Flip-flopping


[NOTE: To my LGBT friends, once again I’m “preaching to the choir.” To put things in context re: my stance about the LGBT issue, please read my blog posts: “Attract, Not Attack” Part 1 and Part 2]
Richard Stearns, president of World Vision. Image credit

 Indeed, according to World Vision president, Richard Stearns, the debate over same-sex marriage is “divisive” as well as “heartbreaking.” Thus, last Tuesday (March 25), while clarifying “that [World Vison] have not endorsed same-sex marriage,” its leadership decided “to allow a Christian in a legal same-sex marriage to be employed at World Vision.” (Read full text on the policy change here.)
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To say that this policy change of a Christian organization sent shockwaves is an understatement. Remember that “World Vision is in the top ten charities in America and took in over a billion dollars last year and serves over a 100 million people in 100 countries.” (Source: Desiring God) Pastor John Piper condemned this compromising move: “Make no mistake, this so-called ‘neutral’ position of World Vision is a position to regard practicing homosexuals (under the guise of an imaginary ‘marriage’) as following an acceptable Christian lifestyle... Therefore, for the sake of Christ and his call to true compassion, World Vision’s decision is tragic. I pray they will repent and turn back to their more faithful roots.” (Ibid) While World Vision assured its supporters that they “spent several years praying about and discussing this issue,” yet just two days after making that decision, they reversed it in the face of a widespread, intense backlash from the Christian community. 
Letter of World Vision announcing their decision to reverse their recent policy change. Image credit

I think the issue is not just about same-sex marriage. This issue goes beyond tolerance. I believe it’s about being and remaining faithful to what the Bible teaches. Even World Vision admitted that when they announced their “mistake”: “we failed to be consistent with [our] commitment to the traditional understanding of Biblical marriage and our own Statement of Faith, which says, ‘We believe the Bible to be the inspired, only infallible, authoritative Word of God.’” (Christianity Today) 
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Yes, we should be loving towards the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. But we are not loving them to the full extent if and when we fail to love God and follow Him above all (Matthew 22:37-39). We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). 

As the late Evangelical scholar John Stott wrote, “Love without truth is not love. Truth without love is not truth.”  

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