(Preface: I actually wrote this article over a year ago. I had spoken to the person behind it back then, and in an effort to show a bit of grace and respect, I did not print this. But this person has now left, and it seems that the school in question is still rather problematic in this and other respects. So for those reasons I now post this piece, finally. If we wonder why we are losing the culture wars, we simply have to look at our own camp first it seems.)
I was quite taken back when I was told recently that a homosexual activist would be speaking at a Bible college course on “Spirituality & Sexuality”. I kid you not. This activist, who dumped his biblical faith, dumped his wife, and dumped his kids, to pursue his homosexual lifestyle, has evidently been welcomed with open arms at this Bible college.
A quick search of the Web verified this alright. The school’s newsletter announced the course and the line-up of speakers. And sure enough – there he was. Given that there are eight speakers for the 40 hour course, there is the possibility that this activist could get up to five full hours to indoctrinate the students.
He can spend all this time telling them that homosexuality is a gift of God, it is not at all sinful, it should be welcomed and affirmed in the churches, and any believer who finds the lifestyle to be unbiblical and wrong is a homophobic intolerant twit, who is obviously not a real Christian.
Just what in the world this Bible college is doing is beyond me. Of interest is this little rider that appears in small print at the bottom of the page announcing the class: Our college “promotes and defends the opportunity for all people to engage in informed open debate. The information and opinion presented in this unit do not necessarily represent the views of [this school] and/or its partners.”
Does it really promote complete openness of views? Does it invite in those of a more conservative stripe on a wide range of issues? Indeed, when has it in the last five years brought in a Fred Nile, or a Jack Sonnemann, or a Jonathan Sarfati, or any other noted conservative Christian to speak?
Given that this is a course on sexuality, I suppose all sorts of topics might be covered. And given how open this school seems to be to all sorts of viewpoints, it seems the sky is the limit here. Will a pedophile, polygamist and necrophiliac also be allowed to share their views? If not, why not? These too are part of modern sexuality, are they not?
Indeed, given this is about spirituality as well, how about some religious cult prostitutes to share their story? Maybe some religious pole dancers can come in and tell all these Bible college students why they should be more accepting of their lifestyle.
In fact, why be so old-fashioned and desk-bound? Why not a field trip to a local brothel, all in the name of fostering debate? What about a trip to a homosexual bathhouse? We cannot really talk about these issues if we do not see how the other half actually lives.
After all, we want to be seen as a tolerant, welcoming, and above all, a compassionate Bible college. And we do so much strive to “promote and defend the opportunity for all people to engage in informed open debate”. That is what a good Bible college is all about isn’t it?
Indeed, while we are at it, let’s loosen up the theology department a bit more. Let’s bring in John Shelby Spong and have him lecture us on why the resurrection did not occur. Let’s bring in even more Muslims to tell us why Jesus is not God and Muhammad is Allah’s only ultimate and final prophet.
One might as well say we are having a week long class on recent German history and we will be having a Nazi come and share his point of view with us. Or we are having a week long intensive on criminology ethics, and we would like to hear what serial killer Martin Bryant has to say on this.
Or we are having a class on race relations, and we have invited a member of the KKK to share his point of view. Or we will be having a discussion on multiculturalism and we have invited Pauline Hanson to come and share with us. It is so good to know that there is a Bible college which is open to all points of view, all in the interests of fair debate.
But did it also invite former homosexuals in to tell the students what a dead end and deceptive lifestyle this is? Or is that being too intolerant and exclusive? Of course the way things are going, soon all Bible colleges will be forced to hire homosexuals to teach in their ethics and theology departments – if they are not there already.
If we wonder why all over the Western world we are losing the culture wars to the radicals, the secular left, and the activist minority groups, a good part of the reason is because they are winning the battles in our churches and Bible colleges.
This particular example is simply the latest in a long line of sell-outs to the very forces that are seeking to destroy the Christian church and silence those who still affirm the biblical stance on such matters. It is one thing to acknowledge such hostile forces exist. But it is quite another to invite them in and hand them a silver platter to undermine the very biblical truths we are meant to be defending and promoting.
Of course any decent Bible college will expose students to competing points of view, so that they can better critique them and defend the biblical worldview. Thus an Old Testament student will be exposed to, say, the JEPD thesis, but then be shown its many weaknesses.
Or a theology class may study the cults, so that students may be able to properly defend their faith better, but I know of no decent Bible college that will deliberately bring a cultist into the classroom to push his poisonous claims onto the students.
And in an ethics course one will describe the arguments put forward, say, by the pro-abortionists or the pro-pornography crowd, with a view to better being able to interact with their positions. But I am not aware of any Bible college still interested in defending biblical Christianity bringing in someone from the sex industry to let students hear their side of the story.
In the same way, the arguments of the pro-homosexual lobby can be explored, but hopefully only in order to refute them and affirm the biblical position. I can see no reason whatsoever to allow an activist in to push his deceptive and diabolical agenda.
If the churches are losing ground in so many key areas, it seems some of our Bible colleges must share some of the blame. In their zeal to be ‘fair’ and ‘open’, they are simply letting themselves open to destructive doctrines of demons, the very thing that Paul and other New Testament writers warned against.
Indeed, I am not aware of Paul inviting the Judaisers in to give their point of view. Elijah did not ask the Baalists to come and teach the Israelites their version of events. So why in heaven’s name does this Bible college feel so compelled to do this very sort of thing?
(Note: I did send two emails to the school principal earlier, asking for his take on all this. So far there has been no response.)
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