Wheaton College and homosexuality
Julie struck me as a bit boyish in dress and manner, yet still mainly female in expression. Though I think she was 27 at the time, she looked closer to 17. She was a little shy and timid, respectful but also engaging with a strong personality. My main impression: Julie was winsome in person, not just on paper, evincing an enthusiastic faith in God and a love for others, especially distressed teens.
My hope in meeting her was to encourage this gifted, caring person to remain committed to Jesus' vision of sexual ethics and to the apostolic witness to that vision. I felt good about the meeting and at least hopeful, if not convinced, that she would stay theologically solid.
Things didn't go exactly as I had hoped in the next couple of months. She expressed support for the closing of Exodus at the last day of the 2013 conference and continued her association with Alan Chambers. Chambers had bought into a cheap-grace theology, regularly assuring homosexually active persons who professed to be Christians that they would "go to heaven" irrespective of their impenitent behavior.
She gravitated strongly to a Christian couple who, after their "gay" son committed suicide, promoted publicly an acceptance of homosexual relations (including at the 2013 Exodus conference). Her blog chastising Christians for opposing "gay marriage" (July 1, 2013) caused me enough concern that I responded in an online article.
Julie had a habit of lumping everything under the rubric of an amorphous "gay Christianity," often blurring the critical boundary between (1) those whose identity was wrapped up in gratifying same-sex attractions and (2) those who in the midst of such attractions faithfully located their identity in a Spirit-led life. Where biblical writers were very much concerned with moral choices that could lead to exclusion from God's eternal kingdom and warned repeatedly against such false steps, Julie seemed to me to take more of a laissez-faire approach: Let's support the person's decision, whatever it is.
"Gay" had become her own reified identity. The prospect of one day being in a heterosexual marriage felt to her "as likely as becoming Santa's chief elf" (cited also here). Although she continued to acknowledge that some persons did experience substantial orientation change, she came across as dismissive of all ministries and counselors operating with this hope. She adopted the concept of "sexual minorities," despite the fact that the benign, non-behavioral condition of race is very different from unnatural sexual desires to do what God forbids.
Given these warning signs, I was surprised to hear in Summer 2014 that Julie had been appointed to the post of Ministry Associate for Spiritual Care in the Chaplain's Office at Wheaton College. She was charged with the care of students in a group called Refuge.
Officially recognized in Feb. 2013, Refuge was supposed to be a "safe place for students who have questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity." Wheaton's website makes clear that it was not set up to be "a gay-straight alliance" or "advocacy group." Members were expected to have "a fervent striving toward sexual purity and holiness" and abstain from "homosexual behavior." In practice it is not clear that all the students in Refuge share this vision. Wheaton permits — whether naïvely, pragmatically, or for legal reasons, I do not know — students to adopt obfuscating, politically-charged "LBGTQ" identity labels.
Why Wheaton officials didn't recognize the red flags when they hired Julie, I can only guess. (Lest there be confusion, I think Wheaton College is a great Christian institution, with wonderful staff and faculty, which I would not hesitate to recommend to others.) The fact that she was winsome, energetic, edgy, and communicated both love for Jesus and compassion for distressed same-sex-attracted youth must have been part of the reason. She was committed to celibacy and still acknowledged that Scripture was clear about a male-female requirement for marriage (see this video of her posted Feb. 2015; also her Apr. 2014 blog on Matthew Vines; her comments at an Apr. 2015 Q Conference). She had a Wheaton connection, having attended Wheaton her freshman year. Perhaps too she was recommended to Wheaton by a Wheaton alum, fellow celibate "gay" Christian, Dr. Wesley Hill.
I thought about warning Wheaton officials. However, since Julie was still committed to a celibate life and was someone in whom I saw great potential for good, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I was wrong.
Shortly after the end of her first academic year at Wheaton (July 13), Julie posted on her blog site an article entitled, "An Update on the Gay Debate: evolving ideas, untidy stories, and hopes for the church," in which she explained why she could no longer abide by Wheaton's policy on sexual ethics. The next day the Washington Post published her blog post verbatim under the new title, "I used to attend an ex-gay ministry. Here's why I now support same-sex relationships." In it she acknowledges: "Though I've been slow to admit it to myself, I've quietly supported same-sex relationships for a while now." On the same day Wheaton released a short non-descript statement that states, without explanation, that Julie had resigned her position.
Sadly, many Evangelical Christian colleges and some evangelical organizations have had a love affair with the "celibate 'gay' Christian" movement for the past few years and ignored Christians who, having come out of the homosexual life, have had decades of life experience in transformation ministry to same-sex attracted persons. These include ministry leaders associated with Restored Hope Network (Andy Comiskey, Jason Thompson, Stephen Black, Ron Citlau, Garry Ingraham, Anne Paulk, etc.) and others outside of RHN (Joe Dallas, Mario Bergner, etc.).
So how did Julie Rodgers justify her change of views about homosexuality? She begins:
"While I struggle to understand how to apply Scripture to the marriage debate today (just like we all struggle to know how to interpret Scripture on countless controversial topics), I've become increasingly troubled by the unintended consequences of messages that insist all LGBT people commit to lifelong celibacy."The irony of this statement is that Julie is now struggling not to "apply Scripture to the marriage debate today." Julie has now put her own subjective evaluation of her limited personal experience over the authority of a clear core value in biblical sexual ethics.
Our Lord Jesus Himself based his understanding of the essential twoness of the marital bond on the foundation of God's intentional creation of two primary/complementary sexes for marriage, "male and female."
Julie now rejects that foundation for sex, which is tantamount to claiming that she knows better than Jesus. Her statement is akin to claiming to still "struggle with how to apply" the severe indictments of incest in Leviticus 18 and 20 and in 1 Corinthians 5 while coming to the newfound conclusion that adult-committed close-kin sexual bonds are permissible.
Moreover, the church does not insist that "all LGBT people commit to lifelong celibacy." The church insists with Jesus that God has made provision for sexual relations in a marriage consisting of one man and one woman.
Most persons who experience same-sex attractions have this option because most have felt, at one time or another, at least a small degree of attraction for a particular person of the other sex. There are also "mixed-orientation" marriages that provide a limited but acceptable level of satisfaction for husband and wife to form a family. The church proclaims a gospel that insists on obedience to foundational elements of human sexual ethics.
In accordance with the gospel, the church does rightly insist that persons with same-sex attractions "renew their minds" with the knowledge of the truth about themselves as sexual beings; namely, that God did not intentionally design any half-males or half-females, needing to supplement their sex through union with someone of the same sex. God designed us to be a whole male or a whole female, recognizing only in the opposite or other sex a true sexual counterpart or complement to one's own sex.
Some persons with homosexual attractions will feel that God has given them a special gift of celibacy, just like some persons with heterosexual attractions. For those who do not feel that they have such a gift (homosexual and heterosexual alike) they still have a calling to abstain from all sex outside the context of a marriage between one man and one woman. As someone once aptly put it: "My resolve to remain chaste is in no way contingent upon the extent to which my desires do or don't align with that call; it's entirely based on what I believe honors the Lord." That someone was Julie Rodgers.
"No matter how graciously it's framed, that message [that homosexual practice is bad] tends to contribute to feelings of shame and alienation for gay Christians."
According to the apostle Paul, shame comes from engaging in homosexual relations (Rom 1:24-27), not in abstaining from such. He describes homosexual relations as a form of sexual "impurity consisting of their bodies being dishonored among themselves," arising out of "dishonorable passions" to do what is "contrary to nature" and therefore "what is shameful."
In homosexual behavior a person's sex is treated dishonorably, as half of one's own sex rather than as half of a sexual whole. There is never any shame before God for crucifying the sinful passions of the flesh (Gal 5:24) and living as a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15). This is rather a badge of honor.
"It leaves folks feeling like love and acceptance are contingent upon them not-gay-marrying and not-falling-in-gay-love."
Replace "gay-marrying" and "gay-love" with any form of prohibited sexual behavior (like brother-sister marrying or second-spouse marrying) to expose the absurdity of this reasoning. The church manifests the love of Christ precisely in not allowing people to engage in self-dishonoring, shameful practices that God abhors.
Loving one's neighbor includes reproving one's neighbor (Lev 19:17-18; Luke 17:3-4), even, if need be, church discipline (Paul loved the incestuous man, not the tolerant Corinthian believers). Acceptance of sinful behaviors abhorrent to God, however, is moral sloth at best, functional hate at worst.
Augustine got it right: "If any of you perhaps wish to maintain love, brethren, above all things do not imagine it to be an abject and sluggish thing; nor that love is to be preserved by a sort of gentleness, nay not gentleness, but tameness and listlessness. Not so is it preserved. Do not imagine that . . . you then love your son when you do not give him discipline, or that you then love your neighbor when you do not rebuke him. This is not love, but mere feebleness. Let love be fervent to correct, to amend. . . . Love not in the person his error, but the person; for the person God made, the error the person himself made." (Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.11)
Julie continues:
"When that's the case — when communion is contingent upon gays holding very narrow beliefs and making extraordinary sacrifices to live up to a standard that demands everything from an individual with little help from the community — it's hard to believe our bodies might be an occasion for joy."
Holding "very narrow beliefs"? A male-female prerequisite for sexual relations in grounded in the creation texts in Genesis 1-2; in any narrative, law, moral exhortation, proverb, metaphor, and poetry that discusses sexual relationships in the Bible; in Jesus' statements on marriage; and in the entirety of the apostolic witness to Christ (not least in Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 1:10, but hardly limited to these texts).
A male-female requirement for sexual relations is the most basic belief in sexual ethics in ancient Israel, early Judaism, and early Christianity. It was generally held in opposition to contrary trends in the ancient world and maintained strongly by the Church for two millennia.
"Extraordinary sacrifices"? Perhaps. Yet not the greatest sacrifice that Christians are asked to make. Surely Julie can think of more extraordinary sacrifices. For starters: the cruciform life that Paul lived every day since his Christian conversion. Jesus did define discipleship as taking up one's cross, denying oneself, and losing one's life. Moreover, the body given over to the controlling influence of Christ's Spirit is always "an occasion for joy."
"It's hard to believe we're actually wanted in our churches. It's hard to believe the God who loves us actually likes us."
Doubtless some Christians have not behaved toward those struggling with same-sex attractions as they ought. I'm sorry for that. But there are many in the Church who do love as they should. The Church is called to want all people to come to a knowledge of God's truth and grace through repentance and faith. God obviously doesn't "like" sin. But, as the Book of Job makes clear, God does delight in his servants who in the midst of hardship continue to praise him while remaining faithful.
"We're made for long-term, committed relationships that bind us to one another and cost us something .... Some might find that in friendship, which is wonderful. But most will find it in a spouse because that's the context we have for making such serious commitments and staying true to them once life happens."
God did not create us for sexual relationships with a person of the same sex. We are made to glorify God with our bodies precisely because we were "bought with a price," nothing less than the precious blood of Christ, and no longer "belong to ourselves" (1 Cor 6:19-20). This is true irrespective of whether we enter into a marital bond with a true sexual complement to ourselves. Marriage is not a requirement for presenting oneself to God as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1) and being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). It is not possible to be "true" to another while violating God's standards for sexual purity.
"When we make those kinds of promises to one another, we need a community to surround us to support us for the long haul. Communities with a traditional sexual ethic have, more often than not, dismissed sexual minorities the moment they moved in this direction."
What Julie refers to as "a traditional sexual ethic" is core scriptural sexual ethic, not merely a traditional one. When people make a promise to another in an immoral sexual relationship, a relationship that disrespects the integrity of one's own sex, the church cannot "surround" them "to support" them in that endeavor. Persons who enter into an immoral sexual union are not "dismissed" but rather called back to obedience to their Creator and Redeemer (again, 1 Cor 5). We have already addressed infelicitous expression "sexual minorities."
"Because many Christians assume that those who support same-sex relationships do so out of a desire to satiate their appetites rather than sincere Christian convictions ...."
Whatever one's motives for promoting what the overwhelming witness of Scripture regards as high immorality, one is misguided. One can be misguided even from what seems like good (but really ill-informed) motives.
"I'm as single as ever and have remained celibate throughout my twenties .... But it feels important for me to … support people in same-sex relationships so that friendship is promoted as a good in itself rather than a quick fix for the gay problem."
There is nothing wrong with promoting friendship as an alternative to committing the immorality of homosexual practice. A good is not any less of a good because it is a God-honoring alternative to a God-dishonoring behavior. Friendship also is not "a good in itself" but a good only if it promotes God-honoring thoughts and behavior.
"My goal has been to help Christians create the kinds of communities that make LGBT people feel wanted …. That looks a little different to me now that I've seen so much fruit in affirming communities, but it's a widening of my circle — not a move in a different direction …. It's not too late to call it quits on all the fighting."
One's ultimate goal should not be to "make LGBT people feel wanted" but rather, as Paul says, to "wage war" not in physical battles but in spiritual ones, "tearing down rationalizations and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God, and … taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor 10:3-5). That is the kind of fighting that the gospel calls us to do.
One cannot change the commands of God in a vain hope to make violators feel more wanted. We are wanted because God pursues us in love in spite of our sins and in order to take us out of the same sins. Jesus and the apostles often did not feel "wanted" in doing the will of God. Our goal is to do the will of our heavenly Father and to seek first his Kingdom. Our goal in ministry is to conform people to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), which can never be achieved by granting a license to disobey central moral commands of God.
Unfortunately, Julie has deluded herself into thinking that she is "not moving in a different direction." Promoting homosexual relations is an anti-Christian direction. "Fruit" can be manifested even in the context of adult-committed incestuous or polyamorous relationships. That doesn't make such relationships acceptable to God. The good that one does in the midst of evil does not sanctify the evil.
"If it turns out that I'm wrong, I trust God will be faithful to catch me. For now, though, I hope those of you who disagree will continue to welcome my friendship and serve alongside me. We could choose instead to focus on all we share in common and seek to mend what's been broken in this fragile world."
To promote immorality while expressing the conviction that "God will be faithful to catch me" is the kind of cheap grace against which Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned, based on numerous warnings in Scripture. Friends reprove friends when they veer off into unfaithful conduct or encourage others to do so.
Christians cannot serve alongside another who is promoting gross violation of God's commands. What Christians "share in common" is the confession of Christ as Lord, which confession requires a life of obedience rather than rebellion. It is precisely because homosexual practice breaks what God is mending that we cannot be part of Julie's new endeavor.
With Jesus we say: "Go, and from now on no longer be sinning, lest something worse happen to you" (John 5:14; 8:11).
