Here I Stand
Asking God to sanctify sin by blessing what he condemns is irresponsible, irreverent, and blasphemous. It is completely unacceptable as church policy. I will not do it.
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In 2002, the synod of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster authorized its bishop to produce a service for blessing same-sex unions, to be used in any parish of the diocese that requests it.
A number of synod members walked out to protest the decision. J. I. Packer was one of those who walked out.
When asked why he walked out, he answered, “Because this decision, taken in its context, falsifies the gospel of Christ, abandons the authority of Scripture, jeopardizes the salvation of fellow human beings, and betrays the church in its God-appointed role as the bastion and bulwark of divine truth.”
Nearly 14 years ago, this biblical scholar demonstrated a respect and confidence in the functional, life-directing authority of Scripture rather than in the subjective opinions of man.
I have attempted to describe my heart and spirit as I enter this “public” debate relative to God’s Word. I have often pointed to men like Paul, Peter, John, and Jude who were unashamed of standing on the Truth of God’s Word and pointed out error.
I found Jude’s word in his New Testament letter (verses 3-4), to be the summation of my convictions and the reason for my standing for God’s Word.
I have decided, regardless of what personal preferences other pastors may hold and irrespective of the cultural trends in play, I will affirm the Bible as the ethical standard by which to judge my life and my responsibility.
Regardless of the opinions of the pseudo-intellects of our day, many who stand in pulpits that once stood upon Biblical Truth, there are only two ways to exegete Paul’s thought in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 and other similar biblical passages.
One is to embrace an artificial interpretation of the text in which Paul is conceived as speaking of something other than same-sex union.
The second approach, as J.I. Packer notes, “is to let experience judge the Bible.”
……..Experience suggests that homosexual behavior is fulfilling to some; therefore, the Bible’s prohibition of it is wrong. But the appropriate response is that “the Bible is meant to judge our experience rather than the other way around,” and “feelings of sexual arousal and attraction, generating a sense of huge significance and need for release in action as they do, cannot be trusted as either a path to wise living or a guide to biblical interpretation.”
J.I. Packer helps even the most timid among us understand “WHAT IS REALLY at stake” in today’s discussion; it is the nature of the Bible itself. Packer writes,
……Either the historic Christian belief that through the prophets, the incarnate Son, the apostles, and the writers of canonical Scripture as a body, God has used human language to tell us definitively and trans-culturally about his ways, his works, his will, and his worship. Furthermore, this revealed truth is grasped by letting the Bible interpret itself to us from within, in the knowledge that the way into God’s mind is through that of the writers. Through them, the Holy Spirit who inspired them teaches the church. Finally, one mark of sound biblical insights is that they do not run counter to anything else in the canon. . .[scripture]. . .
The second view applies to Christianity
. . .the Enlightenment’s trust in human reason, along with the fashionable evolutionary assumption that the present is wiser than the past. It concludes that the world has the wisdom, and the church must play intellectual catch-up in each generation in order to survive. From this standpoint, everything in the Bible becomes relative to the church’s evolving insights, which themselves are relative to society’s continuing development (nothing stands still), and the Holy Spirit’s teaching ministry is to help the faithful see where Bible doctrine shows the cultural limitations of the ancient world and needs adjustment in light of latter-day experience (encounters, interactions, perplexities, states of mind and emotion, and so on). Same-sex unions are one example. This view is scarcely 50 years old, though its antecedents go back much further.
Please understand there is more than an intellectual battle going on today or a fight among the preachers……..to bless homosexual behavior is an explicit deviation from the biblical gospel and the historic Christian creed.
The doctrines of creation, sin, regeneration, and sanctification are necessarily distorted in the effort to justify same-sex intimacy. Not to mention that the Apostle Paul writes that the eternal welfare of the individual is at stake.
We must not allow the forces of political correctness or a desire to be “liked” to trump the compelling factor that the love of Christ causes us to tell the truth.
Martin Luther, the Reformer, said in 1521:
Unless you prove to me by Scripture and plain reason that I am wrong, I cannot and will not recant. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe [it endangers the soul]. Here I stand. There is nothing else I can do. God help me. Amen.
To be clear, I summarize…
My prayer and effort will be to “be Christ Like” In discussion and dialogue. I will seek HIS strength to “speak the Truth in Love”. I will be fair and clear in my words and expressions.
However, I am reminded that Jesus Loved Perfectly as he taught, lived and engaged His Culture; and they still Killed Him.
Second, this is NOT PERSONAL. Nearly every family has as a friend, uncle, aunt, son, daughter, colleague who is “caught up in some sin”. I want to speak Truth so our friends and family will come to the Truth and be assured of Eternal Life with the Father.
Finally, the belief that what God has revealed in the written Word is binding on the consciences of all Christians and gives shape to their behavior on every issue, not merely same-sex marriage, will be my approach to living the Christian life and the guide for exercising the calling God has placed on my life.
Dr. Tom Smiley is a pastor, author, speaker, blogger, husband, grand dad, and Christ-follower. He is a regional radio talk show host with WDUN Jacobs Media. He is the founder of Life with Smiles Ministry and Church Well Solutions, a ministry consulting work. His Sunday messages are broadcast on WDUN 550, and his “blog” entries and thoughts on God, Christian faith, current events, politics and Islam are available at https://tomsmiley.wordpress.com/
His books: Runaway Lives: Overcoming Emotional Undercurrents, Angels all Around, and Uncommon Common Sense can be ordered at his Life with Smiles website (www.lifewithsmiles.com). Dr. Smiley is available for speaking engagements and discussion forums and can be contacted at tsmiley@lakewoodlife.org or by calling 770.532.6307 or email at tsmiley@lakewoodlife.org
I found content and and facts from from Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit by Sam Storms, which is part of the Theologians on the Christian Life series, To be very helpful in writing this BLOG. I recommend your review.
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