Tony Campolo has been regarded as one of the most influential evangelicals in the US. It is of no surprise that Campolo has recently called for full acceptance of homosexual Christian (an oxymoron) couples in the Church. Christianity Today reports:
It is time to include gay couples fully into the Church, he says. The “exclusion and disapproval” they receive from the Christian community must now end, Campolo insists. He warns that the Church is in danger of repeating the same kinds of mistakes it made when it supported slavery and opposed the ministry of women.
Campolo admits that he has responded ambiguously over the years to the question: Are you ready to fully accept into the Church those gay Christian couples who have made a lifetime commitment to one another? Campolo says that one of the reasons for his ambiguity was that he “was deeply uncertain about what was right.” However, in his recent blog post, Campolo finally concluded, “It has taken countless hours of prayer, study, conversation and emotional turmoil to bring me to the place where I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the Church.”
How can a person who believes in the Bible be “uncertain” about whether or not homosexuality is right or wrong? It does not require “hours of prayer, study, conversation and emotional turmoil” in order to figure out what is clearly revealed and plainly stated in the word of God: homosexuality is an abomination.
“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:22).
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13).
“There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel” (Deuteronomy 23:17).
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:26-27).
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9,10).
“But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” (1 Timothy 1:8-11)
What is there to pray about? There is no need for study or conversation in the face of such clear teachings against homosexuality. Campolo can be likened to the teenage boy who prays to God about having sex with his girlfriend. The boy asks in prayer for a sign from God whether or not it is God’s will for him to have sex with her. He prays, “Heavenly Father, I don’t know what to do, so I ask you for a sign: If she comes over tonight, then I will trust it is your will for us to have sex, but if she doesn’t come over tonight, I will believe it is not your will. In Jesus’ name. . . . Amen.” Later, his girlfriend comes over and they fall into fornication. All the while, the Bible said, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Like this boy, Campolo is guilty of idolatry and will be punished as the children of Israel, unless he repents. Campolo’s idol is homosexuality. Because he has not accepted the plain meaning of Scripture and feels he has to pray about it, then God will answer according to his idols.
Thus says the Lord God: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.” (Ezekiel 14:4-6)
Likewise, 2 Thessalonians 2:10-13 says, “they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Campolo offers another reason for his full acceptance of homosexual couples in the Church:
One reason I am changing my position on this issue is that, through Peggy, I have come to know so many gay Christian couples whose relationships work in much the same way as our own. Our friendships with these couples have helped me understand how important it is for the exclusion and disapproval of their unions by the Christian community to end. We in the Church should actively support such families. Furthermore, we should be doing all we can to reach, comfort and include all those precious children of God who have been wrongly led to believe that they are mistakes or just not good enough for God, simply because they are not straight.
Another reason for his full acceptance of homosexual couples, Campolo notes the “progression” of the professing church on the following issues:
I am old enough to remember when we in the Church made strong biblical cases for keeping women out of teaching roles in the Church, and when divorced and remarried people often were excluded from fellowship altogether on the basis of scripture. . . . I am afraid we are making the same kind of mistake again, which is why I am speaking out.
Campolo is just following suit with the postmodern culture of our day. Christians are in error for allowing women to teach in the Church (see 1 Timothy 2:11-13), for including divorced and remarried people in fellowship (see Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18, 1 Corinthians 5:11), and including homosexuals in fellowship (see 1 Corinthians 5:11).
In my book, Hath God Said? Emergent Church Theology, and our documentary film The Real Roots of the Emergent Church, I’ve documented much of Campolo’s emerging and progressive position on homosexuality. Here are some excerpts from the book chapter entitled “Queermergent”:
Jesus quoted from the Old Testament (Matthew 4:4,7,10), affirmed that the Old Testament Scriptures were unbreakable (John 10:35), authoritative (Matthew 22:29), truthful (John 17:17), historically and scientifically reliable (Matthew 12:40; 19:4-6; 24:37-38). While Jesus did not perpetuate the Law of Moses, specifically the ceremonial and civil ordinances, He did affirm God’s moral standards of living. Jesus initiated a New Covenant, distinct from the Old Covenant, but both covenants came from the same Father whose morality cannot change. While there are some differences between the two, there is much similarity such as God’s transcendent moral law within the Law of Moses and the Prophets.
Like others in the Emergent movement, Campolo criticizes the position of most Christians that homosexuals can be transformed into heterosexuals through prayer. He scrutinizes every one of the passages in the Bible which condemns homosexuality. For instance, he argues that the Torah prohibitions of homosexuality found in Leviticus 18:22, 20:13 and Deuteronomy 23:17 are not moral standards but part of the Kosher rules for Orthodox Jews in the same category of other Kosher practices such as the prohibition of wearing mixed fabrics, and eating shellfish or pork (Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren, Adventures in Missing the Point (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 2003), 201).
An honest reading of Leviticus chapters 18 and 20 would lead us to the conclusion that God’s command is not merely part of Kosher rules, but God’s universal moral law. These chapters declare: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:22); “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13). These commands are not surrounded by ceremonial or civil ordinances but other binding moral commands against incest (Leviticus 18:6-19; 20:11-20,16-17,19-21), adultery (Leviticus 18:20; 20:10), child sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5) and bestiality (Leviticus 18:23; 20:15).
Likewise, Deuteronomy 23:17 couples homosexuality with the sin of prostitution saying: “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.” Only a morally corrupt people would find these practices acceptable. Jesus’ view of marriage agrees with the morality of both the Old and New Testaments. Today, what has long been considered perversion and murder such as homosexuality and child sacrifice or abortion are now acceptable. . . .
Campolo offers the argument that “Paul does not condemn those born with homosexual orientations, but rather heterosexuals who . . . become debased and decadent” (McLaren and Campolo, Adventures in Missing the Point, 206, 207). Advocates of the term “sexual orientation” claim that it is fixed at a person’s birth. But the term is hypocritically selective in its application to homosexuality only and to pedophilia or other sexual sin. If we allow God’s word to correct sinful feelings, motives, thoughts, and orientations at the root of sinful behavior, then our lives will be pleasing to God. Jesus identified evil thoughts and motives which defile a person (Mark 7:15,20-23). Thus, even a person’s “sexual orientations” can be sinful.
Campolo’s argument does not account for the condemnation of homosexuality throughout the Bible and the moral declaration of such behavior as unseemly, not convenient, unrighteous and wicked. He further dismisses the Pauline letters arguing that the Greek word arsenokoitai found in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10, translated “homosexual” has an ambiguous meaning, that Paul was “condemning not homosexuality per se, but pederasty.” (McLaren and Campolo, Adventures in Missing the Point, 205). The Strong’s Concordance is probably the most often used and trusted Greek and Hebrew concordance for the Bible. It defines this word as “one who lies with a male as with a female, sodomite, homosexual.” The word is only ambiguous to those who refuse to acknowledge the clear meaning of the Bible.
Campolo says, “As a Christian, my responsibility is not to condemn or reject gay people, but rather to love and embrace them.” This statement sounds very similar to what I’ve heard Shane Claiborne say (by the way, Claiborne is a student and friend of Campolo). Years ago, I talked with Shane on the phone about this very issue and wrote about it in my book; I have also communicated via email with Campolo on these matters. Shane Claiborne, like Tony Campolo, essentially says that we just need to love. But this stance appears to be at the expense of the truth when he says,
Well, Billy Graham said really well once that it’s God’s job to judge, the Spirit’s job to convict and my job to love. And if we get those right, this issue looks very different to us. If we don’t simply talk about the gay issue but we are living in relationship to people who are working out their sexuality and struggling with it, the question changes. I had all these ideas about homosexuality and civil union and gay when I was in high school, and then I met a kid who was attracted to other men and he told me that he felt God had made a mistake when He made him and that he wanted to kill himself. If that brother can’t find a home in the Church, then I wonder who have we become. (“7 Burning Issues: Gay Rights,” Relevant Magazine, May/June 2008, http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/1457-7-burning-issues-gay-rights.)
That sounds good at first. Christians are not to judge those in the world, but we are exhorted to judge those within the church (1 Corinthians 5:12). One of the most often cited and favorite Bible passages is “Judge not” (Matthew 7:1). “You’re judging me,” they say in response to the Gospel proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. However, that is actually taking that verse totally out of context. Jesus is really encouraging us to judge, but to first judge ourselves. Notice what He says afterwards: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5). That means that people like ex-homosexuals (those who have removed the beam from their eye by God’s grace through faith in Christ, those who have repented of their sin and turned to Christ for forgiveness) can now see clearly to judge another sinner in need of the Gospel.
Shane Claiborne speaks of this homosexual “brother” finding a home in the church whereas Paul tells us to break fellowship with those who would call themselves a brother and be given to such immorality: “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?” (1 Corinthians 5:11,12). Yes, Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, but they were not called brothers; they were worldly sinners. These are the type of immoral people that we can and should eat with for the sake of preaching the Gospel. Thus Paul said, “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5:9,10). Therefore, we would be known as friends of sinners (Luke 7:34).
Paul was confronted with a congregation in which there was a man practicing immorality, “such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1). In his instruction to the church, Paul says to “deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5:5). This command was not culturally sensitive or seeker-friendly. Paul didn’t say this because he hated fornicators or because he didn’t want that man to find a home in the church. Paul said this because he loved this man. He said later in the second letter to the Corinthians: “out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. . . Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.” (2 Corinthians 2:4,6-8).
In love, Paul commanded that a person who is living in such grievous sin like homosexuality should be cast out of the church. Why? That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5). The discipline is loving, corrective and restorative. Put him out of the church unto Satan that he would become disgraced and ashamed over his lifestyle. Ideally, the poor soul would turn form his sin and be restored. But Emergence Christianity pats the sinner on the back in the name of love.
Like other Emergents, Campolo and Claiborne are loving their homosexual friends to an extent that outweighs the love we should have toward God and His commandments. Jesus was asked by a certain lawyer, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus responded, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:36-39). Our love for God should be elevated over the love we have for our neighbor. And this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments (1 John 5:3). When the love for our friends and neighbors outweighs the love we have toward God and truth, then we are giving prime importance to people rather than to God. This is humanism. Our loving and forthright response should be to confront homosexuality with the truth of God’s word.
There is still hope for Campolo’s repentance. In his recent blog post, he acknowledged, “I am painfully aware that there are ways I could be wrong about this one.” It sounds like Campolo is still “deeply uncertain about what [is] right.” Let us pray for Campolo’s repentance and embrace of what the Bible teaches about homosexuality.
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