Today we examine two articles that were in the Adventist Review last month.
A High Calling by Judy Ramos 11-27-24
Love in Practice by Luise Schneeweiß 11-30-24
A High Calling
Judy Ramos’ article begins by stating that we have a responsibility to teach our children in today’s complex cultural climate. I agree.
What she didn’t say is that it is our responsibility to teach truth to them. This, I believe, sets the tone for the rest of the article, which is an exercise in human reasoning on the LGBTQ problem.
“Throughout history the LGBTQ+ community has often experienced rejection and discrimination, much of it rooted in societal and religious beliefs. To date, there are several countries that enforce the death penalty for same-sex relations.3 As recently as 1969, 49 U.S. states criminalized most forms of same-sex intimacy.4 Since then, the country has sought to make significant cultural shifts toward equity and inclusion.”
This paragraph is a problem. Our country hasn’t just sought to make significant cultural shifts towards equity and inclusion, our culture has built an idol to homosexuality and is compelling everyone to worship that idol or face increasing political, social, and financial marginalization. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is a cancer seeking to remake America in the image of cultural Marxism and critical theory.
Closer to home, the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists is becoming increasingly outspoken on political issues as they reconstruct the Everlasting Gospel into a social justice caricature. Watch for it, and reject it.
The culture in which you and I live in came from somewhere. It’s not neutral. It is being affected by profoundly anti-Christian notions passed off as the truth—ie. Neo paganism.
“Adventist school leaders and teachers believe that they have the sacred calling of guiding our children through a biblical worldview shaped by the beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The official statement by the General Conference (GC) affirms that intimate relationships and sexual practices are reserved for monogamous, heterosexual marriages.5” In 2017 the GC released a statement regarding transgender individuals, asserting that those who are committed to the biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality can be members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.6 These guidelines focus on sexual purity based on the individual’s convictions, practices, and behavior, rather than sexual orientation.”
Seventh-day Adventists don’t just believe that we have a calling to guide our children through a biblical worldview shaped by the beliefs of the SDA church, we have a mandate from heaven to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Luke 4:4). We are constrained to live by the Word of God no matter what culture says.
“Sexual orientation can manifest at varying ages, but often occurs at the time of puberty, when children are already enrolled in our schools.7 These are the same children in our beginner classes, summer camps, and Adventurer and Pathfinder clubs. In other words, they are part of our spiritual family. How do we respond when they manifest and express these differences?”
Believing you are a boy when you are a girl and vice-versa is not just a benign difference, but rather a sinful lie based on axiological rebellion and moral confusion. Believing that homosexual sin is an acceptable alternative lifestyle justified by our feelings is the embodiment of believing a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
Only when we identify moral confusion for the sin that it is can we help young people resolve lies in their life and return to the liberating truths of the Bible. Additionally, people who choose to live in rebellion to God’s moral law are not part of our spiritual family. A believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit within him, enabling us to be more than conquers through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). An individual in rebellion to God’s moral laws has the Holy Spirit only as an external force of conviction (Psalm 51:11; John 16:8-9). The good news is that LGBTQ sin can be biblically resolved through repentance, confession and cleansing. The heart of a person can connect to the Lord after these lies are broken through biblical truth, and peace, joy and freedom can fill their lives.
“Students, families, and staff should clearly know and understand what is considered for admission, discipline, and termination.8 Handbooks should be revisited annually, not only for accountability but also to remain relevant and foster trust within the wider community. School leaders should be proactive and engage in research findings and best practices within education and the church.”
Agreed, except for the nod to “research findings.” Our culture is determined to justify LGBTQ sin with false science. We reject science when it is based on lies against the Word of God (1 Timothy 6:20).
“Every student who is admitted to our Adventist schools deserves to be treated with fairness and respect—regardless of their differences—and has the right to receive the support needed to be successful. With our world’s recent history of homophobia, it is essential that teachers regularly examine their own biases. Everyone struggles with stereotypes based on upbringing, belief systems, and experience, but teachers must do the work of self-reflection to ensure equity in their classrooms. The Bible reflects how Jesus consistently prioritized reaching people based on their individual needs, including those who were marginalized or misunderstood.”
Homophobia?? Biases?? Ensure equity?? This paragraph is nonsense, laden with cultural leftism. It is a DEI statement wrapped around the axle of liberal theology.
“We must also recognize that showing kindness and support to someone who is living contrary to our belief system is not enabling or condoning their choices. It is sobering to know that 41 percent of LGBTQ youth considered suicide this past year.9 Our schools should be places of safety, where students are valued and supported as they navigate the challenging chapters of adolescence and young adulthood.”
We should be kind to people who are suffering from moral lies, and wage consistent biblical warfare against those lies (2 Corinthians 10:4). This means rescuing people from sin and helping them walk in truth (1 John 1:6-7). Stop worrying about the anti-Christian culture’s hostility to biblical conversion.
Ramos closes with this paragraph,
“The sacred duty of reflecting Christ’s character in words, actions, and decisions rests on our teachers. At this time of earth’s history, this is a clarion call to lead our schools with courage to remain faithful to God’s Word, wisdom to make sound decisions, and love that seeks to save. May the Lord continue to guide Adventist educators to navigate the challenges of sexual diversity in the classroom.”
Our cultural elites may never consider homosexuality shameful, but churches and schools that define marriage as one man and one woman serve a noble end by defining what is as what ought to be. We do not help each other in the fight for holiness when we allow for righteousness to look increasingly strange and sin to look increasingly normal.
It’s not sexual diversity, it is sin.
Love in Practice
Luise Schneeweiß’s article begins,
“A person’s sexual orientation is the gender someone feels attracted to. That they do not feel heterosexual is a shock for many Christians. Feeling trapped in the wrong body and struggling with one’s sexual identity is equally difficult.”
Feeling are never the guide to truth. A boy who feels like a girl is believing lies about himself and needs the liberating power of truth in his life. Feelings are treacherously deceptive, and we don’t go very far into the Bible before we see it. “Eve saw that the tree was good…”. It wasn’t good. So, kick feelings off the throne of your life and start living by principles found in the Word of God, and you’ll be all right. Schneeweiß continues,
“Most people are unaware of the differentiation between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. The Bible speaks about same-sex behavior, not orientation.
In pastoral care, to declare someone’s orientation itself a sin is problematic, even if it is a consequence of our fallen nature. Christians with same-sex feelings often suffer from feelings of shame and guilt. But temptation is not in itself sin.”
Pay attention here. The term ‘sexual orientation’ is a worldly term, not a biblical term. By using it, Schneeweiß is trying to decouple homosexual desires from sin. The biblical term is “desires” (James 1:14) and the in this moral context desire is equated with lust.
If homosexual desires are not sin then they must be all right—is her not-so-subtle conclusion. Our wicked culture says that both homosexual desires and homosexual acts are perfectly fine. Progressives in the church are trying to say that one is bad and the other ok. I take the position that both homosexual desires/lust and activity (sex) is sinful. The former is in need of being rewired by the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16; Romans 12:22). The latter needs forsaken and forgiven (John 8:11; 1 Cor 6:11). The grace of God is able to transform both.
What does the Bible say?
It is true that temptation is not in itself sin (James 1:15). Our Lord was tempted too (Luke 4:2). He did not indulge lust, but rather was repulsed by it.
What the author of this article fails to explain is how orientation/desire differs from lust, and how a person who is already believing lies about themselves can be expected to walk in truth regarding their desires.
Jesus was clear that having lust for another person in your heart is sin. James equates these unholy desires with lust; both homosexual desires and adulterous thoughts are sin (Matthew 5:28).
“Biblically, there is nothing to prevent a person tempted with homosexual feelings from being baptized, working in the church, or even holding a leadership position if they reject the temptation.”
Again, the assumption that homosexual feelings can exist apart from desire/lust is unproven and opens the door to baptizing unholy lust into the church. Schneeweiß continues,
“People in the early church who had same-sex inclinations were accepted without being seen as second-class Christians, provided they rejected the behavior (1 Cor. 6:9-11).3”
Progressive LGBTQ allies in the church have contended for years that 1 Corinthians 6:9 does not refer to homosexuality, but rather to rape or prostitution. I’m glad that this author (Schneeweiß) admits the obvious, that “homosexuals and sodomites” refers to homosexuals and sodomites. She also affirms that fornicators, idolaters, adulters, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners will not inherit the kingdom of God apart from the grace and adoption of God. They are not children of God, unless by repentance and adoption through Jesus Christ.
“Everyone has a place in our church regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Not so. Paul just told us that homosexuals and sodomites will NOT inherit the kingdom of God.
“If someone reveals their sexual orientation and comes out to you, prove trustworthy! Appreciate their courage, and don’t react with shock.”
In others words, coming out as a homosexual or trans person is an event worthy of celebration. It is a pseudo-conversion experience, substituting the celebration of inordinate desires in place of the new birth experience.
“Refrain from moralizing. The individual probably knows what Adventists think about homosexuality.”
Not all Adventists. Lefty Adventists like the Spectrum crowd applaud sexual deviancy (Philippians 3:19). Many of our ‘higher learning’ professors in SDA universities also affirm LGBTQ deviancy. I guess their higher learning led them to lower standards.
In the 3rd footnote, it says, "It is inappropriate to declare homosexual intercourse the greatest sexual sin, while we make light of sins from the heterosexual spectrum..." Ironically, the whole premise of this article is that homosexual orientation is some sort of super-temptation that even God's grace is powerless to change.
Conclusion
I don't believe issues related to homosexuality are worse than any other sin-caused issue we face. Neither will I concede to the devil, regardless of whether the cause of same-sex attraction is nature or nurture, that this one challenge is beyond the power of God to transform.
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