It was several years ago that in preparing a speech for an upcoming event, I flipped on the local evening news.
The first story of the night was a double homicide on the city's northeast side. The second story was that police feared a serial rapist had struck again. The third story involved a string of armed robberies. And then it happened: The anchors turned to the fourth item on their laundry list of bad news, and detailed the removal of the Ten Commandments display at the local courthouse following a legal challenge.
And as I watched the two large forks dig into the soft ground, gently lifting the two stone tablets and placing them onto the back of a flatbed truck that then disappeared into the distance, I couldn't help but see a connection. I couldn't help but think that the first, second, and third story that night had a direct and indisputable connection to the fourth. That the physical removal of a monument reflected the far more significant spiritual removal of moral authority from the hearts and the minds of our people - and that such a reality was having devastating effects on public morality and civil safety.
That's exactly how I felt when perusing Not the Bee's homepage last week. These two headlines, appearing the same day, but separated by multiple other postings are connected. Inextricably, undeniably connected:
Let's begin with the latter story, which detailed how the Methodist Church's official hierarchy in Great Britain has scolded any of its ministers who do not use properly gendered language. Encouraging congregations to "repent of any hurtful language," the Church published an "Inclusive Language Guide" that called for the use of preferred pronouns, the adoption of made up titles like "Mx," and the need to cater to the feelings of "our non-binary friends."
One critic, cited in the piece, described the Methodist position succinctly:
It is no longer enough to acknowledge disordered lifestyles. Everything normative and ordered must be demolished for fear of causing offence.
But how in the world could an institution like the Methodist Church, one predicated on the absolute authority of God's Word, ever get to the point where it deems it sinful to not deny the design and purposes of the Almighty? Well, I think a lot of things ultimately play into it, but it begins with a hundred small compromises, just like Christianity Today is now promoting here in the U.S.
Enter story two, which covered responses to this beauty of a post by the aforementioned magazine.
As the NtB story detailed, some of the responses were especially cutting, biting, illuminating, and fiery. But leave all that to the side for a minute and just think about what the magazine is promoting. Of course it is good to "give grace" to one another, but no understanding of grace involves drawing moral equivalence between God's intentional design and man's sinful urges and feelings.
I don't know, nor particularly care, who the three "Christian leaders" cited in this article were. The lede posted here is alarming enough on its own. "Everything is changing so fast?" Really? God's word, His design, His instruction, counsel, and wisdom have been quickly changing? He no longer "created them male and female?" Jesus has had a change of heart since He affirmed that reality Himself?
Of course, every believer has both a responsibility and privilege to extend grace - that is, the same unmerited favor we receive - to those who earnestly and honestly seek after Christ. It is a curious conclusion that those promoting the wicked violation of God's 9th commandment in order to obscure and confuse His good design of sexual identity should receive a permissive grace.
In fact, it seems that those advocating for such a conclusion may find that what they believe they are championing - a respectful "acknowledgement of disordered lifestyles" - will soon find themselves surrounded by compatriots shouting, "Everything normative and ordered must be demolished for fear of causing offense!"
Compromise isn't the Great Commission, no matter what Christianity Today has come to believe.
