If you are not aware of the controversy surrounding the “Nashville Statement,’’ don’t worry. It’s really a theological statement meant to “clarify Christian convictions in a world of changing sexual ethics.” It really wasn't meant for mass consumption.
But if you were raised in a traditional Christian church, there is nothing surprising in the document. It affirms that marriage is a lifelong union of one man and one woman; sex and sexual immorality outside of marriage – whether hetero or homosexual – are not justified; same-sex attraction is not part of God’s original creation; and, in what may be a shocker to those folks who feel Christians are science-deniers, it says you can’t nullify science - your biology - for psychological reasons or desires.
One of the signers, preacher and teacher John Piper, said in an article about it that “In recent years, the celebration of attempts to transform oneself from male to female, or female to male, and the normalization of same-sex attraction, including so-called “same-sex marriage,” have reconfigured the global landscape of sexual ethics. ...
"It is built on the persuasion that the Christian Scriptures speak with clarity and authority for the good of humankind. It is permeated by the awareness that we are all sinners in need of divine grace through Jesus Christ. It affirms with joy that no form of sexual sin is beyond forgiveness and healing. It touches the most fundamental and urgent questions of the hour, without presuming to be a blueprint for political action. And it will prove to be, I believe, enormously helpful for thousands of pastors and leaders hoping to give wise, biblical, and gracious guidance to their people. ...”
There is, as you can imagine, quite a bit of backlash against the Nashville Statement. One article I read called it “deadly theology.” Many said things like, “This doesn’t reflect the Jesus I know.” The mayor of the city of Nashville said “so-called "Nashville Statement" is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville.” (The document is called the “Nashville Statement” because that is the city where the final version was agreed upon; Nashville has long been the unofficial center of Southern Baptist theology, as the home to the Southern Baptist Convention)
There really isn’t anything new in the statement. It is simply the restating of what has been the traditional view of the Christian faith for roughly 2,000 years. My favorite response, however, was from a Jewish writer named Ben Shapiro, who said, “Did I miss the part of the Nashville Statement where any serious Christian doctrine changed in the slightest?"
Because my family tends to discuss these kind of theological issues, it was an interesting topic of conversation for us, particularly with my youngest son.
The day he and I were engaging in this back-and-forth was September 1. That will be significant in a minute.
I keep a copy of a devotional called “My Utmost For His Highest” by Oswald Chambers. It’s a phenominal devotional that I first discovered while still in high school. It has a devotion for every day of the year, the collected thoughts from a series of talks given by Mr. Chambers in the early 1900s, something like 1911 through 1915 (he died in 1917, I believe).
I have read through this book several times in my life, but it had not been on my reading list recently. However, I came across it while looking for something to read, and I picked it up and turned to that day's date: Sept. 1.
In this particular devotional, Chambers writes “… if through your preaching you convince me I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness …”
God’s purpose for man is not our happiness, but our holiness; to make us resemble more closely the character of God through his Son, Jesus. So when we hear things that make us unhappy, or uncomfortable with the way we’re living, it can make us angry or even resentful. I don’t want to stop doing the things I like to do, but because of the “fall” I find that I like doing things that God did not design me to do.
And I think that’s what the Nashville Statement did for some people. In a culture where we’re desperate to convince ourselves and others that God approves of our lives no matter how we’re living, to have someone remind us that the way we’re living may not be in line with God’s will is disturbing. I don’t like to be corrected. I don’t like the suggestion that I may be wrong. I certainly don’t like being told I need to change.
But that is the heart of the Gospel: to “repent” (which means “feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin”), and to seek to live a life that reflects the way God intended for us to live.
I realize that those who object could say, “You’re angry because we’re telling you you’re wrong, that you have a misunderstanding of what God wants.” I get that. But I have also asked people to show me, in Scripture, where the error is in the Nashville Statement. The most I have seen so far is the milquetoast, “Jesus is love” or “Jesus said to love your neighbor” or “Jesus says not to judge.”
To finish with a quote from Chambers that I think sums this up for Christians:
“Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God.”
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