Are you sure? Sure, I'm sure!
Previous articleBack to Table of ContentsNext article

FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY

Topic: The Foundations of Truth

Homosexuals, Politics and Ordaining Women

by Darrel Cline
(darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)

In another article (171) we wrote: "There are a gazillion forms of Christianity. Which gives us the Truth?" Then we concluded, that the only form of Christianity which is true is that form which finds out what the Bible says, and proclaims it clearly.

In this article I would like to point out some water-shed issues that help in our search for the truth of the Word of God as the expression of Truth. There are several that have surfaced in our generation. One is the issue of whether homosexual/lesbian relationships are acceptable in the church. Another is whether women are to be ordained for ministry to the church at large. A third is whether the church ought to be political. A fourth is the issue of the locus of authority for the church. A fifth is the issue of whether a priesthood is even legitimate, let alone whether the men ought to be forbidden to marry. A sixth is the primacy of actual Bible teaching in the ministry of the church. And, a seventh is the issue of ecumenical accommodation between competing doctrinal positions within visible Christendom.

The Bible addresses these issues with clarity and conviction. Churches that ignore what it says are clearly only Christian in name because Christianity comes from the Word of Christ.

For example: the Bible clearly teaches in multiple places that sexual relationships between human beings are restricted to opposite sex relationships that are within the confines of covenant loyalty commitments. The clarity with which the Bible speaks is obvious to everyone except those who wish to participate, or attract those who participate, in sexual immorality. The blindness of those who pervert its teachings arises from an agenda that is contrary to the written Word of God, so the deceptive manipulation of the Bible begins because of the unwillingness of human beings to be in submission to God in an area where they want autonomy more than God's pleasure. This is not Christian and neither are the churches which accept this perversion.

Secondly, the Scriptures are also crystal clear about the fact that women are not to exercise spiritual authority over men. The only historical movements in the past that have violated this clarity have been cultic distortions of biblical Christianity. And yet today, in the rush to be politically correct, many so-called churches have rushed headlong into the ordination of women. The facts of history and Scripture are adamantly against this, yet we see the practice gaining large-scale momentum in the visible expression of Christendom today. And, just like the homosexual debate, it is driven by those who have an agenda that departs from the divinely revealed one given in the Word of God.

Third, there is an enormous movement today in the American church to become political, that is fundamentally at odds with God's expressed intent in His Word. Politics is nothing more or less than an ego-driven power struggle with a view to the imposition of the agenda of the strugglers. This is totally contrary to Jesus' example and message. Yet, visible Christendom has baptized its efforts in the sanctifying waters of morality in arrogant ignorance of the words and example of Jesus. Anyone who really wants to be in the Truth must come honestly to the Truth.


(return to the top of the article)

Previous articleBack to Table of ContentsNext article
This is article #172.
If you wish, you may contact Darrel as darrelcline at this site.