Comments on: A Status Confessionis Issue

By: Nate Archer

Nate Archer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:24:51 +0000

Shanda 20048, if we think we have “the right to worship” we are off track from the start.

By: John Gardner

John Gardner — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:43:04 +0000

If I may, here are three thoughts to add to a discussion that often (as has been the case at the RCA blog) seems to devolve into a re-hashing of the same tired arguments without making much progress in creating change.

1) We must take care that in our stand on the Biblical truth that homosexuality is sin, we do not exclude (by decree or by our attitudes) homosexuals from attending our services (Rom. 10:14). This has already been stated in these comments, but it bears repeating.

2) A gay person’s greatest need is NOT to become straight. His greatest need is Jesus Christ. It is only through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that any sinner has hope of denying our sinful nature. Homosexuals are no different in that regard.

3) As someone who has witnessed firsthand the extraordinarily powerful testimony of many former homosexuals who have been transformed by God’s grace, I have come to view homosexuality in light of John 9:3. By that I mean that I believe that God allows some to be tempted in this way so that through them the works of God might be displayed. These people are spiritually blind, like so many in the world, but when a gay person’s blindness is removed and the Spirit begins the renewing work, there can be no doubt that a miracle has occurred!

Homosexuals are, by and large, a vast, unreached people group. God calls Christians to love them, for they are what we were apart from grace. We must prepare ourselves for the specific cultural challenges of reaching homosexuals with the Gospel in the same way that foreign missionaries would prepare for the cultural challenges of taking the Gospel to an unreached people group over seas. We must welcome them into our church buildings without ambiguity in our teaching against sin. We must have a support structure in place to encourage and provide accountability for those struggling with homosexual temptation who fail to live up to the standard of perfection even after coming to a saving faith in Christ.

Thank you, as always, Kevin, for being a voice of reason and an advocate of Truth.

By: Truth Unites... and Divides

Truth Unites... and Divides — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:05:01 +0000

Thanks Kevin. It’s nice to know that corporate discipline can and has occurred in the RCA. It’s necessary at times.

By: Kevin DeYoung

Kevin DeYoung — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:03:16 +0000

Lots of comments and questions here, but let me answer TUAD’s. In 2005 the General Synod of the RCA voted to discipline Norm Kansfield for his role in officiating the “wedding” ceremony for his lesbian daughter (in Jonathon Edward’s old church of all places). Kansfield, former president at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, was deposed as a General Synod Professor of Theology and suspended as a Minister of Word and Sacrament. The tricky part with discipline in the RCA is that you are only accountable to your classis (presbytery). Kansfield, as a GS Professor of Theology (a fourth office in the RCA) was amendable to the whole denomination. This meant that anyone in the denomination could file a charge against him, as opposed to only those in your local classis.

By: Truth Unites... and Divides

Truth Unites... and Divides — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:45:01 +0000

I would also add that abortion is another status confessionis issue. Being against abortion is the Biblical position.

By: Truth Unites... and Divides

Truth Unites... and Divides — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:27:25 +0000

Kevin DeYoung: “Two, the RCA refuses to speak and act consistently on this issue. As long as the RCA continues to push dialogue, as long as the RCA tolerates groups like Room for All which work contrary to the stated beliefs of the General Synod, and as long as the RCA holds hands with denominations like the UCC and the ELCA this controversy will continue.”

Does one ever move from dialogue to discipline in the RCA?

And if it appears that biblical discipline is not going to be ever exercised on those who wish to minimize or eliminate same-sex sin as a status confessionis issue, then what’s the next step for a faithful undershepherd and his congregation in the RCA?

By: Jeremy Hetrick

Jeremy Hetrick — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:37:21 +0000

Kevin, thank you for seeking to hold the line of biblical conviction on this issue. My family lineage came through the ELCA and though I’m not in that church anymore, my family (parents, grandparents) are and the recent decisions on homosexuality are very sad and an abomination the Christ. In talking with my family, the one main argument that I believe that has helped has been using the question: What does this say about the Cross of Christ? If condoning the sin of homosexuality and making it okay to do it occurs, those who condone it really are withholding the powerful forgiveness and transformation that is possible for people who are sinning in homosexuality. Withholding the power of the cross to those who desperately need it is seemingly even more horrible than the sin itself. Because I have seen people saved and transformed out of this lifestyle, I indeed join with you to advocate clearly that what Scripture says is wrong also is redeemable and the redemption can be amazingly satisfying…more so than the sin that lies about its own pleasures. May the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ NOT be withheld from those who are so desperately needing it!

By: Juan

Juan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:18:01 +0000

I think that it is important to differentiate two things in this debate. The Church has an obligation to preach the truth. The truth is that homosexuality, hypocrisy, adultery, drunkenness, failing to feed and clothe the poor, failing to visit the sick, failing to visit for those in prison or not giving a drink to the thirsty is sinful conduct that we must put off of our lives. If we don’t agree on this we can’t continue the discussion to the next line of argument as to how we handle these sins in the Church. I agree that the Church has committed the sin of hypocrisy in dealing with a lot of these issues. However, the truth is that homosexual conduct is a sin and the Church cannot remain neutral.

By: John Thomson

John Thomson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:44:30 +0000

I agree completely with Kevin’s comments on homosexuality. I read, however, the comments on his blog on the RCA website and couldn’t but agree with the observation that Matt 19 which implicitly condemns homosexuality explicitly condemns most, if not all divorce and remarriage. Yet evangelicals have a shameful record in recent years on this matter.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, however, the accusation of hypocrisy stings.

By: Clay Walden

Clay Walden — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:52:05 +0000

Kevin, Thanks for your thoughtful and biblically faithful post. I know your stand has not been easy. Please know that our family is lifting you and your family up in prayer.

“We shall soon have to handle truth, not with kid gloves, but with gauntlets, – the gauntlets of holy courage and integrity. Go on, ye warriors of the cross, for the King is at the head of you.” Charles Spurgeon