From Silence, to Complexification, to Capitulation

Life and Books and Everything — Clearly Reformed

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From Silence, to Complexification, to Capitulation

September 26, 2022

Life and Books and EverythingClearly Reformed

Evangelicals who set down the path toward LGBTQ acceptance rarely turn around and head back in the other direction.

In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions about why evangelicals surrender to the LGBTQ agenda.

Transcript

Welcome back to Life and Books and Everything. Today I'm reading from a recent world opinions piece I wrote entitled From Silence, to Complexification, to Capitulation, why Evangelical Surrender on LGBTQ is almost never a surprise. I don't often agree with David Gushy, the liberal Christian ethicist whose battles by his own description have included "issues like climate change, torture, LGBTQ inclusion, and white supremacism." But he spoke the uncomfortable truth when he observed years ago that when it comes to LGBTQ issues, there is no middle ground.

"Neutrality is not an option, neither is polite half-acceptance, nor is avoiding the subject. Hide as you might, the issue will come and find you." I thought of those words written way back in 2016. In recent weeks as I read of Michael Gerson's tacit approval of gay marriage, and of Dr. Bradley Nacif's claims that he was expunged from North Park University because he upholds traditional views of sexuality and marriage.

These aren't the first cases of a self-described Evangelical or Evangelical institution moving into the revisionist camp, nor will it be the last. I hope I'm wrong, but I have my mental list of writers, thinkers, schools, and organizations that eventually will make the same move. I almost wrote "jump" in the last sentence instead of "move," but "jump" is not really the right word.

Rarely do Evangelical leaders and institutions leap all at once from the open celebration and defense of orthodoxy to the open celebration and defense of what they once believed was heterodoxy. In fact, when Evangelical capitulation on LGBTQ issues makes the news, it is rarely a surprise. There are almost always a series of familiar steps.

First, there is silence. The Evangelical leader or publication or institution that used to be clear on matters of sexuality and marriage just doesn't talk about those issues anymore. No matter what controversy erupts or what new cultural pressure cries out for clarification, nothing is said.

It's as if the sexual revolutions cease to exist. Next comes "complexification." Even though the church around the globe for virtually two millennia had no trouble coming to settled in universal convictions about these issues, now questions about homosexuality and sexual differentiation become hopelessly complicated. The issues, it is said, demand multidisciplinary expertise such that the only humble conclusion is to be unsure of any conclusion.

Then there is usually an explicit pivot to other issues. Sex and marriage are set aside as minor ethical conundrums or minimized as a distraction for more urgent concerns. The bigger concerns may be racial justice and poverty for those left of center or missions and evangelism for the more conservative sort, but in either case there is a deliberate move to ignore the swirling sexual vortex threatening to destroy everything in its path.

In the next stage we see more frustration with those pointing out the sin than with those committing the sin. This is often the telltale sign that a change in views has already taken place. The evangelical leader may still boast that he or she is a "conservative," but it's only the conservatives that are bothersome anymore.

All of the sympathy now leans toward the revisionist side. There is great patience for the "sexual wriggler," and nothing but disdain for those who speak of sin, judgment, and the need for repentance. Along the way, a canon within a canon develops.

This is where leaders will boast of being "red letter Christians." Jesus has pitted against Paul, the Old Testament is shunted aside as irrelevant, at least, and probably "beknighted." Scripture no longer functions as an inerrant and unified whole. Careful exegesis disappears in the background as slogans and buzzwords take center stage. At the same time, the arguments become intensely personal and privatized.

The public debate at this point is not really about Scripture or the Catholic, small-see, Christian tradition. The discussion is focused on friends we know and people we've talked to. We often hear of how traumatized to the point of possible self-harm people are in our midst and how the Orthodox position and Orthodox churches are to blame.

Finally, the newfound enlightenment is acknowledged and celebrated. When formerly evangelical leaders, organizations, and institutions reach this point, there is much talk about how good it feels to finally be on the side of love and inclusion. Their old way of thinking is quickly dismissed as an unfortunate byproduct of having grown up in a fundamentalist family or an evangelical purity culture or, worst of all, in the Bible Belt.

To be sure, you may not see each one of these staging areas and evangelical leaders may not move through them in a fixed order by a steady progression, but the movement is unmistakable and it is unidirectional. Evangelicals who set down the path toward LGBTQ acceptance rarely turn around and head back in the other direction. And once the revisionists jump, that really wasn't a jump, is complete, the tolerance and inclusion don't usually last long.

Sex is too powerful a thing to allow for competing visions. And so the so-called Axiom or Law that Newhouse laid down years ago almost always proves true, where Orthodoxy is optional, Orthodoxy will sooner or later be outlawed. This is my world opinions piece from silence to complexification to capitulation.

Be sure to check out all the good articles there on the world's site.

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