Classic Chuck Colson Commentary as Relevant Today as Ever

The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview has re-released one of Chuck’s classic Breakpoint commentaries. Chuck’s words are as relevant today as ever.

In his commentary Chuck describes how, if we look at history, ancient, pagan sexual practices degraded and endangered women and children. He notes how Judaism’s (and Christianity’s) practice of confining sexual activity to between a married husband and wife was revolutionary at the time, and how it advanced the rights of women and children.

Chuck writes,

“Before the Jews were placed in the Ancient Near East, the pagan world was already a sexual free-for-all that debased women, boys, and religion itself in the service of male lust. Every aspect of life was sexualized. The pagan gods engaged in no-holds-barred sex, and so did the people. Homosexuality had almost unquestioned acceptance in the ancient world. …

“Not surprisingly, then, women were relegated to the sidelines, important for giving birth and running the home, but not important as real and equal partners to men, who had other sexual options — with boys and other men.

“That’s why Judaism’s claim that God created sex only for a man and a woman in marriage was so revolutionary — and despised by ancient pagans and modern pagans I might add as well.”

You can read Chuck’s entire commentary here or listen to it below.

[audio:http://bit.ly/1vbbguI|titles=Chuck Colson – Judaism’s Sexual Revolution]

Christian College Risks Accreditation Over Biblical Standards

Gordon College in Massachusetts is facing pressure from its accreditation board over the college’s biblical standards concerning sexual activity by students.

Gordon is a Christian college who lists same-sex activity alongside other forms of forbidden student conduct. However, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges is investigating whether Gordon has violated the Association’s standards for accreditation in doing so.

John Stonestreet with the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview writes,

“In late September, the higher education committee of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the body that accredits Gordon, met to consider whether Gordon’s inclusion of homosexual acts as a ‘forbidden practice’ ran afoul of the Association’s standards for accreditation. Note that the Gordon statement requires all students to adhere to sexual behavior standards. There’s no singling out of same-sex attracted folks, nor are there any prohibitions against admitting students with same-sex attraction. The stance has to do with sexual behavior, which falls in line with two millennia of Christian teaching.”

According to Stonestreet, Gordon College has one year to prepare a report for the Association defending the college’s policies.

Gordon is, essentially, being accused of discrimination even though all it is doing is proscribing standards of Christian conduct for its students. The implications of this situation are significant. If a college is free to profess a religious basis, but risks its accreditation by insisting its students adhere to some basic tenets of that religion, that’s a problem.

Stonestreet has prepared an excellent commentary on this situation and similar cases. You can listen to it below or read it here.

[audio:http://bit.ly/Zt3Y88|titles=John Stonestreet – The Jealous God of Tolerance]

The Unseen Pain Behind Same-Sex Marriage

Last week we shared a commentary by John Stonestreet at the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview articulating why Christianity is wedded to traditional marriage. This week, Stonestreet has released a commentary on the painful consequences of same-sex marriage.

Stonestreet writes,

Seven years ago, [Janna] Darnelle’s husband of ten years told her that he was gay and that he wanted a divorce. As she wrote in The Public Discourse, “In an instant, the world that I had known and loved—the life we had built together—was shattered.”

She tried to persuade him to stay, and work through their problems and fight for their marriage. But, as she writes, “my voice, my desires, my needs—and those of our two young children—no longer mattered to him. We had become disposable, because he had embraced one tiny word that had become his entire identity. Being gay trumped commitment, vows, responsibility, faith, fatherhood, marriage, friendships, and community.” …

USA Today, in its cheerleading for same-sex marriage, ran a photo section on her ex-husband, his partner, and her children without her consent or even notice to her. Darnelle wrote, “Commenters exclaimed at how beautiful this gay family was and congratulated my ex-husband and his new partner on the family that they ‘created’ . . .,” even though, she continued, “there is a significant person missing from those pictures: the mother and abandoned wife. That ‘gay family’ could not exist without me.”

Darnelle’s story, sadly, is not unique. Stonestreet discusses the series of cultural shifts that have brought us to this point–and the pain they have left in their wake.

Listen to his full commentary below.

[audio:http://bit.ly/1qVttEY|titles=John Stonestreet – The Unseen Pain Behind Gay Marriage]