Skip to comments.
Christianity Today Promotes Preston Sprinkle On Homosexuality
Evangelical Dark Web ^
| June 16, 2024
| Ray Fava
Posted on 06/22/2024 1:57:30 PM PDT by Morgana
Christianity Today has been theologically liberals for a long time. One of the inspirations for Evangelical Dark Web was their treatment of Pete Buttigieg as a Christian, despite being a homosexual. So the fact that this outlet hired Russell Moore out of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission who once wrote that Jesus has AIDS should come as no surprise.
Last week they published a gay affirming article I’m an Evangelical Parent of Adult LGBTQ Children. Now What? The author, Victor Clemente states, “My theology is squarely orthodox. Now I need fellow Christians to help me work out a sustainable vision of day-to-day life with my children.” Yet he would go on to endorse many heretics. The first is Andy Stanley.
This is the context that produces high turnout for events that try to help Christian parents find responses, beyond fight or flight, to their LGBTQ children—events like last year’s Unconditional Conference hosted by the church of influential pastor Andy Stanley.
Though criticism of the Unconditional Conference is mentioned, Clemente never definitively denounces the conference. Rather he contrasts the controversy with this and Alistair Begg.
As an evangelical parent of adult LGBTQ children myself, I followed both controversies with interest. I share some of the detractors’ concerns, but I also believe that we American evangelicals who hold fast to Christianity’s historical doctrines on sex and gender—the traditional or “non-affirming” position, per current lexical shorthand—need more, not less, conversation about the intensely practical questions of how to be good neighbors to the LGBTQ people in our lives, be they in our homes, workplaces, or congregations.
This is a tepid allowance for Andy Stanley’s gay affirming ministry. However, it’s a prelude to endorsing a threat far more dangerous.
There are some resources available for Christians in my circumstance, like Allberry’s Is God Anti-Gay? and the course for parents from The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender. But beyond books or online courses, we need real-life conversations about specific circumstances. Christian parents of LGBTQ kids, like me, thirst for a sustainable vision of day-to-day life with our children. There’s certainly grounds to criticize the vision offered by Stanley and Begg, but simply restating right doctrine, while necessary, isn’t alone enough to answer those questions of practice, of how to live with our children.
Sam Allberry is the founder of Living Out, a British gay affirming ministry. Preston Sprinkle is the founder of the Center For Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, a ministry that affirms homosexual desire and identity as not sinful. This ministry was prominently featured in Cru’s gay affirming curriculum.
But ignoring the reality that discernment is necessary is not an option. The presence of risk does not exempt us from doing the work of loving our neighbors. People need help, and decisions need to be made: Should Christians use preferred pronouns? Should we attend the same-sex weddings of our children or coworkers? Should we allow our adult children in same-sex marriages to sleep in the same bed when they come to visit?
For many of us, these are not mere academic exercises but real situations with real people demanding answers, often without much lead time. These are the circumstances in which we must practice discernment, applying what we know from God’s Word to the best of our ability, with great care and humility. These are the kinds of questions Christian parents like me (and grandparents, as in the case Begg addressed) long to have in-person help answering in conversations with our pastors and friends at church.
The article ends with an ironic call to discernment after treating slam dunk issues like they are esoteric theories. The fact that Christianity Today is promoting Preston Sprinkle should be a wake-up call to his effectiveness in subverting clear doctrine in making the church gay.
TOPICS: General Discusssion; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: 80percenthivcasesmen; fagchurch; fakechurch; homosexualagenda; romans1verses18to22; unitedstatesofsodom
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-42 next last
To: Telepathic Intruder
... treatment of Pete Buttigieg as a Christian, despite being a homosexual. Let's see how THIS is gonna turn out!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
21
posted on
06/23/2024 5:00:41 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: P8riot
We need to resign ourselves to the fact that even some of our children may end up in Hell.
Jesus said...
Matthew 10:34-36 English Standard Version
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.
22
posted on
06/23/2024 5:04:39 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: Syncro; wita; Auntie Dem
Anything else you admire about islam?Well, nearly a couple of hundred years ago...
"I Will Be a Second Mohammed"In the heat of the Missouri 'Mormon War' of 1838, Joseph Smith made the following claim, "I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was "the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword". So shall it eventually be with us: "Joseph Smith or the Sword!" It is most interesting that a self-proclaimed Christian prophet would liken himself to Mohammed, the founder of Islam. His own comparison invites us to take a closer look as well. And when we do, we find some striking and troubling parallels. Consider the following. Mohammed and Joseph Smith both had humble beginnings. Neither had formal religious connections or upbringing, and both were relatively uneducated. Both founded new religions by creating their own scriptures. In fact, followers of both prophets claim these scriptures are miracles since their authors were the most simple and uneducated of men. Both prophets claim of having angel visitations, and of receiving divine revelation to restore pure religion to the earth again. Mohammed was told that both Jews and Christians had long since corrupted their scriptures and religion. In like manner, Joseph Smith was told that all of Christianity had become corrupt, and that consequently the Bible itself was no longer reliable. In both cases, this corruption required a complete restoration of both scripture and religion. Nothing which preceded either prophet could be relied upon any longer. Both prophets claim they were used of God to restore eternal truths which once existed on earth, but had been lost due to human corruption. Both prophets created new scripture which borrowed heavily from the Bible, but with a substantially new spin. In his Koran, Mohammed appropriates a number of Biblical themes and characters, but he changes the complete sense of many passages, claiming to 'correct' the Bible. In so doing he changes many doctrines, introducing his own in their place. In like manner, Joseph Smith created the Book of Mormon, much of which is plagiarized directly from the King James Bible. Interestingly, the Book of Mormon claims that this same Bible has been substantially corrupted and is therefore unreliable. In addition, Joseph Smith went so far as to actually create his own version of the Bible itself, the 'Inspired Version' in which he both adds and deletes significant portions of text, claiming he is 'correcting' it. In so doing he also changes many doctrines, introducing his own in their place. As a part of their new scriptural 'spin', both prophets saw themselves as prophesied in scripture, and both saw themselves as a continuation of a long line of Biblical prophets. Mohammed saw himself as a continuation of the ministry of Moses and Jesus. Joseph Smith saw himself as a successor to Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph and Moses. Joseph Smith actually wrote himself into his own version of the Bible by name. Both prophets held up their own scripture as superior to the Bible. Mohammed claimed that the Koran was a perfect copy of the original which was in heaven. The Koran is therefore held to be absolutely perfect, far superior to the Bible and superceding it. In like manner, Joseph Smith also made the following claim. "I told the Brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book." Despite their claim that the Bible was corrupt, both prophets admonished their followers to adhere to its teachings. An obvious contradiction, this led to selective acceptance of some portions and wholesale rejection of others. As a result, the Bible is accepted by both groups of followers only to the extent that it agrees with their prophet's own superior revelation. Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith taught that true salvation was to be found only in their respective religions. Those who would not accept their message were considered 'infidels', pagans or Gentiles. In so doing, both prophets became the enemy of genuine Christianity, and have led many people away from the Christ of the Bible. Both prophets encountered fierce opposition to their new religions and had to flee from town to town because of threats on their lives. Both retaliated to this opposition by forming their own militias. Both ultimately set up their own towns as model societies. Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith left unclear instructions about their successors. The majority of Mohammed's followers, Sunni Muslims, believe they were to elect their new leader, whereas the minority, Shiite Muslims, look to Ali ibn Abi lib, whom they consider Divinely appointed, as the rightful successor to Muhammad, and the first imam. (Ali was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad). Similarly, the majority of Joseph Smith's followers, Mormons, believed their next prophet should have been the existing leader of their quorum of twelve apostles, whereas the minority, RLDS, believed Joseph Smith's own son should have been their next prophet. Differences on this issue, and many others, have created substantial tension between these rival groups of each prophet. Mohammed taught that Jesus was just another of a long line of human prophets, of which he was the last. He taught that he was superior to Christ and superceded Him. In comparison, Joseph Smith also made the following claim.
"I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him, but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet." In light of these parallels, perhaps Joseph Smith's claim to be a second Mohammed unwittingly became his most genuine prophecy of all.
Joseph Smith made this statement at the conclusion of a speech in the public square at Far West, Missouri on October 14, 1838. This particular quote is documented in Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, second edition, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), p. 230-231. Fawn Brodie's footnote regarding this speech contains valuable information, and follows. except where noted, all the details of this chapter [16] are taken from the History of the [Mormon] Church. This speech, however, was not recorded there, and the report given here is based upon the accounts of seven men. See the affidavits of T.B. Marsh, Orson Hyde, George M. Hinkle, John Corrill, W.W. Phelps, Samson Avard, and Reed Peck in Correspondence, Orders, etc., pp. 57-59, 97-129. The Marsh and Hyde account, which was made on October 24, is particularly important. Part of it was reproduced in History of the [Mormon] Church, Vol. III, p. 167. See also the Peck manuscript, p. 80. Joseph himself barely mentioned the speech in his history; see Vol. III, p. 162. John Ankerberg & John Weldon, The Facts on Islam, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1998), pp.8-9. Eric Johnson, Joseph Smith & Muhammed, (El Cajon, CA: Mormonism Research Ministry, 1998), pp. 6-7. Documentary History of the [Mormon] Church, vol.4, pp.461. Documentary History of the [Mormon] Church, vol.6, pp.408-409. |
|
23
posted on
06/23/2024 5:08:31 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: daniel1212
Heck, we were ALL born SOME way or 'nother.
Thanks, Adam!
24
posted on
06/23/2024 5:09:32 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: Elsie
Homosexuals claim that’s just what they are, but it’s really about free will. What do you consider the most important: redemption and salvation, or following your own heart’s desires? God has no need for those who do not put Him first, above your own selfish inclinations. Homos are not unique in that, because we all have to make similar sacrifices. So I don’t buy their story that it’s just the way they are.
To: Morgana
We need to stop using the language of the Left. It’s homosexuality. Not lgbtqlmnop.
26
posted on
06/23/2024 6:28:18 AM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: Morgana
I'm close to the end of reading Rosaria Butterfield's new book
Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age.
This is a book about dismantling the idol of out times -- the world of LGBTQ+ that I helped build
Recommended.
27
posted on
06/23/2024 11:17:05 AM PDT
by
Lee N. Field
("And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" Gal 3:29)
To: ealgeone
Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.
Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them;
they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.
Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
================================================
2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.
They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
================================================
Ezekiel 16:49-50 "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom:
She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
They were haughty and did detestable things before me.
Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
28
posted on
06/23/2024 1:20:13 PM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: Morgana; wita; Auntie Dem
Sam Allberry is the founder of Living Out, a British gay affirming ministry.Even Mormons got their own GAM...
Responses showed significant emotional distress, dramatic loss of trust in Church leaders,
and a dramatic decline in Church Activity as a result of the policy.
Individual stories help us to understand where and how different LGBT Mormons find hope,
and why discussion about the Church can be so polarizing.
29
posted on
06/23/2024 1:25:55 PM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: Elsie
Preston Sprinkle is the founder of the Center For Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, a ministry that affirms homosexual desire and identity as not sinful.
30
posted on
06/23/2024 1:26:59 PM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: metmom
As a pro Israel Jew, I was as brainwashed as anyone to hate Islam. I used to use all the same adjectives that you listed.
Then I woke up to the fact that our evil leaders, who are masters of the art of “divide and conquer”, purposely created the whole “Islam vs the West” narrative, and used it to create endless war, as well as dividing religious people.
Islam did go through a Reformation. For several centuries, Muslim nations were minding their own business. There were no jihadis calling for holy war until the British showed up in the Mideast.
For 99% of Muslims, Islam plays the same role in their lives that any other religion plays in the lives of people of all faiths.
In Muslim countries, Christians and Jews were held in higher regard than Hindus and Zorastrians, who were held in higher regard then atheists. If Islam is so evil why do they make any distinctions between anyone who’s not Muslim?
The Muslim suicide bomber, along with the purge of Christians from Muslim countries, are modern day phenomenons.....kinda like like feminism, transgenderism, and the rejection of religion in favor of science in the West. Maybe wealthy and powerful people are behind both of these trends? Seems pretty plausible.
As far as 9/11, as recently as 7 years ago, I would turn red with rage if anyone suggested that the US government was behind the attacks. These days I hang my head in shame for being so naive.
I believe that our evil leaders knew 40 years that digital technology would have the potential to turn the world into one giant totalitarian surveillance State. At the same time, we were being lectured about how Globalism was the future and there just wasn’t any way of going back to the old way of doing things.
People had to accept that Rust Belt towns were going to close down, and corporations we’re going to move their factories overseas, and we all had to get on board with this exciting new modern age. And over the last four decades, the American dream has been pounded into the dirt, in the name of globalism.
But our evil leaders.. clever as they are...correctly understood that at some point there would be a revolt, and that it would probably come from salt of the earth God fearing Americans in the heartland. So they made their preemptive strike.
The Oklahoma City bombing, which was also an inside job, lent credibility to the narrative of the dangerous anti-government white supremacist. And then 9/11 was the perfect excuse to introduce the Patriot act that treats all Americans as potential terrorists. Look at how the Patriot act was used to track debit card and credit card transactions of people who traveled to the Capitol on January 6th. Look at how Trump supporters are labeled as the #1 domestic terror threat.
I believe the US, the Muslim nations, and Israel are all controlled by the same wealthy demons, who want to pit us against each other and distract us from ever pointing our fingers at them.
You are free to disagree....but either way... Let’s Go Mets!
31
posted on
06/23/2024 1:51:42 PM PDT
by
The Fop
(God Bless Donald Trump, Frank Sinatra, Joan Rivers, and the Fightin' Rat Pack Wing of the GOP)
To: Syncro
As a Jew, I believe that all righteous people go to heaven, regardless of their faith or lack of it. And as a Jew, I also believe that following the word of God brings you to a higher place in heaven.
The Christian Bible and the Quran both contain the Torah. So studying the holy scripture of any of these religions will bring people to a higher place in heaven...at least according to my faith.
And in the same way that God created different races, different ethnicities, and different languages, I also believe that it was God’s intention for his Word to be spread within several faiths. And when the End Times comes, I believe that God has a plan to bring all people of faith together.
Nothing makes our Satanic religion hating secularist leaders happier than to see religious Christians hating on Islam, and vice versa.
As far as dogs go, I will use the analogy of the ex alcoholic who never ever takes another drink for the rest of his life out of fear that they’re going to become a drunk again. Plenty of people can enjoy social drinking, but others can’t control themselves.
By the same token, dogs were not meant to replace children. But that seems to be happening these days.
I’m old enough to remember when a veterinarian would have to talk a child into understanding why their sick old dog needed to be put to sleep, because it was suffering. Now you have money hungry veterinarians encouraging childless adults, who view their dogs as their children, to spend more and more money on treatments for an old sick suffering dog, that’s not going to help them, and is only going to make the veterinarian more money.
So if we have to make a hard choice between a society of people abandoning child rearing (to save our sick planet!) in favor of dog and cat rearing, and a society that values having lots of children and faith in God and scripture, where dogs are viewed as dirty, I will take the latter over the former.
God’s patience with us is not endless. Sometimes there needs to be severe corrections to society’s behavior. I don’t think that either the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim version of the Messianic age is going to include women running around in bikinis, let alone Gay marriage.
I love dogs and bikinis as much as anyone. But I also know that God wants us to follow a lot of rules. And all in all, we seem to be doing a pretty poor job of it. So yes, I see Islam as a lesser of many evils. And that includes Christian churches that are draped with Pride and BLM flags and “all immigrants welcome” signs, as well as Jewish synagogues with lesbian rabbis who lecture their congregations about climate change and transphobia.
32
posted on
06/23/2024 2:37:29 PM PDT
by
The Fop
(God Bless Donald Trump, Frank Sinatra, Joan Rivers, and the Fightin' Rat Pack Wing of the GOP)
To: The Fop
My objection was to your accusation against God that HE created islam.
I have no problem with what you have posted here. The power and source of all the evil we are seeing IS Satan, no doubt, but GOD did NOT create islam, even if He uses it for our correction. (Habakkuk 1)
33
posted on
06/23/2024 4:04:27 PM PDT
by
metmom
(He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus…)
To: Elsie
In my opinion there is far too much homosexual affirming activity going on, and pride is the chosen word to highlight the activity.
We actually have an Old Testament type and shadow of what the future holds for the prideful. So let it be written, so let it be done.
34
posted on
06/24/2024 7:18:50 AM PDT
by
wita
(Under oath since 1966 in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness)
To: The Fop
As a Jew, I believe that all righteous people go to heaven, regardless of their faith or lack of it
Close.
Only if that righteousness comes from Jesus in us.
The Scriptures say our own righteousness is as filthy rags.
Your Jewish Messiah Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, every soul.
Call upon Him and you can be assured of eternal life.
35
posted on
06/24/2024 12:42:27 PM PDT
by
Syncro
(God is Good Facts is Facts)
To: The Fop; Jim Robinson
"God made a promise not to destroy the world again. That’s why he created Islam...."
36
posted on
06/24/2024 2:57:11 PM PDT
by
Bikkuri
(I am proud to be a PureBlood.)
To: gibsonguy
Christianity Today was hijacked and corrupted years ago. They hired woke profligate Russell Moore as their editor-in-chief a couple of years ago after he was driven out of the SBC for his softness on sodomy. I think the pairing is appropriate.
37
posted on
06/26/2024 12:13:36 PM PDT
by
fwdude
( )
To: The Fop
38
posted on
06/30/2024 3:04:02 PM PDT
by
Syncro
(God is Good Facts is Facts)
To: Morgana
As an evangelical parent of adult LGBTQ children myself, I followed both controversies with interest. I share some of the detractors’ concerns, but I also believe that we American evangelicals who hold fast to Christianity’s historical doctrines on sex and gender—the traditional or “non-affirming” position, per current lexical shorthand—need more, not less, conversation about the intensely practical questions of how to be good neighbors to the LGBTQ people in our lives, be they in our homes, workplaces, or congregations. If only someone in authority had written instructions to the Ephesians ...
- Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
- And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
- But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
- Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
- For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
- Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
39
posted on
06/30/2024 3:15:20 PM PDT
by
af_vet_1981
( The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began)
To: Telepathic Intruder
Terribly written, especially from someone with an LGBT child. Associating the word “affirming” with The Center for Faith and Living Out is a terrible choice. Both of these organizations align with the Biblical teachings of marriage, one man and one woman, which would be correctly defined as “non-affirming.” Anyone who takes the time to actually review the content and work of these organizations would understand this and not make such ignorant statements.
40
posted on
07/19/2024 11:35:34 PM PDT
by
FightforFreedomCA
(Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone…)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-42 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson