Written by Carl R. Trueman |
Friday, July 19, 2024
As to the young people, my wife and I had many conversations that indicated a real desire to find roots in the historic Christian faith. Many had backgrounds in Brethren churches, rooted in Anabaptism. They were appropriately grateful for the love of Jesus and the pastoral care that their Brethren churches had shown them, but they were aware that in a world where the broader culture is increasingly indifferent to or even hostile to the faith, they needed more solid food: coherent doctrine expressed in thoughtful, well-structured worship that draws upon the historic, confessional resources of traditional Christianity. 

The news from Europe is dominated by the U.K. and French elections—and the apparent chaos that the latter in particular seems to anticipate. It might be easy to dismiss the continent as being in the death-throes of an old world order. Our world is one where despair is very chic, predictions of apocalyptic doom are effective clickbait, and the very online political classes of both extremes are happy to capitalize on peddling these narratives in which they have a vested interest. But having just returned from nearly three weeks in Europe, I am happy to report that there are other stories worth reflecting upon.
While there, I spoke at four church gatherings, one in Germany and three in the Netherlands. The first, for the organization Evangelium21, was in Hamburg. It was attended by over 1200 people, leaders and lay. The vast majority were under the age of thirty. At fifty-seven, I think I may well have been the oldest person in the building. In the Netherlands, I spoke at a conference of several hundred organized by Tyndale Seminary, then at a larger gathering sponsored by the group Bijbels Beraad. Finally, I agreed to speak at a youth gathering on a Thursday night to give two lectures. Over six hundred young people, aged sixteen–twenty-four, turned up to listen to me speak on the roots of modern anxiety and then on the theology of public worship. That was on a school night.
Everywhere I went, my wife and I had remarkable conversations both with pastors and young people. Pastors feel the same pressure in Europe that many experience here: the need to allow the politicians to determine their priorities, whether the demands of the progressive internationalists or the reactive nationalists. They are aware of this pressure and understand the danger of speaking gospel truth only to one side of the political divide. Short-term strategic truncation of the gospel is too easily a prelude to a long-term Christianity that is no Christianity. Political expediency, like cultural relevance, is a fickle and imperious mistress. Pastors well-grounded in the creedal truths of the faith understand this.
Read More
Related Posts:

Written by M. D. Perkins |
Monday, August 22, 2022
The book Dangerous Affirmation is intended to serve as an introduction, rebuttal, and warning. It was written to help the average person in the pew to understand what is being argued by major “gay Christian” thinkers and to respond to it biblically. Although the Bible is the primary focus, I did not shy away from discussing controversial topics like homophobia, LGBT suicide rates, conversion therapy laws, and the rise of “gay celibate Christianity.” Truth demands proper application to every aspect of our life and society.

Let’s see if you’ve heard any of these statements before:

God made people gay and therefore being gay should be celebrated and affirmed.
Jesus never mentioned homosexuality even once.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about inhospitality and greed, not homosexuality.
If the Bible were written today, it would be gay-affirming.
The Bible doesn’t say anything about sexual orientation.
Christians hate gay people and need to change their theology to be more loving.

If you’ve heard one or more of these statements before—whether on social media, in conversation with a family member, or even promoted by a supposedly Christian pastor—you have just encountered one of the many influences of “gay Christianity.”
Throughout two thousand years of church history, Christians have understood—and Christian churches have taught—that homosexuality is a sin. It is “against nature” (Romans 1:26–27). It is an “abomination” (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). It can be described as “vile affections” or “dishonorable passions” (Romans 1:26). It is not God’s design for marriage or family (Genesis 2:18–25). It is something that God does not bless, nor can He because it is defiantly against His revealed will (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). And because it is against God’s will and design, to embrace and celebrate homosexuality is to evoke God’s judgment—as an individual, church, or nation (Genesis 19:1–29). Since Christianity took root in the West, the Bible’s teaching against homosexuality has defined public policy and social attitudes in Europe and America.
But a strange thing has happened in the years surrounding the sexual revolution. The Bible that had once been so clear on sexuality suddenly became pretty fuzzy. Morals and ethics were subject to redefinition. Study committees needed to meet in order to discuss what the Bible was now saying. Churches found reasons to defy their former standards and force others to change with them. And Christians became more and more confused about what was true. The influence of “gay Christianity” can be seen in many ways across the church and society today.
Fundamentally, gay Christianity is the attempt to reconcile the Christian faith with homosexuality. I use “gay Christianity” as a label for this general movement, although I recognize that there are differing streams of thinking within it. Sometimes these differing streams have competing goals and conflicting theological claims and are not nearly as unified as the general term may imply. However, it is important to see the points of similarity and difference while also observing the common thrust of the movement as a whole. That is why I wrote the book Dangerous Affirmation: The Threat of “Gay Christianity,” now available from American Family Association.
What do I mean by saying “gay Christianity” is the attempt to reconcile the Christian faith with homosexuality? The Christian faith is the body of beliefs, practices, and values—rooted in the Bible—that have defined the teaching, worship, and ministry of the Christian church throughout her existence. As briefly mentioned above, the Christian faith recognized homosexuality as sinful and unnatural—a view universally agreed upon until the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
Homosexuality is likewise a broad term—including notions of desire, attraction, sexual behavior, relationships, identity, language, community, and culture. One aspect of the gay debate within the church is the ever-broadening definition of homosexuality within Western culture. As homosexuality is lived out by people and embraced by society, the particular meanings that may be ascribed to the concept of homosexuality change. Even the words used to describe homosexuality change over time—such as the emergence of the word gay as the preferred term for identifying as a homosexual.
The last element of this definition of “gay Christianity” is the word reconcile. Reconcile means to bring into harmony, to settle a conflict, or to make two things consistent that were at one time inconsistent. If the Christian faith and homosexuality are seen as being at odds, then “gay Christianity” is the attempt to find some level of compatibility between them. It assumes that these two ideas are not fundamentally opposed but have points of common agreement. For instance, this is what “gay Christians” are arguing when they say that “gay Christian” is not a contradiction in terms or that God blesses same-sex marriage.
The book Dangerous Affirmation is intended to serve as an introduction, rebuttal, and warning. It was written to help the average person in the pew to understand what is being argued by major “gay Christian” thinkers and to respond to it biblically. Although the Bible is the primary focus, I did not shy away from discussing controversial topics like homophobia, LGBT suicide rates, conversion therapy laws, and the rise of “gay celibate Christianity.” Truth demands proper application to every aspect of our life and society.
There are five central ways in which “gay Christianity” is impacting the Christian church:

The rethinking of theology (chapter 1).
The rethinking of the Bible (chapter 2).
The re- thinking of the church (chapter 3).
The rethinking of identity (chapter 4).
The rise of LGBT activists within the church (chapter 5).

Each chapter includes a careful explanation of some facet of that problem, illustrations of how these things have been seen, and guidance for understanding these issues in light of Scripture. A list of recommended resources that may help further inquiry is included at the end as well as extensive indexes to help find subjects or scriptures referenced in the book.
For those concerned about honoring God with your lives, I hope and pray that Dangerous Affirmation stirs you to think about the threat “gay Christianity” poses to the church and the world. I hope it renews your thinking because it presents the Word of God clearly and applies the truth accurately. That was my goal.
(Editor’s Note: Click HERE to watch a trailer about this informative new book.)
M.D. Perkins is Research Fellow of Church And Culture at the American Family Association.

Related Posts:

Highlights:Young adults today have grown up far less likely to have participated in formal worship services or observed religious behaviors in their parents.The well-being of young adults has dramatically declined compared to older age groups—a decline that is much larger for age than for any other variable, including gender or race.Religious participation in adolescence is associated with greater psychological well-being, character strengths, and lower risks of mental illness.

For decades, well-being across adulthood has followed what social scientists call a “U-shaped pattern:” higher well-being in young adulthood, a dip during midlife, and increased well-being in older age. But earlier this year, the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University released troubling findings showing that there has been a complete flattening out of the left side of this U-curve. The well-being of young adults has dramatically declined compared to older age groups—a decline that is much larger for age than for any other variable, including gender or race.
As reported in JAMA Psychiatry, “Our findings support evidence of a mental health crisis and increase in loneliness in the U.S. that has disproportionately affected young adults” and extends “to multiple additional facets of well-being beyond mental health.” Happiness, physical health, meaning, character, social relationships, and financial stability have all significantly declined for young adults. In Vanderweele’s words, this goes beyond a mental health crisis, with “potentially dire implications for the future of our nation.”
Potential causes for the mental health crisis among youth and young adults have been part of an ongoing cultural discussion. As the National Alliance on Mental Illness recently suggested, social media’s “constant comparisons and challenges to keep up with the pressure to perform,” the expectation that you need to “always be on” that is part of a technological world, the grief and fear resulting from a global crisis, and constant access to troubling news cycles surely all play a role.
But the decline across so many aspects of well-being suggests something even more fundamental is at work. Vanderweele calls it a crisis in meaning and identity, and with it, a crisis in connection. His conclusions parallel those of Columbia University’s, Lisa Miller, whose extensive work as a clinical psychologist and brain researcher led her to conclude that it is “the absence of support for children’s spiritual growth”—the innate set of perceptual capacities through which we experience connection, unity, love and a sense of guidance from the life force within in and through us—that has contributed to alarming rates of depression, substance abuse, addictive behaviors, and decreased well-being.
As Vanderweele and Miller both note, religion has traditionally supplied this essential support with significant implications for adolescent development and health. In fact, evidence suggests that religious involvement may have even more profound health effects for adolescence than for adulthood, with far reaching implications across the life course. A 2003 review of research on the role of religion in the lives of American adolescents attempted to summarize what was known up to that time. Among other positive effects, the report found striking and consistent relationships between adolescent religiosity and healthy lifestyle behaviors, a modest relationship between religiosity and self-esteem and moral self-worth, and “modest protective effects” against alcohol, smoking, and drug use. Stronger effects were reported for sexual activity with multiple facets of religiosity, including attendance, the importance of faith, and denomination, typically predicting later sexual engagement and less risky behaviors.
Recent research incorporating more robust methodological designs has confirmed what these other cross-sectional studies found: religious participation in adolescence is associated with greater psychological well-being, character strengths, and lower risks of mental illness. For example, a recent longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents found that religious observance reduced probabilities for drug use, risky sexual behaviors, and depression. Lisa Miller similarly found that adolescents who had a positive, active relationship to spirituality were significantly less likely to use and abuse substances (40% less likely), experience depression (60%), or engage in risky or unprotected sex (80%).
Understanding the mechanisms through which religion positively impacts adolescent and young adult development further clarifies the expanse of its influence. Previous research suggested that religion was largely about social control—encouraging adolescents “not do something they otherwise might have done.” But it quickly became clear that a more multi-faceted theory of religious influence was necessary, including how religion shapes them through the families in which they grow up. As noted in the 2003 review of research, research consistently confirms the “common sense notion” that parents and their own religious practices are among “the strongest influences on the religious behavior of adolescents.” That means, of course, how parents model and teach religious behaviors. But it also means that religion shapes how parents relate to their children, whether in more authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive ways, influencing the quality of the relationship through which their religious beliefs are transmitted.
Christian Smith’s extensive research of adolescent religiosity led him to articulate three additional mechanisms through which religion positively impacts adolescent and young adult well-being. First, religion provides a set of moral orders that delineate good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable ways of being, and a focus on “virtuousness,” including self-regulation, a strong sense of self, and compassion for others. Second, religious participation builds competencies, including coping skills, knowledge, and cultural capital, that strengthen health, social status, and “life chances.” Finally, religious participation opens relationship ties with adults and peers who provide helpful resources and opportunities, emotional support and guidance in development, and models of demonstrated life paths from which to pattern their own lives.
Read More
Related Posts: