{"id":2154,"date":"2011-06-01T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2011-06-01T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2154"},"modified":"2011-06-01T06:00:28","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T12:00:28","slug":"cbf-sexual-ethics-the-muddled-moderates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2154","title":{"rendered":"CBF, Sexual Ethics & the Muddled Moderates"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1995 Spring Semester at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, my wife and I both\u00a0took Christian Ethics, <\/em>a required course for every MDiv\u00a0student.\u00a0 The professor was a well-respected young scholar who was known for his thoughtfulness in tackling some of the\u00a0most\u00a0difficult ethical situations of the day.\u00a0 I do not remember every topic that was listed on our syllabus, but I’m quite certain\u00a0that we were encouraged –expected — to use the Bible as our primary source for answering issues dealing with abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, war and peace, sexual ethics, and a whole host of hot-button\u00a0cultural issues facing Christians and the church in the mid-90’s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While my memory fails at certain points (my wife tells me I have the memory of a dead elephant), I do remember earning an “A” in the class while my wife earned an “A+.”\u00a0 I think it was her paper on\u00a0To Kill a Mockingbird\u00a0<\/em>— one which the professor said\u00a0was the best in the class\u00a0— which put her over the top. We did not have many classes together during our seminary days, but the ones we did sit through together (including what we called “boot-camp” Hebrew taught by Dr. Paul House) have somehow stayed in our memory banks.<\/p>\n

Time has changed many things.\u00a0 Since finishing the Christian Ethics<\/em> class 16 years ago, my wife and I have served churches in Florida, Virginia, and now New Mexico.\u00a0 That young professor is now older and, after a stint at Union University, finds his current teaching assignment at Mercer University in Macon, GA.\u00a0 While both Union and Mercer could be considered historically Baptist universities, I think it is safe to say that these two schools find themselves on somewhat opposite ends of the theological spectrum.<\/p>\n

Likewise, it appears more and more that I find myself on what seems like the opposite end of the theological spectrum from\u00a0my seminary Christian Ethics<\/em>\u00a0professor, Dr. David Gushee.\u00a0\u00a0For good or bad, it does not appear that I have deviated from the Biblical\u00a0Christian ethics that Dr. Gushee\u00a0taught\u00a0my wife and I at Southern.\u00a0 It would appear that Dr. Gushee\u00a0has moved away from — in some cases far away from — what he taught his students at SBTS\u00a0in the mid-90’s.<\/p>\n

Dr. Gushee’s movement from Southern to Union to Mercer probably reflects his movement toward\u00a0the less traveled\u00a0road of moderate Baptists.<\/a>\u00a0 At least in the\u00a0area of\u00a0sexual ethics,\u00a0his travel is taking him farther and farther\u00a0away\u00a0from his conservative teaching during his tenure at Southern Seminary (and most likely, Union University).\u00a0 And, that is making all the\u00a0difference in the world.\u00a0 It will most likely make a\u00a0difference in the world of moderate Baptist life, particularly within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) in 2012 and\u00a0beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Gushee, who currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, will undoubtedly provide leadership for a just-announced conference on sexuality scheduled for April 19-21, 2012.\u00a0 The conference, A\u00a0[Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant,<\/em>\u00a0will\u00a0be held at historic FBC Decatur.\u00a0 According to an online\u00a0prospectus<\/a>\u00a0published by the conference’s sponsors:<\/p>\n

The Conference on Sexuality and Covenant aims to provide Baptist Christians, and other interested Christians, the opportunity to have the realistic, honest, and compassionate conversations we need to undertake.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While many topics relating to sexual ethics will be discussed, including “homosexuality, as well as divorce, the growing number of couples who cohabitate without getting married and differing attitudes on such subjects held by older and younger Christians,”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/em>there is one topic that will take center stage, regardless of how this conference is billed.\u00a0 A\u00a0recent ABP article <\/a>clearly reveals the motive behind the conference:<\/p>\n

“the conference will aim to broaden a conversation begun during a breakout session on church responses to homosexuality at last year\u2019s General Assembly in Charlotte, N.C.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This conference, announced with such fanfare, may well prove to be the undoing of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.\u00a0 I have no doubt that other sexual ethics topics will be addressed, but homosexuality will be THE topic which garners the most dialogue and discussion.\u00a0 But, according to Dr. Gushee — who clearly taught a Biblical sexual ethic while at Southern Seminary — this conference is all about talking, whether in plenary sessions or in small groups:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe questions young adults are raising about what has been the traditional Christian sexual ethic are, in a sense, unavoidable, and it\u2019s our responsibility to create a space for conversation about these issues,\u201d said Gushee.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How much space will be created?\u00a0 Will there be space enough for the church’s acceptance of live-in partners, both heterosexual and homosexual?\u00a0 Will enough space be created to get around\u00a0the “traditional Christian sexual ethic”<\/em>\u00a0which is, after all, so outdated to a younger generation?\u00a0 And, how will God’s Word and a Biblical sexual ethic inform the dialogue and discussion?\u00a0 If one were to read the conference’s prospectus and ABP’s\u00a0article, one would be hard-pressed to find much reference to Scripture when dealing with these moral\u00a0issues.<\/p>\n

In fact, it appears that the conference will be all talk and no action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gushee\u00a0said the conversation will be focused on \u201chow we should live as followers of Christ\u201d and not to declare a position on any issue.\u00a0 \u201cWe are not proposing to create a document or getting involved in public policy or the political arguments,\u201d Gushee said. \u201cWe are not looking for grandstanding diatribes. We believe that people are most likely to have legitimate, honest conversations in small groups. So after plenary testimonies and presentations, we will divide attendees into groups to discuss what they\u2019ve heard. We want to foster a deliberate, thoughtful conversation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How one can talk for three days\u00a0about sexuality and sexual ethics and fail to “declare a position on any issue?”\u00a0 <\/em>How can a group of Baptist churches (albeit moderate ones) and a historic Baptist University not declare a position on some of the most controversial moral issues of all time?\u00a0 Because they want to ignore the greatest resource that could be used to clearly and unequivocally answer all of the questions regarding to sexual ethics.\u00a0 What is that resource?\u00a0 The infallible, inerrant Word of God!<\/p>\n

In a culture that is becoming less and less civil, it is admirable to want to\u00a0“foster deliberate, thoughtful conversation”\u00a0<\/em>about some of the most contentious issues affecting our\u00a0society and churches.\u00a0 However, when you leave out the Word of God in your discussion, whatever thoughtful conversations one has will be muddled and ultimately meaningless.\u00a0 It might make for a\u00a0feel-good conference in April 2012, but it will take moderate Baptists one giant step further down the road less traveled.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1995 Spring Semester at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, my wife and I both\u00a0took Christian Ethics, a required course for every MDiv\u00a0student.\u00a0 The professor was a well-respected young scholar who was known for his thoughtfulness in tackling some of the\u00a0most\u00a0difficult ethical situations of the day.\u00a0 I do not remember every topic that was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,27,35,39],"tags":[50,114,200,206,222,238,255,288,495,647,670,765,879,895,898,919],"class_list":["post-2154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-homosexual-agenda","category-religion","category-theology","tag-a-baptist-conference-on-sexuality-and-covenant","tag-baptist-christians","tag-cbf","tag-center-for-theology-and-public-life","tag-christian-sexual-ethics","tag-cohabitation","tag-cooperative-baptist-fellowship","tag-david-gushee","tag-homosexuality","tag-mercer-university","tag-moderate-baptists","tag-paul-house","tag-sbts","tag-sexual-ethics","tag-sexuality","tag-southern-baptist-theological-seminary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-yK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}