Are evangelicals changing their minds about same-sex relationships?

Christian Post ^ | 08/15/2020 | Jim Denison

[SeekAndFind]

Two reports caught my eye this week.

One: In 2007, 90 percent of evangelicals said their church forbid (63 percent) or strongly discouraged (27 percent) “homosexual behaviors.” In 2020, that figure has dropped to 65 percent (33.7 percent forbid, while 31.4 percent strongly discourage).

Two: In 2008, 34.4 percent of evangelicals between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five supported same-sex marriage. In 2018, that figure had risen to 56.1 percent.

Could this data be related? Are evangelical churches changing their position on same-sex marriage to align with and attract younger adults? Are younger evangelicals changing their position on same-sex marriage because their churches are? Or are both happening?

When perception is reality

For twenty centuries, orthodox Christians have known that the Bible forbids same-sex sexual relations. (For more, see my website paper, “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?”)

However, as we noted yesterday, we currently live in a “post-truth” culture that is convinced perception is reality and truth is whatever you believe it to be. Tolerance is the cardinal value of our day, while intolerance is the cardinal sin.

This insistence on relative truth and subjective morality directly contradicts the fact that all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) through the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) as unchanging truth (Matthew 24:35). Jesus was clear when he told his Father, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

Nonetheless, the “perception is reality” approach to truth is applied today to moral issues across the spectrum of life, from abortion to euthanasia. It flies in the face of logic (to claim there are no absolute truths is to make an absolute truth claim). And it is applied subjectively to behavior we wish to tolerate rather than objectively to all of life. (Otherwise, 9/11 would be Osama bin Laden’s “truth” and racial sin would be the racist’s “truth.”)

But there’s another dimension to the story, one that evangelicals who affirm biblical morality may not always consider.

“Acceptances precedes obedience”

Dr. Preston Sprinkle, president of the Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, notes that we are most likely to vilify the sins we are least likely to commit. He writes, “In many ways, Christians have treated LGBT+ people the same way the Pharisees treated tax collectors. And so Jesus’ approach to tax collectors gives us a good model for how we are to embody the gospel toward LGBT+ people.”

How did our Lord treat them? His example shows us that, as Sprinkle notes, “acceptance doesn’t equal affirmation.” Rather, “acceptance precedes obedience.”

Matthew and Zacchaeus were both tax collectors when Jesus called them. His acceptance of them did not imply affirmation of their sins. Rather, it led to a relationship that produced obedience and transformation in their lives.

Sprinkle adds that even if we could convince people to live by biblical morality, “We’re saved by faith, not sexual purity” (his emphasis). Our job is to stand for biblical truth but to do so with biblical grace.

Why we must not “self-censor our gospel witness”

I am glad that two-thirds of evangelicals say their churches still affirm biblical morality with regard to same-sex marriage. I grieve for those churches who do not and wonder how many of their members are missing the truth they need on this and other crucial issues.

For our sake and those we influence, we must not waver in our commitment to biblical truth. It has been noted that we don’t break the commands of God—we break ourselves on them. A man who jumps from the tenth story of a building doesn’t break the law of gravity—he illustrates it.

Nor should we withdraw from the declaration of unpopular truth. As Janet Denison notes in her latest blog, “When the faithful self-censor our gospel witness, we give up the power to lead others to faith.”

Here’s our best response: affirm and share biblical truth with biblical grace. “Speaking the truth in love” is our mandate and should be our mantra (Ephesians 4:15). People need to know what God says about sexuality and other areas of life, but they also need to know that we are sharing his truth out of gratitude for his grace.

Why “grace is given”

We are all broken sexually and in every other dimension of our lives. We were sinners when Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8) and we are still sinners today (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8, 10). We are all in need of Jesus’ acceptance and transformation.

When we give others what we have received in a spirit of compassion and gratitude, we glorify our Lord and invite others to join his family.

As St. Augustine noted, “Grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.”

What grace will you pay forward today?

[fwdude]

Evangelical (some) are apostatizing, is the problem. But that was foretold.

[fwdude]

Many so called Christians just don’t believe the whole Bible is Gods word. Isn’t that what happened in Eden? Did God really say?.....

This latest issue with homosexuality is just the logical conclusion of where we’ve been going for decades. Most Evangelicals (biblical Christians) have become increasingly okay with premarital sex, cohabitation, divorce (and remarriage) for any reason, drinking to the point of drunkenness, and all other worldly pursuits, and this has been evolving over decades. The capitulation on homosexuality was just icing on the apostate cake.

[TBP]

1. While a married couple is better for raising the next generation, I know of long-term couples who never bothered to marry but have been together for a couple of decades and have a child together.

2. Your will will dispose of your property.

[redgolum]

1. That works on occasion, but if you look at history, quite a few “long term relationships with out benefit of marriage” end with “One partner leaving the kids and the other in the lurch”.

2. As someone who has had to wade into a contested with between legitimate and illegitimate children... Well that doesn’t work as neatly as you supposed. Throw in no legitimate children and suddenly the other family members can contest at will.

[backwoods-engineer]

LIES AND DECEPTION. God CONDEMNS homosexuality, just like He condemns all adultery, perversions, and fornication. God will judge ALL homosexuals. Hopefully, after the war, we can criminalize this perversion again.

[boatbums]

I am glad that two-thirds of evangelicals say their churches still affirm biblical morality with regard to same-sex marriage. I grieve for those churches who do not and wonder how many of their members are missing the truth they need on this and other crucial issues. For our sake and those we influence, we must not waver in our commitment to biblical truth. It has been noted that we don’t break the commands of God—we break ourselves on them. A man who jumps from the tenth story of a building doesn’t break the law of gravity—he illustrates it. Nor should we withdraw from the declaration of unpopular truth. As Janet Denison notes in her latest blog, “When the faithful self-censor our gospel witness, we give up the power to lead others to faith.” Here’s our best response: affirm and share biblical truth with biblical grace. “Speaking the truth in love” is our mandate and should be our mantra (Ephesians 4:15). People need to know what God says about sexuality and other areas of life, but they also need to know that we are sharing his truth out of gratitude for his grace.

I'm not going to go out of my way to protest against homosexual marriage or treat people badly just because I disagree with their lifestyles. But I will not hesitate to voice my view that it is a sin in God's eyes - an "abomination" He says - should anyone ask me. I will also not vote for anyone who encourages or promotes such sin just as I will reject any politician who isn't Prolife.

[ZULU]

Exactly

[ZULU]

Yep

[wgmalabama]

Hate the sin love your enemies.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

No. It is still a sin.

But the big evangelical churches have fallen into what I call the degree black hole. They want to be accepted as a sophisticated church instead of a bunch of red necked hick fundamentalists. So they begin to hire professionals with degrees and who cares if they are following our tenants of faith. Generally this happens in the music departments first.

Once that happens you begin to water down what you believe.

[daniel1212]

It means that like as “Christian” and “born again,” the title “evangelical” has become watered down, being less synonymous with conservative values.

[JoeRender]

There is a nothing Christian about the Christian Post other than the name of course.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I knew a kid that took Jesus as his Lord when he was young, then practiced homosexuality when he was in his college years and beyond. He died suddenly in a car wreck before he turned 30.

So by my belief, he will be in Heaven now, because he was one of Jesus’ sheep. He was a wandering sheep when he died, but still a sheep.

This situation sets up all kinds of conflicting thoughts and emotions, but by the plain Word of God it is true (assuming that he really did get saved). If so, how the Holy Spirit must have been grieved within him - I believe this cognitive dissonance drove him to act recklessly which led to his accident and death.

[fwdude]

There is NO support in Scripture for the no-fault insurance police view of salvation. If the kid you mention was an unrepentant, practicing homosexual in college and when he died, then he is, SCRIPTURALLY, excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no getting around that. God will not be mocked.

[Texas_Guy]

Funny how Protestants always have to point the finger at Catholic priests but make excuses when their pastors are caught with their pants down.

[Philsworld]

I agree with your assessment. Others on this site do not and will tell you once saved, always saved, no matter what unrepentant sin you commit. They say you cannot lose your salvation if you are “born again.” Sin is breaking God’s law and you are right in that there is no getting around that. No repentance, no heaven.

Hebrews 10:
26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

28He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

[fwdude]

Where are Protestant pastors being excused for sexual offenses? I must have missed that.

[fwdude]

The OSAS heresy, at its logical conclusion, is a pernicious lie from hell. I was pretty much raised in this false teaching. But I was wise enough to reject it, while remaining an Evangelical.

[HangnJudge]

Pots and Kettles... I’ve seen it both ways

[HangnJudge]

One might argue that having sex makes one married,
not a ceremony or an oath... sex, now one flesh

The rest is just window dressing

Multiple partners gets one into the position of the woman at the well.