Campolo's Easy Choice

The evangelical world has been not-so-rocked by Tony Campolo’s recent declaration of support for homosexual unions. Specifically he has joined the cacophony of voices calling the church to embrace as members practicing homosexuals; to pronounce as wholesome the sin of homosexuality.

Others have already pointed out that Campolo’s departure from God’s Word is not at all surprising. For years he has been firmly ensconced among the evangelical left. He has campaigned for and aided politicians who champion both the homosexualist and abortion agendas in American public life. And while for some time Campolo has sought to carve out a niche within the left which would allow him to hold, however tenuously, to biblical orthodoxy, his chosen cohort will simply not allow for such conviction. And now we know that Campolo’s orthodox convictions were not nearly so strong as he once claimed.

There are so many troubling and nonsensical elements to Campolo’s statement that I will not try to chase them all down. However, evangelicals should be particularly attuned to the following:

“It has taken countless hours of prayer, study, conversation and emotional turmoil to bring me to the place where I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the Church.”

Campolo opens the statement on his blog with an explanation of his grievously flawed “red letter” hermeneutic by which he pits some portions of the Bible against other portions. But it is that which Campolo identifies as his ultimate authority which I want you to take special note. Campolo is calling the church to place its benediction upon that which God has called an abomination. And why? Because he has prayed about it. He has studied it. He has gone through emotional turmoil over it. You see, Tony changed his mind about homosexuality because his praying and study and turmoil led him to accept a position contrary to God’s clear Word.

Effectively, Tony Campolo has placed his subjective feelings and experiences over the settled testimony of God’s Word. The arrogance is quite stunning. And the danger to his own soul is enormous.

As I have already mentioned, Campolo’s announcement is no big shock. It is newsworthy to be sure. But surprising? Not at all. It is however a reminder that for those churches and denominations continuing to submit to God’s Word the number of cheerleaders is shrinking exponentially. The days are over when it required no courage to simply agree with biblical sexual ethics. Pastors must be preparing God's beloved people to receive the world’s malediction for their refusal to bless the sin of homosexuality. For many of them it will mean the loss of a job, educational opportunities, a place on the team, and political representation. Faithfulness is always the harder choice. 

You may listen HERE to audio from a recent series of messages addressing the reasons behind God's prohibition of homosexuality.