); it doesnt matter what your eschatological views are; it doesnt matter what theory of the atonement you hold. So, Chris, I think you should look for a local church where you meet with God in meaningful corporate worship each Sunday. God's rescue of the Israelites from Egypt is the central miracle of the Old Testament. Other scholars have said that Paul is only condemning heterosexuals who engage in homosexual acts, not homosexuals who do. If it has a statement that would require you to confess things you dont believe in, you may wish to attend that church anyway without becoming officially a member of that denomination or church. It seems your readers comprise a wide variety of denominations, and you specifically answered at one point the question about why you are a Protestant. But what if this higher-than-human lawgiver is no longer taken intoaccount? Firstly, thank you for taking the time to answer questions from your readers and listeners. A host of questions arise. For those of us who are heterosexual, we need to remember that being homosexual, as such, is no sin. Consider the story of Marduks creation of the world from Tiamats corpse in the Enuma Elish. This was the time that Ken Ham and William Lane Craig discussed evolution and Jesus at Peaceful Science. In some cases, laws concerning homosexual activity might be proposed, and Christians will have to think hard about these on an individual basis. If any of you have watched or listened to debates on atheism, you will have, no doubt, come across William Lane Craig. Furthermore, it can be passed down to new born children. There are lessons to be learned from being involved in a local community of fellow believers which cannot be learned on ones own. Craig is NOT a good apologist in the Biblical sense. The idea of a persons being a homosexual by orientation is a feature of modern psychology and may have been unknown to people in the ancient world. The reason why the men go to Craig's classes is because at least they will learn something there, whereas in church they learn nothing. (Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995). [9] King et al. William Lane Craig is a philosopher, theologian, and apologist. It can cause infertility, ectopic pregnancy, arthritis, and an increased risk of contracting HIV. But the problem with this argument is that the New Testament reaffirms the validity of the Old Testament prohibitions of homosexual behavior, as well see below. Ham misunderstood Craig to be denying Jesuss deity, but This is not a matter of imposing ones personal values on others, since it is based on the same general moral principles that are used, for example, to ban drug use or pass gun laws. But this question raises an even deeper question, which weve got to answer first: do right and wrong really exist? Sexual orientation is no longer thought to be fixed and is not rigidly determined by our genetic makeup. In the last few years, William Lane Craig has surpassed Ravi Zacharais as evangelicalisms foremost Christian Apologist. He understood my decision, and we left with his blessing. Theres no evidence that Pauls commands concerning homosexual acts are culturally relative. Scripture actually commands us as believers to have a such defense ready to share with anyone who should ask us about why we believe as we do (I Pet.3.15). A frank attempt to deal with the question of whether a homosexual lifestyle is immoral. It has been wisely said that the body is not a playground for sexual amusement but a temple in which to worship and serve God.[18]. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. Don't be apologetic about inviting people to it! Thats the main criterion in choosing a church, more important than good preaching (you dont go to church primarily to receive instruction). Craig Borders on the Unorthodox Though Craig is a member of and a Sunday School teacher at a Southern Baptist Church, he is Wesleyan in terms of soteriology. Even if everyone agreed on such customs and conventions, they would still be no more than human inventions, arising perhaps from biological evolution and societal conditioning.. While this approach is more difficult, nevertheless I think that it is crucial if we as Christians are to have an impact on our contemporary culture. God has given every Christian a spiritual gift to exercise in the context of the local church (I Peter 4.10), and when someone fails to get involved, his gift is not being properly exercised, impairing the body and stunting his own development. This latitude permits people of vastly different theological perspectives to be part of one community. These include anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, alcoholism and drug dependence, One detailed study[8] showed homosexuals to be, in general, twice as likely to be depressed, to suffer phobic disorders, to be dependent on drugs, to be dependent on alcohol, to have experienced self-harm and to have needed psychiatric help than the general population, while their happiness ratings were halved. But we attend the church we do for a number of reasons, for example, its use of traditional hymns, along with a fabulous choir and orchestra, which help me to worship God meaningfully, its service opportunities, such as teaching my Defenders class, and its proximity to our home, encouraging church involvement on our part. Second, the uninvolved Christian stunts his own growth. He really has commanded certain things. But if you can join in good conscience, then as an expression of your solidarity with the local believers, do become a member. InMark 10.6-8, He says, From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Liberal scholars have done acrobatics to try to explain away the clear sense of these verses. And as a true man he had a complete human nature, namely a human body and a human soul (that is to say, a human mind). In all these cases, one might argue for restrictions on the basis of the general public good and health. Syphilis is important because it is not easily diagnosed and often remains untreated. Now Gods perfectly good nature is expressed toward us in the form of moral commandments, which constitute our moral duties. He should be praying for his own character and development, to be a person of integrity, fair play, good sportsmanship, self-discipline, civility toward the opponent, and so forth. [4] For a thorough treatment of this question, see Thomas Schmidt, Straight and Narrow? Currently, figures for overall life-expectancy among homosexuals are hotly disputed, while preventive measures and treatments to improve their life-expectancy consume huge amounts of money from Health Care budgets. Richard Taylor, a prominent American philosopherand not a Christian by the way, makes this point very forcefully. But it doesnt stop there: murder, rape, torture, child abusenone of these things would be wrong, because without God objective right and wrong do not exist. Just as an alcoholic who is dry will still stand up at an AA meeting and say, I am an alcoholic, so a homosexual who is living straight and keeping himself pure ought to be able to stand up in a Christian prayer meeting and say, I am a homosexual. Most of his work is apologetic in terms of talks and debates and popular books, however he appears to have a number of philosophical monographs and articles. Far from being a reflection of the culture in which he wrote, Pauls commands were downright counter-cultural! The Bible is so realistic! Its real. As the apostle Paul put it, we are to weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15). This laissez-faire attitude toward local church involvement is mistaken for at least three reasons. [19] This implies that some 3% of the population do not identify as straight, but only half that number identify as gay or lesbian, with perhaps1% as gay. More importantly, weve seen that the Bibles prohibitions against homosexual activity are rooted, not in culture, but in the God-given pattern for marriage established at creation. So a very good case can be made out on the basis of generally accepted moral principles that homosexual behavior should be avoided. Revision History. Second, we saw that the Bible consistently and clearly forbids homosexual acts, just as it does all sexual acts outside marriage. People think its the same with moral values. It is likely to be injurious to both the individuals, their partners, and the wider community. This was a back and forth, on several platforms, one of which was our podcast. It doesnt matter whether you are Reformed or Wesleyan (or even Molinist! Now thats averygood question. The creation story in Genesis tells of how God made woman as a suitable mate for man, his perfect, God-given complement. According to Ham, William Lane Craig pseudo-intellectual arrogance that mocks God and his Word and instead exalts the word of fallible. Craig represents one of the major problems with much of the church, because he interprets Genesis in a different way than does Ken Ham. Are homosexuals more promiscuous than heterosexuals? So who are we to say that these apparently earnest Christians are wrong? But suppose someone denies point (2) that Gods will is expressed in the Bible. Given the Old Testament background to this passage as well as what Paul says inI Cor. Men accounted for almost 90% of all cases, 68% being in men who have sex with men (MSM), where that information was known. than those of the state is understood. Sadly, Craig has been instrumental during his years as an apologist in developing argumentation for the existence of God from a philosophical perspective. Where HIV status was also known, 45% of these MSM were HIV positive. When measured in terms of the number of new partners in the previous year, the study found that of MSMs aged 18-24yrs, 86% had a new partnership in the previous year, compared with 56% of heterosexuals. These core doctrines include the Trinitarian nature of God, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and salvation by grace through faith. Bible Apologetics William Lane Craig's Mytho-History vs. Craig sees himself primarily as an evangelist (he served on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for two years) and defender of what he believes to be the core doctrines of the Christian faith. A couple weeks later, he followed up with (H/T Think Apologetics). According to the CDC, the current change was primarily attributable to increases among men and, specifically to men who have sex with men (MSM),[11] among whom there are also comparable increases in gonorrhea and HIV. Science 30 August 2019.Vol 365. Now if someone is going to resist this reasoning, hes got to deny either that (2) Gods will is expressed in the Bible or else that (3) the Bible forbids homosexual behavior.
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