Whether Andrew knows this or not, everyone pretty much knows Andrew believes the Bible condemns homosexuality. The thing with Andrew is that he stretches the love of Christ message over all of it like it's a big Persian rug of Christian love that he hopes hides what the Bible says on homosexuality for the time being. He thinks about how he feels about this personally he can also sweep under the rug even though it leaves a big, fat, lump that makes you ask; "What's that big lump under the pretty rug he's hiding?" I'm convinced Andrew will never come right out and state how he really feels no matter how much you try to pry it out of him. Now there is something to be said about "FOCUS ON ONLY LOVE! FOCUS ON ONLY LOVE!" But this doesn't answer the big Bible question on homosexuality. Now you have TWO lumps under the rug. One is what the Bible says on homosexuality and the other is Andrew's opinion on it.
One time John and Andrew came to blows on Twitter with what was bound to happen with two Christian powerhouses on the big issue of homosexuality. I understood John's frustration with Andrew because bringing a gay kid into the faith saying; "God loves you and the Church was wrong to say bad things to you, but now look at the fine print of the Bible whenever you have the time" CAN be devastating to the kid with finding out God's love is conditional with their homosexuality. I'm sure Andrew's reasoning is; "Don't let the Bible get in the way of a good witness to dem gays!... They'll learn it later." When the smoke cleared, Andrew left to fight other battles with gays who had suspicions about his motivations AND anti-gay Christians who think Andrew wants to hide their gay condemning Gospel message (they're right). John said on his blog about the exchange with Andrew:
"I don’t expect to hear from him (Andrew) again. But I’m confident that if I do, he won’t say anything beyond how important it is to continue the dialogue, to keep building bridges, to “live in the tension,” to reach out in love, fuzzy, fuzzy, blah, blah, tastes great, less filling. Because selling that kind of sugar-powdered waffle is how Andrew makes his money."
Later, when John received criticism for what looked like a less-than-Christian response to Andrew, he went further stating:
"... folks have made the point that Andrew’s work is valuable because he is “building bridges”—because he is, as one reader put it, “creating stepping stones from one end of the spectrum to the other.” They appreciate Marin establishing a neutral, non-judgmental, values-free middle ground where parties on either side of the gay-Christian debate can meet to together discuss and explore the issue.
And I certainly understand how great that sounds.
But it’s not great. It doesn’t even make sense. Because when it comes to the issue of LGBT equality, there is no middle ground. There can’t be. The Christian/LGBT issue is a moral issue. And moral issues are by definition about right and wrong.
And this particular moral issue is one of no small consequence. There couldn’t be more at stake with it. The Christians on one side of this debate are claiming that, in the eyes of God, those on the other side are less than human."
Whoooosh! Goodbye middle ground.
John goes on...
"No matter how strenuously he or she might deny it, any Christian who fails to forthrightly and unambiguously assert that there is nothing whatsoever inherently immoral about same-sex relationships has chosen a side in this conflict. They’ve chosen to perpetuate the maligning, ostracizing, and degradation of gay people by Christians. If you don’t stop one person from abusing another, what good are you to the victim? To a starving man, the person who can’t decide whether or not they want to share their food is no better than the person who outright refuses to."
... well said, John.
I bring up this incident between John and Andrew because I'm seeing this being played out more and more now. Those like John and myself having to confront the Andrews of the world with hard Scripture (in our case, affirming) over their exuberance of love and acceptance that's hiding a bill of goods that says you have to be alone for the rest of your life or make an opposite-sex relationship work once your foot is in salvation's door.
another thing...
I'm seeing a misappropriation of terms by the anti-gay with the intent of confusing people. "Ex-Gays" are now calling themselves "Gay Christians" (they just don't have gay sex) and anti-gay groups are saying they are "Gay Affirming" (they affirm you are a child of God, but don't be gay). Even "ex-gay" Jackie Hill Perry has come out and said this is fooling people and they need to "just be honest."
