin of homosexuality.
“We’re not talking about individuals here, we are talking about purposely joining a group that condones Homosexual behavior . . .”
When you say “a group” - what is the name of the group you are referencing?
With regards to the concept of not judging, perhaps it would be best to heed both the words of Jesus in John 7:24 where He commands us “judge righteous judgment” and Proverbs 27:5 “Open rebuke is better than secret love” and the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:20 where Paul states: “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others may fear.
God is not quiet about sinful behaviour and he expects us to follow his holy example.
Boy Scouts
That’s an excellent insight — they can and should regulate behavior, but in children such passions can be fleeting and can be displaced by godly motives at the very time that the clay is most malleable.
Understand that there is a devil, but do not give the devil too much credit.
One has to find someone in a sin first. All this theoretical rubbernecking profiteth naught.
“Boy Scouts”
My Eagle scout son has two boys. They will never wear a scout uniform. He has already decided that.
There are still wholesome leadership and outdoor organizations available.
Christian Service Brigade is a Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts also.
The BSA does not condone homosexual behavior. It specifically doesn’t condone ANY sexual behavior at all. Nobody is supposed to have sex in the BSA, period.
In a perfect world, it wouldn’t have even come up. Somebody made a fuss, and here we are.
‘Be ye separate?’
Far from it. We’re the salt of the earth, and we are supposed to wade into it and spread the Good News, praying to God we don’t get killed, condemned, bankrupted, or otherwise molested.
And YES, we are talking about INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN, all of which are confused, looking for a place to explore, discover, and fail with grace.
I don’t care about the politics. Give to Caesar.
Salvation is individual, not corporate. Anyone actually using the article ‘ye’ in a conversation should know this.
You’re being played here.
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