How can you tell if a church is playing word games to obscure their unbiblical stance on sexuality?

Let me show you. Here's one example of a FB message where the church answers a question about their view of sexuality.

It's a mess.

Let's pick it apart, shall we? The first sentence says, "Our church holds to the historic position of sexuality - one man, one woman, in marriage, for life.”

Seems solid, right? Well, it isn't.

It's bait.

The bait sentence is meant to build trust and reassure bible believing Christians they're legit.

America's memory verse is Matthew 7:1, which says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Contrary to what most people think, the Bible does not prohibit all judging, but wrong judging.

There are at least five ways to judge wrongly. 🧵 1. Judging by the wrong standard.

Col 2:16 says, "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink..." The text goes on to describe such judgements as "human precepts and teachings" (v22).

Christians must always judge by the standard of God's word.

Men are lonelier than ever. This fact has been shown in many surveys.

For Christian men, fellowship with like-minded brothers is an absolute necessity.

Faith grows in community. Faith withers in isolation.

So here's five things Christian men can do to make better friends. 1. Focus on building a community, not a network.

John Taylor Gatto has written about the difference between communities and networks.

Communities relate to people across a broad spectrum of life experiences. Networks relate to people across a narrow band of life experience.

Here are 12 simple and biblical principles of sexuality that Christians need to faithfully honor God.

These are compiled from my study of sexuality and from many years of pastoral experience. 1. Move with the grain of God's design for sexuality.

God made us male & female from the beginning. The world is more functional & beautiful when men act in masculine ways and women act in feminine ways.

Don't reject it. Don't deny it. Embrace it. Be glad for how God made you.

My oldest son turned 18 this week. I wanted to give him something special that would last a lifetime.

So I asked some godly Christian men of all ages to write him a letter sharing life wisdom they'd acquired. I got 37 responses. Their answers blew me away. 🧵 Their letters were packed with centuries worth of experience and wisdom. So I printed them all out, put them into a notebook, and gave them to him on his birthday.

He was overjoyed to received it. So he sat down right away and carefully read each letter.

When I was on staff w CRU, I was trained to immediately offer new converts assurance of salvation. That was a mistake.

In the 15+ years since then, many of those people have abandoned the faith.

With so much apostasy going on, the doctrine of perseverance is badly needed.🧵 Altho true believers cannot actually lose their salvation, neither should they presume to be saved simply because they once made a profession of faith.

That's decisionism.

The initial "decision" to follow Christ is only the first step in a lifelong commitment to discipleship.

Melchizedek is one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible.

He reveals who Jesus is in remarkable ways.

Melchizedek only appears 3X in the Bible (Genesis 14, Psalm 110, and Hebrews 7), but significance to the story of redemption in Christ cannot be understated.

1/ Some data points (cf. Heb 7)

1. He is a king (Gen 14:18)

2. He is a king of righteousness (by translation of his name, "Melchizedek")

"Melchi" from the Hebrew "melek" means "king"

"Zedek" from the Hebrew "tsedeq" means "righteousness"

2/

Some say the SBC isn't woke & there's nothing to be alarmed about. Don't be so sure.

Paul said "a little leaven leavens the lump."

The broader SBC may not be full-blown woke, but some places are.

A friend recently shared notes from a SEND Philly training.

See for yourself🧵 My friend attended a training who's purpose was "to assist planters, pastors, ministry leaders and lay persons with a heart to serve those within the urban context."

In light of the recent news that NT scholar/ethicist Richard Hays is now gay affirming, I pulled my old copy of his ethics book from seminary and revisited the chapter on homosexuality.

In 1996, he said homosexuality is sinful. In 2024, he reportedly believes the opposite. After a casual perusal of this chapter, it was there all along. We should not be surprised by Hays' announcement. Further, current evangelical leaders exhibit similar warning signs.

I'll mention three here.

The church planting craze of the 2000s and 2010s was a mess. We're feeling the downstream effects of it now.
🧵 Here's a dirty little secret of the church planting world. It's a haven for guys that don't want to take the traditional route of waiting their turn in an established church so they could move up when the senior pastor retires.

Guilt and shame are powerful, negative emotions that are like warning lights in our souls that something is wrong. They are gifts of God for our good, but can also be manipulated for our harm.

In our day, progressives use shame as a manipulation tactic. Here's how it works. 🧵 Guilt is the feeling that something you did was wrong. It's the sense that you violated some external standard.

Shame is the feeling that who you are is wrong. The standard is vague and internal. Your very existence is wrong.

What are we to make of all this data on singleness and marriage?

Here's some of my thoughts.

https://twitter.com/dmichaelclary/status/1734253826390012018

God made the world one way. When God’s design is followed, it will generally produce good results as a gift of common grace. When God’s design is rejected, it will produce bad results.

Some fascinating stats about singleness, loneliness, dating, and marriage, with some concluding counsel for singles at the end. 🧵 1. First off, the US marriage rate is at an all time low. [1]

Consequently, US birthrates are at historic lows, well below replacement rate.

Some stats about divorce 🧵

(This is just a sampling of data and there’s plenty of nuance that could be added)

* The average marriage length is 8.2 years.
* An estimated 41% of first marriages end in divorce.
* The average age of people going through a first-time divorce is 30 Big Divorce is Big Business

* The divorce industry is worth $50 billion/yr
* The average total cost is $12,900 per divorce
* The average attorney’s fee is $11,300 per divorce
* The avg divorce attorney’s hourly rate is $270

IOW, divorce is financially incentivized in the USA

“Tone” is the idol of evangelical discourse, and it’s suffocating the sharp, unpleasant truth our world desperately needs to hear. Its hardly a secret that maintaining proper, respectable tone is how evangelical leaders keep their status within the guild. You keep your seat by showing utmost courtesy and respect to everyone, even those who undermine the truth.

Meet Stephen.

Here he is in 2020, volunteering for Bernie Sanders at the U of Cincinnati campus.

At the time, he was an atheist, secular humanist, Democratic socialist, depressed, alcoholic, porn addicted drug abuser.

His life was a disaster. He got into Marxism in college. He spent the next 15 years seeking meaning and redemption through political action.

When he and his girlfriend broke up in 2020, she committed suicide.

That was a very dark time, but also a turning point.

Why do churches (and institutions) always seem to go liberal?

Simple. They end up conserving the wrong mission.

Here's how it happens. 🧵

All churches have a purpose they were created to achieve. Naturally, they are conservative about that purpose. 1/8 But every church also has an unwritten, unstated, and hidden purpose: *preserve the church*

Church leaders draw direct benefit from the church, such as jobs, relationships, power, & clout. Protecting these benefits eventually start replacing the church's original purpose.

2/8

I'm convinced that flattery is one of the most common and harmful sins of the modern church. It's a wide open door for being manipulated because it preys on our desire for attention and approval.

We can avoid it if we learn to define it and detect it. 1. Flattery is lying. It's a form of dishonest praise. People try to curry favor with others with compliments or saying nice things. But watch out, because they want something. They are not your friend.

Prov 29:5: A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

Some people claim Jesus must have been tempted by homosexuality, since he was tempted in every respect (Heb 4:15).

Not so fast. 1/9 Heb 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Thus, if Jesus was tempted in every respect, then Js must have been by homosexual lust. This is wrong. 2/9

This past Tuesday, while on family vacation, I got to witness something beautiful that’s been 15 years in the making.

Around 2008, my sister’s first husband abandoned her with a six year old daughter and twin infant sons. I remember thinking, “what’s she gonna do? How will she make it with 3 little kids on her own?”

A while later, she ran into an old friend from HS (who took her to the prom!) & they started dating. The next year, I performed their wedding ceremony. He danced w his new daughter.

I learned an important ministry lesson years ago from an unbeliever I was trying to evangelize.

I was on staff with CRU & he was a brilliant & thoughtful student. Over the next few years, I shared the gospel with him many times, answering objections & using all the tools. 1/10 To answer his more complicated moral, philosophical, and theological objections, I took him to meet one of my theology profs at SBTS. Despite all this, he could never commit to Christ. He was a classic "always learning but never arriving at the church" kind of guy. 2/10