Kristine's post on Soulforce has sparked a lively discussion that apparently includes some of the group's participants. Their prevailing sentiment seems to be that any lifestyle can be acceptable in God's eyes, and it is hypocritical or judgmental to suggest otherwise. One commenter notes:

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone, on both sides of the police line we will be standing on, that no one can say who has favor with God and who does not. To make such assumptions is awefully [sic] pretentious, ridiculously pious, and extremely dangerous. It defeats our purpose, which is to find a common middle ground. We cannot move from the place where we stand if we believe that we have, in our possession, an infallable [sic] truth. We are only human.

To the contrary, our purpose is not to find a "common middle ground" on issues like this, but to discern the desires, expectations, and designs of Almighty God -- however much they may disrupt our own. No one is going to perfectly understand any part of this while part of fallen humanity, but it is disingenuous to pretend that Scripture is so ambivalent or indecipherable about such basic matters of sexual morality.

It need not be a matter of disrespect or "hate" to make this point or discuss its merits. But let us be clear that if the objective is merely to find a resolution satisfactory to everyone's choices or impulses, then we've lost all bases from which to argue. We must either search for the proper standards to which we are called to live, or declare that no such standards exist.

Indeed, we are all human -- broken, confused, and in need of a Savior's intervention. And if we're paying attention, we are reminded of that every day. But that's even more reason to stand firm upon the principles that God has set before us, to seek to be more like Christ and less like a sinful human.

Comments

[Brian Murphy]

Travis, I agree with you. Our purpose is "to discern the desires, expectations, and designs of Almighty God -- however much they may disrupt our own." I also agree with you that we are all "broken, confused, and in need of a Savior's intervention." It is BECAUSE of this, not in spite of it, that the Equality Ride is valuable.

The aim is not to argue, to protest, to win at anything. The aim is to converse. To engage these issues and to discern God's will for us. We have been told by the powers-that-be what His will for us is in these matters, but many have not sought out God's Truth for themselves. That is what the Equality Ride asks.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to "examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good." It is with that outlook that Equality Ride approaches these campuses and I hope, in a Christian spirit, that is how these campuses respond.

[Greg Laurich]

The problem with hot button issues is just that. Emotions get heated and things can get ugly in a hurry. As long as we can keep things like Romans 12:18 in mind we can stand firm without looking like a bunch of pharisees...

[Ken Percy]

Hear hear, Travis. We all have our different interpretations, but there is bedrock in the Scripture that ultimately defines what is Christian and what is not. A final authority to base our beliefs upon requires that it be what it is, not what we would like it to be. Moral law cannot be amended, or else we have no religion to speak of.