Posted on 01/26/2024 5:04:10 PM PST by Morgana
Last week, The Dissenter reported that Alistair Begg, a prominent pastor associated with The Gospel Coalition, urged Christians to not only attend homosexual weddings, but to also buy them a gift—a position that starkly contradicts the biblical view of marriage as a sacred union exclusively between a man and a woman. This alarming advice from Begg, a respected figure in evangelical circles including the late R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier ministry, represents a growing trend of Evangelical leaders to abandon sound Christian doctrine in favor of man-pleasing cultural orthodoxy. It is a glaring example of the moral compromise seeping into the church under the guise of progressive tolerance.
While Begg continues to state that he believes homosexual marriages are invalid and that homosexuality is wrong, by advocating attendance and gift-giving at such ceremonies, Begg not only disregards the scriptural condemnation of homosexuality but also encourages believers to participate actively in what is portrayed in Scripture as an abhorrent act to God. This is a distressing trend within certain evangelical factions, indicating a troubling drift from biblical authority and the command to flee from sin—not tacitly endorse it.
Yet, despite confrontation with other Evangelical leaders and lay people alike, Begg has doubled down on his position causing American Family Radio (AFR), who hosted his show, Truth for Life, to drop him after 12 years. AFR Vice President Ed Vitagliano along with American Family Association (AFA) Vice President Walker Wildmon, reached out to Begg’s team to ask for clarification or withdrawal of these statements. According to Wildmon and Vitagliano, Begg’s team defended Begg’s comments and said that he would be standing by them.
Now, let me just say from the outset, and then I’m gonna get Walker to join in here too, that the the two individuals that we talked with, as Walker and I with two individuals from Alister Begg’s ministry, they made it clear that Alistair Begg believes that homosexuality is wrong, he hasn’t changed that his views on that he does not believe that homosexual marriage is valid, and that the practice of homosexual activity is, as the Bible says, an abomination.
So all four of us were in agreement with that. But Walker, what we could not get them to change—and they said that Alistair Begg is not going to change his mind—was on the issue of whether Christians should attend because that is what Alistair Begg was saying. Yes, he was saying Christians should attend and bring a gift.
Yes, that’s right. And the goal of the call, and the goal of all Christians when approaching these issues should be reconciliation, but reconciliation and truth. And so that was our goal with a call with Alisha Begg’s team. And unfortunately, we didn’t get there. But we did press the issue multiple, multiple times. And we even asked point blank, “So are you guys stating that Pastor Alistair Begg is standing by his original comment? He has no regrets? He didn’t misspeak? He doesn’t want to further clarify? Nothing?” and they said, “Yes, he’s standing by his original comment.” So very disappointing.
AFA and AFR presidents also argued, as we did, that attending a homosexual wedding is, in fact, a tacit approval of the abomination and that there really is no escape from that truth. They gave the example of a man who wants to divorce his wife and marry his secretary. If this man were to ask one of them to be his best man, would you do so? According to Begg’s line of reasoning, the answer would be yes.
Let’s be clear, Begg has embraced an extremely dangerous teaching that if worked out to its logical conclusion, is a damnable heresy. Hopefully, he will see his error and repent, and hopefully, other influential leaders who surround Begg and his ministry, such as Voddie Baucham, Steven Lawson, and even John MacArthur, will press this issue with hm call him to repent of these statements. We understand that even the best among us can make mistakes and have blind spots, but the fact that he has now doubled down on these statements is extremely disturbing and not something his ministry partners should take lightly. We are grateful that AFR has done the right thing, and we agree with them that the goal is always reconciliation, but reconciliation in the truth.
Some people sincerely believe that supporting Trump is against their sincerely held religious beliefs.
Many of them openly support Creepy Joe Biden so I don’t value their opinions.
The interview where he said these things was done last September. I wonder why it took 4 months to come to light?
Begg needs to address this personally and not through his “team”.
You cannot prove what you claimed. You have no evidence at all, none, to support your claim, your unproven claim.
We have regarded attendance at a wedding to be an endorsement of the union.
Not attending certain weddings has created a bit of awkwardness with folks, but we didn’t want to set a bad example.
ok. i’m going to make a long and pointed comment on this because it is beginning to hurt my heart. i really love and have learned a lot from Alister Beg, his teaching, preaching and ministry. even today. he was preaching on Isa 41 and it was brilliant. also i know the long and sordid history of christian against christian sectarian violence over theological disagreements.
and oh brother, may God preserve Alister and his ministry. because, this situation strikes as ridiculous. we’re cancelling effective and longstanding ministers of God now, are we, for very small differences? like leftists’ cancel us? imho, this disagreement probably comes all under the umbrella of differences different denominations have out of common with CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity. i can certainly make a Biblical argument from Paul and Romans to support Alister’s advice to in some cases go celebrate with a group of sinners. not that Alisters’ argument would be mine. it would be a specific situation and i would have prayed on it before going, but i could see myself attending such a wedding, under some circumstance.
i believe Alister is still on God’s side, and and that God is continuing to use him mightily. he’s not ‘slipping’ for a long time as i’ve seen in other scurrilous posts against him. and i’m sure he has a Biblical reason for giving his advice to this particular woman. the other thing that might be involved involved is a pastoral relationship under the Holy Spirit that Alister had while ministering to this parishioner.
as a side note, going back a few years to another great Christian minister who was canceled, wrongly in my opinion. i’m glad that at least Alister is still alive to defend himself unlike the christian apologist Ravi Zacharias when the leftists in Christian Inc. decided to smoke him after he passed on to Glory.
“i believe Alister is still on God’s side”
🙄
:).
I likely know more about this situation than you do. Ravi was indeed slandered, which is heartbreaking.
Innocent until PROVEN guilty. You have proof of the allegations? If not, maybe accept that he was slandered.
Are you?
That info should have been put out there. Sad that it was not.
Sorry that you had to be involved in that! Don't know how close you were to your step-daughter (I'm assuming that she was already an adult when you married her mother, which would explain why you were "flabbergasted.")
So your wife is now the grandmother of that little girl. Does she ever come to "Grandma's House" for a visit?
Regards,
“..So your wife is now the grandmother of that little girl. Does she ever come to “Grandma’s House” for a visit?...”
We’re still very close to my step-daughter, but she knows we don’t agree with her lifestyle. Otherwise, she’s a good kid. I service her vehicle whenever it needs it. We’ve assisted her financially all thru nursing school. My wife communicates with her weekly.
As for the little girl, we used to babysit and/or have her visit here quite often and always looked forward to it. She’s a beautiful little girl. We love and miss her so much. I was the only adult male she had in her life. She “adopted” me...LOL. I’d let her sit on my lap and steer my tractor around the back field. She’d try to help me plant seeds the garden. She’d follow me around like a lost puppy dog everywhere I went. We’d just hang out together pretty much the whole time she’d be here. We’d chase each other around the house and play games with her until all three of us were totally worn out. God knew what he was doing when He gave kids to young people...LOL.
Since their divorce, the other woman has now married a man that also has a little girl about the same age. My step-daughter continues in that lifestyle and has lost custody of her. Since the other woman and her husband now have her, we’ve been forbidden to go anywhere near her, let alone have a kind of grandparent relationship with her. It’s heartbreaking but that’s the way it is now days.
Your narrative is still missing vital clues.
Is the step-daughter the biological mother of the child?
If so: Why / how did she lose custody and even visitation rights?
Regards,
In a simple debate (let alone in a "court of law"), whoever asserts "A" is obliged to prove "A."
It is not incumbent upon the person questioning or disputing a slander to prove that it is false. Rather, it is incumbent upon the slanderer (or anyone else chiming in on that slander, as you - af_vet_1981 - have done) to provide evidence supporting the slanderous assertion.
Your pointing out that this is not a "court of law" is an evasion / distraction. Even in mere polite conversation, this axiom holds.
If, however, Theo indeed possesses "insider info" exonerating Ravi, then we other FReepers would welcome his sharing it.
Regards,
“..Is the step-daughter the biological mother of the child?..”
No. The other woman is. My step-daughter’s egg was artificially inseminated by a voluntary unknown man and implanted into the other woman who then gave birth.
FWIW, there have been a couple of other very similar court cases in the nation that had handed down that custody goes to the birth mother.
Original court arguments were a mess, but in the end, it really boiled down to had the better attorney. Last we heard, she’s gonna try to appeal for at least some better visitation rights than what she has now. Plus, the other woman and her husband have since moved far away. Other than trying to help her out a little bit financially, we’ve stayed out of it.
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.