Unpacking the “Nashville Statement” and The Backlash Against It

Homosexuality, ,

Over the weekend, more than 150 Christian leaders from across America signed the Nashville Statement.

This is a good document reaffirming 2,000 years of biblical teaching about God’s design for biological sex and marriage and denying transgenderism, homosexuality, and other forms of sexual immorality.

The Nashville Statement opens,

Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being. By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life . . . It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferences.

It goes on to say,

WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.

WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.

Article 10 of the statement reads,

WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

Those who have signed the statement so far include Dr. James Dobson; Russell Moore; Dr. Albert Mohler; John Piper; Tony Perkins of Family Research Council; Dennis Rainey of FamilyLife; and many others.

Backlash Against the Statement and Its Signers

The statement has met with backlash. NBC news called it a “sexuality manifesto,” and said,

Two of the groups represented on the list — the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council — are listed as anti-LGBTQ “hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate activity across the U.S.

Keep in mind that the Southern Poverty Law Center has been heavily criticized for labeling Alliance Defending Freedom and Family Research Council as “hate groups.”

You may recall in 2012 a gunman attacked Family Research Council’s headquarters after finding them on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups, and in 2014 the FBI stopped using the SPLC as a resource for tracking dangerous organizations.

Nashville’s mayor also criticized the Nashville Statement, saying the statement “does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville.” It’s deeply troubling that an elected official would openly oppose a statement of belief from a broad coalition of Christians.

Reaffirming the Truth

Christian leaders down through the centuries have routinely gathered together to reaffirm the truth of scripture in the face of cultural changes. The Nashville Statement simply reiterates basic biblical teaching.

In that regard, there is nothing new here.

What is new is the need to articulate the Bible’s teaching on sex and marriage — and the backlash Christians are receiving for believing things that Christians have believed for two millennia.

It’s only in the past few years that anyone has seriously called into question the Bible’s teaching on biological sex, homosexuality, and marriage. Appropriately, last week John Stonestreet with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview wrote,

[T]he very first council in church history, the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15, did take up the issue of sexuality. Gentile Christians were told to “abstain from sexual immorality,” which for the Jewish apostles would mean the list of practices condemned in Leviticus 18, including homosexual behavior. . . . .

I’d suggest it’s quite telling that sex and marriage were never considered “up in the air” for the Church since the Jerusalem Council until now.

You can read and sign the Nashville Statement here.

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NJ Man Allegedly Videotaped Women in Target Fitting Room

Transgender,

According to news reports, a New Jersey man was recently arrested for allegedly filming women in fitting rooms at a Target store.

You may recall Target unveiled a policy letting men enter women’s restrooms, changing areas, and similar facilities in its stores nearly a year and a half ago.

In response, many people expressed public safety concerns about this policy, and more than 1.5 million people signed a pledge to boycott Target until the policy changes.

This latest incident underscores the need for Target to reverse course and protect the privacy and safety of its customers and employees in its stores.

It also reminds us that states like Arkansas need to protect the privacy and safety of public school students and others when it comes to showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and similar facilities in public schools and other government buildings.

Photo Credit: By Mike Kalasnik from Fort Mill, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Trump Reverses Obama Admin. Policy on Transgender Military Personnel

LGBT,

This morning President Trump issued a statement on Twitter, saying,

After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you

President Trump’s announcement marks a reinstatement of the military’s longstanding policy concerning transgender individuals.

On July 1, 2016, the Obama Administration began allowing openly transgender individuals in the military. Prior to that, transgender individuals were excluded from the U.S. military.

Below is a press release from our colleagues at Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. concerning today’s announcement.

WASHINGTON, DC — Family Research Council (FRC) praised President Trump’s decision today rescinding the Obama era transgender policy. A Rasmussen survey released last month finds “just 23% of likely U.S. voters think the U.S. military’s decision to allow openly transgender people to serve is good for the military.”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a Marine veteran, released the following statement:

“I applaud President Trump for keeping his promise to return to military priorities — and not continue the social experimentation of the Obama era that has crippled our nation’s military. The military can now focus its efforts on preparing to fight and win wars rather than being used to advance the Obama social agenda.

“President Trump recognizes what the nation’s military leadership and the American people realize, this Obama policy makes no sense.

“The last thing we should be doing is diverting billions of dollars from mission-critical training to something as controversial as gender reassignment surgery. However, the cost to readiness, recruitment, retention, morale and cohesion would have been even greater under the Obama policy. As our nation faces serious national security threats, our troops shouldn’t be forced to endure hours of transgender ‘sensitivity’ classes and politically-correct distractions like this one.

“Now that we are assured that the Defense Department has its fiscal priorities in order, Family Research Council withdraws our opposition to increasing the budget of the Department of Defense through the ‘Make America Secure Appropriations Act’ and looks forward to seeing that legislation pass,” concluded Perkins.

Transgender Policy Could Cost Military Billions Over Ten Years

http://www.frc.org/transgendermilitarycost

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