There’s Nothing Wrong in Kansas (but is there something wrong with Andy Stanley?)

Kirsten Powers wants to know what is wrong with Kansas. She asks this because of a bill that recently passed the Kansas House of Representatives that would protect the religious liberty of businesses and individuals who wish not to provide services to homosexual couples. Of course, this is because such businesses and individuals take the biblical view of homosexuality—that it is sinful—that has prevailed for centuries.

The bill was “blessedly killed” (her words) in the Kansas Senate. Bills such as this are in response to lawsuits against businesses such as the florist in Washington, the baker in Colorado, and the photographer in New Mexico because they refused to provide their business services in same-sex “weddings.” Powers likens attempts at these types of laws to “Jim Crow laws” that existed decades ago in the south.

Here again we see the pro-homosexual movement attempting to associate itself with the civil rights movement that swept America in the 1960s. Powers then adds this troubling, but unsurprising sentence, “Whether Christians have the legal right to discriminate should be a moot point because Christianity doesn't prohibit serving a gay couple getting married.”

First of all, time and again, those of us who oppose same-sex “marriage” are accused of “discrimination.” This is a ridiculous accusation that I have dealt with often. All law discriminates. Thus, those who support same-sex marriage also must eventually “discriminate” when it comes to defining marriage. You can usually easily reveal this by asking same-sex “marriage” supporters whether they support polygamous “marriage” or incestuous “marriage.”

Secondly, if you read the law, it takes great pains to speak in terms of “marriage,” or a similar ceremony. We are not talking about refusing to serve a customer in general simply because of someone’s sexual behavior. (Although such refusal can also at times be justified.) If this were the case, most of us would probably have failed such a test at some point in our lives.

Thirdly (and ridiculously), no, the Bible does not specifically prohibit serving at a gay “wedding.” However, as anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Christianity would know, this is because the Bible prohibits homosexual behavior, and thus by extension, same-sex “marriage” as well. As I have often noted, when Jesus is asked about divorce, He talks about marriage (quoting directly from Genesis chapters one and two) in terms of how it was “from the beginning:” a union of one man and one woman.

Most disturbingly, Powers obtains statements that are seemingly supportive of her pro-homosexual position from pastors of the “largest church in Kansas,” Adam Hamilton, and the “second largest church in the U.S,” Andy Stanley (whose church is in my home state of Georgia). Powers quotes Hamilton as saying that, “Jesus routinely healed, fed and ministered to people whose personal lifestyle he likely disagreed with.”

Stanley is quoted as saying that he finds it “offensive that Christians would leverage faith to support the Kansas law.” He adds, “Serving people we don't see eye to eye with is the essence of Christianity. Jesus died for a world with which he didn't see eye to eye. If a bakery doesn't want to sell its products to a gay couple, it's their business. Literally. But leave Jesus out of it.”

“Offensive?” Really? The “leave your faith out of politics” howls are supposed to come from the secular left, not the evangelical right. Far too many Christians (especially Christian politicians) have been brow-beaten into believing that their faith should have nothing to do with their politics.

And do Stanley and Hamilton really not see the difference between feeding a hungry prostitute and agreeing to photograph her next act of sexual immorality? Can they not tell the difference between helping a junkie get a job vs. baking a cake for his next crack party? In other words, sure we are to love all and worship One, but we are certainly not to wink-and-nod at or worse, participate in, sinful behavior.

This is especially true for homosexuality and same-sex marriage, as both are uniquely heinous in our culture. In other words, in spite of what many young people—especially those who call themselves Christians—today believe, issues such as homosexuality, marriage, and abortion deserve the attention they get from Christian conservatives. As Joel Belz noted years ago, it is time we stop apologizing for the attention we give these grave moral issues.

Why? Because, prostitution (at least not yet), drug abuse (well, there is the pro-pot crowd), murder (oops!—I forgot about abortion! Is there any sin liberals can’t co-opt in an attempt to turn out votes?)—and the like, do not have national movements and organizations that are devoted to preaching the value of such behavior.

As a result of decades of propaganda from organizations like Planned Parenthood, the Human Rights Campaign, a complicit media, and the Democratic Party, tens-of-millions of Americans have bought the liberal lies when it comes to abortion, homosexuality, and gay marriage. On these issues, we are a culture deceived, and if nowhere else, our pulpits need to be unambiguously screaming the truth in these matters.

Paul, in Romans—the “caput et summa universae doctrinae christianae” (“the summary of the whole of Christian doctrine”)—chapter 6 reveals something very black and white about humanity: “Do you not know that …you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” The question staring menacingly at America right now is, whose slave are you?

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com