← The Alisa Childers Podcast
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Foreign. Colleges drifting toward LGBTQ ideology. And is Baylor University the latest casualty? Well, for the first time in its history, Baylor approved an event called All Our Neighbors, which was supposed to be a counter event to a TPUSA meeting that was also happening on campus. Now, this first came to my attention when a video was shared on social media from one of the speakers, and we're going to watch that video together A bit later in the show. I'm going to catch you up with all the details about what's going on at Baylor and then we're going to focus on the bigger idea that often underlies the drift that we see both in institutions, but also in the hearts of people. It's a good wakeup call, a good discernment check for all of us. Today's show is brought to you by We Heart Nutrition, a Christian owned high quality supplement company. Go to weheartnutrition.com today and use the code ALISA for 20% off your first order. All right, we're going to dive into all the details in a moment, but first I want to let you know about an event that's coming up in July, toward the end of July. It's called Cross Examined Instructor Academy. This, for about the last 10 years, has been the event that I look forward to most every single year. I can't even believe it's been 10 years that I've been going to CIA. I first went in 2016 and it is truly what launched what I do today. And what it is, is if you're somebody who loves study apologetics, you love to dive into the reasons why we believe the Bible is God's word, that Jesus is who he said he is, that Christianity is true and the best explanation for reality. You know that sometimes that can be a bit of a lonely place, especially in churches. I don't know exactly why this is the case, but often there's a bit of resistance to apologetics in, in churches. And so people who love apologetics often feel kind of isolated and alone. But. But this is why CIA is so great. It's three days of training. We're not going to be training you in what the arguments are. We're going to be training you in how to present apologetics in whatever scenario you're called to. It might be an online platform, a YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog. It might be teaching apologetics to your church's youth group or maybe your women's group or your men's group or your small group. And we are going to help you to be able to make the best possible case in the most persuasive way. And this is really what kicked off my ministry ministry. It's three days of apologetics nerds getting to hang out and really encourage one another, but also get a lot of feedback on how to present these topics better. So if you're interested in that, I want to encourage you to apply today because spaces are limited and we keep them limited because we want to maintain that one on one real personal interaction. So spots are filling up. But you can go to Cross Examined.org today, click on the Events tab and then apply. You can apply there again. That's cross examined.org click on that Events tab and look for Cross Examined Instructor Academy. All right, let's dive into today's topic. We have covered on this podcast the topic of Christian colleges drifting into progressive ideology, whether it's politically, theologically, culturally. We've done a few episodes on Biola University. I've shared on X about places like Point Loma, Nazarene and what seems to begin with an open mindedness toward changing the biblical sexual ethic, often fueled from pressure that comes from student organizations and students. And so Baylor recently has had the spotlight turned on them with this event that they hosted. Now, this was truly a historic event in the history of Baylor because it's the first time that a university sanctioned event featured speakers that weren't just discussing LGBTQ issues from an academic perspective, but actually advocating for the inclusion of LGBTQ and really coming from an activist perspective. Now, obviously this was met with some criticism, although I don't know that this has been talked about enough. That's why I wanted to focus this show on this today. So Focus on the Family's Daily Citizen reported that because of this event, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is actually in the process of reviewing its relationship with Baylor University. And this is due to a couple of the speakers that they featured there, one of which is a guy named Paul Brande Rashenbush, I really hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. He describes himself as a Baptist minister and a, quote, gay man who has been with my husband for 25 years and married to him for as long as that has been legal in this country. We're going to watch a section of his speech together in a moment. But another speaker that they featured was a woman named Susan Hayward who, quote, studied Buddhism in Nepal and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Now, this isn't the first time that Baylor has shown a bit of drift in this area. Some of you might remember a couple of years ago, there was a bit of a social media hubbub when Baylor received a grant that was toward the study of disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA plus individuals and women in churches. The Baptist Standard, which is the news journal for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, reported that the grant was to fund a study, quote, to help fost inclusion and belonging in the church. Now, due to the backlash, this grant was actually rescinded, and the university president, Linda A. Livingstone, said she actually agreed with the decision to rescind. But I want to read this direct quote from her. She said this. We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all, including our LGBTQIA students, because it is part and parcel of our university's mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community. Now, I have a lot to say about this statement. First of all, I want to focus on that word love. That is the underlying thing that I think informs the drift that's happening in a lot of institutions, in a lot of human hearts. How many times have you had a conversation with somebody and they approached LGBTQ issues or other issues as being more loving? To take the unbiblical view, this is something that is so pervasive. I can't tell you how many times I've had discussions with people who have said, just love them. We want to be more loving. I want to find a more loving church. In fact, it reminds me of a conversation I had with a woman after a speaking event recently, and she was a lovely woman, and I could tell that she really did want to pursue truth. She wasn't trying intentionally to be rebellious, but she just said, I really want to talk to you about this issue because I feel like it's better to go to a more loving church. And she kept saying that. And finally I asked her, I said, what? What do you think that means to go to loving church? And she said, well, there are churches that welcome everybody. And I said, so are you saying, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that a church is more loving if they affirm lgbtq? And she said, well, yes, and I understand what the Bible says, but I want to be more loving. And so in her mind, she had created this category where if you follow the Bible, you're not as loving as if you follow ultimately what the culture says. And that is something that is so pervasive. And a little later in the show, we're going to unpack that more biblically because I'm sure you've heard that, too. Number one, it's based on a redefinition of love, a cultural definition of love, which, according to this woman, and I think according to culture, really means acceptance and celebration and affirmation of somebody's chosen sexual path. And as we're going to see from the Bible, that's just not how the Bible describes love. But I want to get back to this statement from university President Linda A. Livingstone. I'm going to read it again just so it's fresh in our minds. We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all, including our LGBTQIA students, because it is part and parcel of our university's mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community. So we noted that cushioning this idea is that to be loving and to be caring, we have to affirm this LGBTQIA identity by conceding language to radical queer theory. This we have talked about ad nauseam on this podcast that culture wants to tell us that what we feel is who we are, that your true, authentic self is ultimately what you do, how you behave and how you feel sexually. Ultimately, our culture would say, to be your true, authentic self, you have to identify your deepest desires, and in this context, it would be your sexual desires, and then name those things and live them out as your true, authentic identity. But we know biblically that our identity, if you're in Christ, you repent from all previous identities. The old man is dead, you turn from your sin, you trust in Christ, and then you're not only forgiven of your sins, but you're reconciled to a holy God and then ultimately adopted into God's family. And as it says in the Bible, you receive the right to become a child of God. So your new identity is child of God. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. In fact, it says in First Corinthians 6, I want to read here from verse 9. It says, do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. That's what the wording says here. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. A Christian university should not be conceding identity language to radical queer theory. We should be discipling students in their identity in Christ, which requires us to repent of our sin, repent of anything that we've taken on as an identity that's based on our desires. Aren't you so glad I. I just want to take a pause here and say that I am so glad that my identity is not what I feel, that who I am is not what I feel, because my feelings change constantly. I'm sure yours do too. I feel differently every day. I feel differently throughout the day. And I'm so glad that my identity is secure as child of God if I'm in Christ. And I don't have to appeal to one of these false identities. Because often what we find biblically is that when we dig down inside of ourselves and identify our desires, those desires oftentimes are going to be in contradiction to what is good, and they need to be abandoned and repented of. And this is for everybody. This is not me just picking on homosexuality or that LGBTQ spectrum. This is any sin that somebody struggles with, any of the ones we listed here in 1 Corinthians 6. We all have the opportunity, the same opportunity to repent of our sin, trust in Christ, and then receive that identity as child of God. So this is very concerning language to me right off the bat. The fact that this is how this was worded is a huge, huge red flag. All right, we're going to get into more of this in just a moment, but I want to tell you about range leather American made craftsmanship from Wyoming. I love really good, high quality leather goods. I love when you have a really good quality leather bag or shoes or a hat or a purse that wears in so beautifully because good quality leather does that. And every product that Range Leather crafts in their Laramie, Wyoming workshop is built to last a lifetime. They have full grain horween leather apple watch bands that are not just accessories. They're daily reminders of American craftsmanship at its finest. 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All right, I want to take a look at Baylor's sexuality statement, because you might have read this statement from the university president and think, well, gosh, what do they say about human sexuality? So I'm going to read that to you now. Now, it says this quote, baylor University welcomes all students into a safe and supportive environment in which to discuss and learn about a variety of issues, including those of human sexuality. Now, right off the bat, I have huge red flags. This is not a good way to begin a statement on hemosexuality. Already right off the bat, it's like there's an apology that is preceding what they're going to say their statement is. And notice, too, that the way that it's framed is not like, here's what the Bible teaches about human sexuality. Here is Baylor's position. No, it's. We're welcoming people into a supportive environment. We can discuss and learn. There's almost this idea that we can learn together, right? We. We don't really know. I mean, they're not saying they don't know, but that's sort of what the beginning of this statement implies. Now, it goes on. It says, the university affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God. Okay, red flag again. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be Debbie Downer about this, but so many times have you noticed that when you read a statement on sexuality or if you ask somebody, what is your view on human sexuality, what. What does the Bible say? And they'll say, oh, I hold to a biblical sexual ethic. Well, guess who says that they hold to biblical sexual ethics. LGBTQ affirming theologians would say that. They would say, we believe in biblical sexuality because they're interpreting the Bible different, differently. And so just to say that we hold the biblical understanding of sexuality, that really doesn't tell you anything. Because everybody, if they're using the Bible to make their case, they think they have the biblical view. That's why you need to ask more questions and get to more specifics. It goes on. Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity. In marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm. Now, again, red flag, because they're not saying. Now, I know that you can imply some things, you can infer some things from this statement, but you can infer a lot of things from this statement. All they're saying is that Christian churches across the ages have done this. They're not necessarily explicitly saying that they do. So that's a bit of a red flag, too. Sorry to stop this with so many red flags, but this is. I think this is just such a weak statement, and it goes on. Temptations to deviate from this norm include both heterosexual sex outside of marriage. I'm glad they mentioned that. And homosexual behavior. Now, that it might be an unintentional red flag. But that is another thing I have a red flag for in so many statements, just broadly group homosexual sin as homosexual behavior. The problem with that, that is that any sexual sin, whether it's promiscuity, whether it's fornication, has so much more to do than simply a behavior. As Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount that if you have lusted after a woman in your heart, you've committed adultery with her. So Jesus equates the sin of adultery with something that actually has nothing to do necessarily with behavior. It is something that can actually happen within your heart. And I suspect that the reason it's so often worded this way is because in the broader culture and over the past 50 years or so, even among conservative organizations, there's been a push to try to embrace a LGBTQ or a gay or something trans identity. And that's considered to be okay in a lot of spaces as long as you don't engage in the behavior. But there is no other sin where that would apply to. We can sin in thought. We can lust in our hearts. We can have disordered and sinful desires, even if we never act out on those things. Desires that need to be repented of that need to be repudiated, confessed, and forgiven. So we have to be really careful with this language of simply calling it homosexual behavior. Homosexuality, fornication, any sexual sin has so much more to do than just simply a behavior. Okay, the statement continues. It is thus expected that Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching. This is probably the strongest part of the statement, and I really appreciate that they said this because they're actually giving some practical way to work this out. This is application right here. They're basically, I thought it was kind of weak before, but they're basically, I think, saying, we affirm the historic view of this. And so it's expected that students won't be participating in advocacy groups that promote understandings of sexuality. They're contrary to biblical teaching. And this is where I think Baylor, by allowing this event, has contradicted their belief statement. And if you have students at Baylor, if you're affiliated with Baylor, this is where I would probably ask my questions is you have officially sanctioned this event that has pro LGBTQ speakers. You have specifically explicitly said that students are expected to not participate in advocacy, advocacy groups. Yet you, you allowed this sanctioned event. Explain to me how this works together, because that is 100% contradictory. It continues. The university encourages students struggling with these issues to avail themselves of opportunities for serious confidential discussion and support through the Spiritual Life Office. I appreciate that too, that we need to communicate to people who struggle with these things that they are not ostracized from the body of Christ because that is their particular struggle. We all have sins that we struggle with, but just like any other sin, we need to get that into the light. We need to walk with one another, confess our sins to one another, hold one another accountable, pray with each other. And so I do appreciate that they, they have this opportunity. Although given the statement of the president, given the things that they're allowing, I question whether or not the particular type of counseling and support that they're going to be offering is going to be biblical. I can't speak to it. I'm not connected with Baylor at all. I have no idea what goes on. But I would. If you have a student there or if you're involved there, I would, would probably proceed with caution about what that might look like. There's more to Baylor's history with this topic on their Baylor official website. They had their 2021, 2022 Student Life Annual report and I want to read a quote. This is shocking to me, but this is a quote from their annual report. It says, quote. Another notable accomplishment was the successful chartering of Pristine prism, a student organization aimed at providing care, connection and community to students at Baylor who identify as LGBTQ plus. The chartering of PRISM was the result of year long efforts and collaboration among staff, students and faculty and is an important step toward fulfilling, excuse me, toward fulfillment of the May 2021 Regents Resolution on a caring community. End quote. So in 2021, 2022, they, they say this is a noticeable, notable accomplishment, the successful chartering of an LGBTQ+ group on campus. Now this again, 100% contradicts at least on paper there may be nuance that's not being communicated here. But on paper this completely contra contradicts their statement on sexuality. This is a confusing message to send. This is a confusing message to the students that might be affirming in their own minds of LGBTQ because you're, you're sending them the message that they're going to be accepted and that their views are going to be accepted. But it also, if that's not what you're saying, it can be confusing for students that might struggle with same sex attraction and are looking for help to pursue holiness, to pursue sanctification of those desires years so which is it? And I think that's a fair question to ask if you have a student at Baylor or if you're at Baylor. Now Baylor did respond to some of the controversy. So according to the Baptist Standard, I'm going to read a quote from this. Baylor's response is this quote as an academic institution, Baylor University is committed to ensuring open dialogue and the robust exchange of ideas and perspectives. An official statement from Baylor Revolution reads. And this is another quote from Baylor. We hold this commitment along with an obligation to provide a safe and nurturing educational environment within a caring Christian community. They keep using that word, caring as if caring really means affirming or not. Maybe at the best, not challenging too much. Now the, the what is this? The Baptist Standard goes on to say that the statement noted the university worked with the with student organizations from both T USA and the all our neighbors to align their event events with institutional policies and procedures. I would say just from the video I saw from the night they failed, there's no question. And then here is another quote from Baylor. Historically, Baylor has opened its doors to a wide range of student invited speakers with differing viewpoints on theology, politics, research and many other subjects as we prepare our students for a challenging diverse world post graduation. Oh my goodness, this actually makes me angry. Baylor does not institutionally endorse the views of speakers at these events or other individuals invited to speak by student organizations. Okay. This is such a classic progressive move they just punt to. Oh, we're just trying to expose our students to other viewpoints. Friends, there are ways and I actually advocate for ways of exposing students and even very young children to opposing viewpoints within the context of disciple. And for example, I will show my kids TikTok videos of deconstructionists making all sorts of different claims and then I will ask them what they think about it. What does the Bible say about this? I will give my Opinion. We'll analyze those ideas. I want to teach my kids to discern these things, but what I'm not going to do is have an event at church where I just invite all sorts of heretics to speak from the pulpit and then go on my merry way. That is not how you do that. But this is so classic. This happens all the time with progressive drift. Somebody will have an event and then they get criticized, and then they'll walk it back by saying, well, I don't agree with everything that was said and we don't endorse these views, but they're sanctioning these views. And friends, this is anti biblical. All over the New Testament, we are warned to avoid false teachers, to mark them, which means name them so that they can be avoided. We are to repudiate these views. I mean, if you read the early church fathers when they were refuting heresy, I mean, you. It would make many people in 2026 in our caring and kindness culture extremely uncomfortable. The New Testament would make people extremely uncomfortable. Look at the way that Paul talks about Alexander the Coppersmith. I mean, he gets named by name. We are to mark and avoid false teachers. We're not supposed to invite them in for. To give them our platforms to. To influence our students. Now, if there's an opportunity for a university to host a debate where it's very clear what the ideology of the university is and they're inviting that kind of thing, I think there's space for that. I think there's a good opportunity to help disciple students in holiness by allowing them in a controlled and discipleship atmosphere to be exposed to these ideas. But this ain't it. And this is just a typical progressive move. When they get kind of called out on it, they backtrack a little bit and just say, well, I don't agree with. With everything. And listen, within the context of orthodox theology, that's fine. I have a lot of people on my podcast that I don't agree with on everything, but I'm not going to be inviting someone on my podcast on one topic if they are affirming of, for example, LGBTQ identities. I'm just not going to do that. They might have a different eschatological view than me. They might have a different view baptism than I do, but those are all within the bounds of Orthodoxy, not outside the bounds of Orthodoxy. All right, quick pause to tell you about foundation worldview. Man, if this doesn't wake us up to how important it is to make sure that the youngest of our kids know not Just how to think biblically, but how to think critically, how to assess truth claims, how to ask questions like, what is truth? Who is God? There's never been a more important time, I think, due to the social media influx of information, to make sure we're equipping our kids to be able to engage with with these kinds of questions themselves. And there's nothing better for younger children than foundation worldview curriculum. Their biblical worldview curriculum is what we used in our home, where they're going to answer all types of questions like, who is God? How did life begin? What does it mean to be human? How can I tell right from wrong? You can easily implement this curriculum for just your home devotions, your home school, your church, your Christian school. This is for intentional parents who really want to make sure that they teach their kids how to think critically about these things before the future pain point comes. So go to foundationworldview.com today and you can use my code ELISA for 10% off any family, church, or Christian school license. All right, now we're gonna finally watch the video from Paul Rauschenbusch. Now, this went around on social media. It's a clip from him speaking at that event that was held on Baylor's campus. We're gonna unpack this together. Here we go.
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In America and around the world, in addition to my Baylor identity, which I know you know, takes prominence, I come to you today as a Baptist minister with three decades of doing my best to find follow in the way of Jesus, I also come to you.
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Okay, just a quick pause to talk about the way of Jesus. I'm going to read to you from Matthew 19. It says, When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason? They were trying to trap Jesus. And here's how he answered. Verse four, he says, haven't you read? He replied that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. So if you're going to follow the way of Jesus, what you have to realize here is that Jesus is appealing to Genesis and he is saying God made people in two categories, male and female, and by the way, in Genesis, that's specifically tied to us being made in the image of God, male and female. He created them in the image of God. It says in Genesis he created them. And so Jesus is saying that this is the reason for marriage. For this reason a man, man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. And the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, but one flesh. All right, he's making the claim that his family, two gay dads raising a child, is blessed by God. Now I want to make a distinction here because there's a sense in which everyone on earth is blessed by God with common grace, right? The Bible says that the Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all he has made. That's Psalm 145, Jesus said that God causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. In Matthew 5, Luke 6 says that God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. So there's a sense in which even unbelievers are experiencing the common grace that God gives to everyone. I, I heard it said atheists are breathing God's air, right? So there's a sense in which this family, of course every member of this family is made in the image and likeness of God and is has inherent dignity and value and wor. That child has inherent dignity, value and worth. But you can't go against God's design for human sexuality, for marriage, for the context within which children are raised. Children need a mom and a dad. But to claim that just because you feel this way, that somehow this union or the way that you've organized this is blessed by God is just not biblical. And it not just not biblical, it goes against God's word. All right, back to, to it.
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That constitutes advocacy then. I'm an advocate. I also come to you as an American who still believes in the promise made in our founding that all of us have a right to liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness.
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All right, this is something that's often smuggled into conversations like this. And it's the idea that if a same sex couple does not have the exact same outcome as a heterosexual couple, then they are somehow being denied their liberties, they're being denied their rights or being denied the pursuit of happiness. If they can't get married or adopt children or have the same sort of affirmation at a Christian college, then somehow they are having their rights trampled on because they, they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. According to the Declaration of Independence. But we have to understand that is not what that means. Having the right to pursue happiness does not mean you have the right to obtain everything that you think would make you happy. There are a lot of guardrails on that. Obviously we can't commit crimes. You can't pursue a sexual relationship with a minor. There are a lot of things that put guardrails on things that you think would make you happy. That doesn't mean that you are being denied denied that right. In fact, this man actually does have those rights. He does have the right to life, to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And so this just doesn't work. But back to it.
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My identities are not in conflict with one another, but are divinely bestowed upon me and my life. My space teaches me that each one of our lives, in all of our complexity and diversity are divinely and beautifully created.
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Yeah, and so I think he's just conflating again that identity category. He's creating an identity category based on sexual feelings, which is not an inherent identity category like biological sex or like your ethnicity or something like that. Like that. Quick pause to tell you about We Heart Nutrition, which is a Christian family owned supplement company founded by husband and wife Jacob and Kristen. They create research back highly bioavailable supplements that don't have unnecessary fillers, artificial ingredients or shortcuts. So much of the stuff that you get at the drugstore isn't formulated to really absorb into your body. And that's what I love about We Heart Nutrition is their supplements are so high quality because they are so high integrity. But there's something else that makes them really special. They donate 10% of every single sale to pregnancy resource centers across the US supporting women and families to choose life. They've donated over a million dollars. 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It supports sleep, stress, muscle relaxation, it's gentle on digestion, and it's in its true chelated form for optim absorption. Give them a try today. If you're not sure where to start, go to weheartnutrition.com and you can take a quiz and they will let you know the best supplement picks for your stage of life. Again, go to weheartnutrition.com take the quiz and use the code ELISA for 20% off your first order all right, as we close out here, I want to come back to this question about love. What is more loving? As Christians, we have to root our understanding of love in the nature and character of God. What he says about love and what he says about Himself should inform what we say and what we think about love. And I want to start by reading from First John, chapter 4, verses 7 through 21. It says this Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Another no one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he has God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected in us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, punishment and Whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we've received from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. So obviously love is so important for Christians. We must get this right. And just some questions I want us to be thinking about. When we think about this question of what is more loving. This is the word of God saying that we must love. We want to be confident on the day of judgment, meaning there is a judgment coming, right? God is a God of love, and he is a God of judgment. God's love and justice are not competing with one another. They are literally the same thing. God is not divided into pieces like a pie. God is love and God is perfect justice. That perfect justice requires that sin be punished. And that's why Jesus came to be that sacrifice. So that we could turn from our sin and come under the covering of Christ's sacrifice, that we could confess our sin, declare Jesus as Lord, and we could trust by faith in the work of Jesus to be cleansed from our sins and reconciled to a God who by definition, his holiness means he has to be separate from sin. He can't be unified with sin in any way. And so that's where that sacrifice of Jesus is so beautiful. And so his love is then perfected in us. Now I want you to ask yourselves a question. I'm going to ask myself a question. This is what God says about love. It's the same God who said, male and female, he created them in his image. It's the same God who God in flesh said when he answered a question about marriage, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife. God in flesh defining marriage and the only acceptable scenario for human sexuality is within the bounds of marriage between a man and a woman. The same God that's saying we must love is the same God who said that that is loving. That is the loving thing to believe and to say. Now he promised the Spirit. Spirit. The Holy Spirit, Which In John 16:13, Jesus, when he's telling us the Holy Spirit's going to come, he calls him the Spirit of truth. So truth and love go together perfectly. They're not in competition with one another. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 13, it says, Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It's not proud. It does not dishonor others. It's not self seeking. It's not easily anxious, angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Now, you know, you. You've had friends maybe who struggle with addiction. You've had friends who believe something about themselves that will hurt them. And out of love, you didn't condone those things. Out of love, you had those hard conversations. If you have a friend who's caught up in addiction, what enabling does is actually enables them to continue in their behavior that will lead to their destruction. And that is actually hateful. It is actually hateful to appease someone. Because when we appease other people, like for example, in the context of addiction, when we appease other people, we're doing it ultimately selfishly. We're doing it so that we don't have to do the confrontation, so that we don't have to be disliked, so that we don't have to be be told that we're being unloving or that we're being whatever we're being. We're doing it because our hearts are broken for our friend or doing it because we love them so much that we have to have that hard conversation to tell them the truth, to try to deviate them from a path of destruction, to put them onto a path of life. But sometimes that means we're going to be hated. It's actually why Jesus was hated. The Bible says that he was hated because he convicted the world of their sin. Sin. But he did that because he is love. And that is the most loving thing that we could do. I love what John Stott said about this verse that I read in First John. He said it is true that the words God is love mean not that loving is only one of God's many activities, but rather that all his activity is loving activity. And that therefore if he judges, he judges in life love. Yet if his judging is in love, his loving is also injustice. He who is love is light and fire as well. Far from condoning sin, his love has found a way to expose it because he is light and to consume it because he is fire without destroying the sinner, but rather saving him. And that is the kind of love we need to have for or anybody we know who's struggling with any sin ourselves. And we struggle with sin. We need that love bestowed upon us as well in our struggles. But the loving thing is not to affirm. That is the hateful thing. If the word of God is true, if the Bible is his word, then the most loving thing we can do is affirm what God says about human sexuality and to do it boldly and with confidence because we know that is what will will cause the most thriving among people. Now there's a lot of people deceived right now. There's a lot of Christian institutions that are drifting into that deception. And it begins with small little compromises. It begins with an apology as you start your human sexuality statement. It starts with, you know, kind of wringing your hands about it and, and using words like love and caring with complete opposite definitions as the Bible would use those things, the caring and loving things to do is to stick to the word of God is to love people in a way that will sometimes put ourselves in the line of fire. And that's not always easy to do. And that's where we need to ask for courage. That's where we need to ask for wisdom. But ultimately we can stand on what God has said about these topics. So pray for Baylor. If you have a student at Baylor or you're a part of Baylor, I would encourage you to have these kind of conversations with leadership. Ask about the conversation contradictions between the belief statement and the actions that have been taken. And let's remember, as we pursue Christ, to keep a sharp mind, a soft heart and a thick skin. We'll see you next time. So pray for me and I will pray for you. No turning right or left will make it through
- [44:23]
B
the road that's narrow.
- [44:25]
A
And again,
- [44:37]
C
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