Apology to the Blog

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I need to apologize to blog members. Yesterday I posted a link to the Christian ministry that deals with people with disabilities, and I have received a complaint that the link includes a statement of faith that forcefully condemns gay sex and gay marriage. By posting the link it may appear that I and/or the blog, concur, support, or even accept any such view. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m afraid I did not do due diligence by reading through the doctrinal statement before posting the link. That’s not a good excuse. Mea culpa. Apologies to all those who were offended.

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3
AUG
2020

Lev August 3, 2020

It’s rather sneakily added. When you load the “What we believe” page you are given a fairly standard list of Christian doctrines. Only if you scroll all the way down do the additional beliefs then *appear* on the screen. They aren’t even rendered if you don’t scroll down!
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janmaru August 3, 2020

It seems the post, really dealt with people with disabilities.
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gbsinkers August 3, 2020

Sorry, I did not read their statement of faith either. I rescind my request for the blog to support that ministry.
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thaumkid August 3, 2020

The charity’s use of uncompensated prison labor is also highly problematic from a human rights point of view.
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mannix August 3, 2020

“Mea Culpa” is not enough: Three Our Fathers, Three Hail Marys, and an Act of Contrition. And sin no more.
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PBS August 4, 2020

Thanks for your sensitivity Bart. You’re a good man!

This would make for a really good blog topic(s). E.g.:

“What does the Bible teach about homosexual acts?” (or the NT if you wanted to remain in your primary field).

“Does the Bible condemn (if it does) homosexual acts because they are ritualistically unclean?; inherently immoral?; a detriment to human flourishing?, only a temporary injunction due to the need for children in agrarian cultures?, etc.?”

“How should the Bible be applied to the topic of homosexual acts?”

As you’ve done with guest blog hosts (e.g. Licona), I’m sure many would be quite interested in a guest blog-host by someone like leading scholar Robert Gagnon (but if he’s too strident, how about the very polite Sam Allberry, Kevin DeYoung or Alan Shlemon?).
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- Bart August 4, 2020
  
  Yup, I’ve posted on all that. Look up “homosexuality” in a word search on the blog. And yes, Robert Gagnon is far too strident a homophobe for my tastes.
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  - JeffreyFavot August 5, 2020
    
    What makes you think he’s scared of homosexuals? A phobia in the medical dictionary relates to a fear of something. Just because someone doesn’t support a sinful behavior doesn’t make them fearful of the person.
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    - Bart August 7, 2020
      
      It’s usually thought that in this case there is an unconscious fear driving the vitriole, fear of the “other.”
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      - JeffreyFavot August 10, 2020
        
        Quite the baseless assertion. Completely subjective.
      - Bart August 12, 2020
        
        Most thoughts are subjective. Doesn’t mean they’re not “usually thought” (which is what I said about this) or that they’re wrong. Rejection of subjective thoughts are also subjective, so one has to look for reasons for thinking one thing or another.
Stephen August 4, 2020

I think everyone appreciates your attempt to be magnanimous and highlight the good works being done by evangelicals. But this is their great tragedy. Good people advocating terrible things because of a deeply flawed ideology.
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JeffreyFavot August 4, 2020

Doesn’t seem like something that needs an apology. Go read Romans 1 again and repent
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- Bart August 4, 2020
  
  Well, I’m not asking *you* to apologize. 🙂
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RICHWEN90 August 4, 2020

I don’t see that as anything but innocence on your part. Christianity revealed it’s darkside once again, in a context where you might reasonably have hoped to not find that darkside. The more I learn about Christianity the less I want anything to do with it.
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tadmania August 4, 2020

We have far more confidence in you than to assume such a thing, Professor.
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avdominello August 4, 2020

This is so unfortunate, and exactly the point I feel you were trying to make in your original comments about how so many Christians have lost their way. To express love and compassion for one group of people while, at the same time, spreading hateful messages about another negates the whole idea of universal love and compassion. Would they refuse a wheelchair (refurbished by government-supplied labor) to someone who did not conform to the narrowly-defined (and decidedly ahistorical) heterosexual norm that so many of today’s evangelicals feel is as important (if not more so) than the message of compassion for all? If not, then why spread a message that Jesus himself never did?

I know this comment will probably not be posted, but I could not remain silent on this issue. This is the terrible tragedy of deciding your own prejudices are more important than your founder’s message, and why so many people are leaving that brand of faith. That kind of prejudice has no place, certainly not in Christianity, and it deserves to die out if Christianity is to have any part in the future of this world.
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avdominello August 4, 2020

Oh, and that page joniandfriends is still linked on Robin’s response to a request for info on the original article. In case that matters to this blog.
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kt@rg.no August 5, 2020

My beloved gay daughter and my two beloved gay friends would be happy for such a statement/confirmation if they were readers of your blog.

Someone once wrote: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Why do we stumble and ruin this all the time, and not least those who are believers.

Thanks for this post! Highly appreciated.
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RonaldTaska August 5, 2020

You are a good man. How many apologize for mistakes these days?
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- Bart August 7, 2020
  
  Not any politicians I know of, anyway. But thanks! I think it’s best just to be honest….
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eminentlaw August 7, 2020

It is yet another sad sign of the “snowflake” culture when you, Bart, feel compelled to apologize for posting a link to a Christian organization that espouses long-held beliefs about the family, sexuality and marriage. How did we arrive at a point at which we cannot read about others’ deeply held beliefs – even when those beliefs differ from ours and are impliedly critical of our lifestyle – without becoming offended? No apology is warranted – nor is one appropriate – for posting a link to Joni Eareckson Tada’s website. Regardless of whether someone agrees with her Christian beliefs, she is an inspiring woman who has blessed thousands of people with her life and ministry. There is nothing even mildly offensive about Joni, her website or her ministry.
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- Eric August 10, 2020
  
  Agree, 100, with eminentlaw on this one. I had to search through the linked site to try to find what you were apologizing for.
  
  I do not see the particular statement of faith “forcefully” condemning, but rather stating a theological belief, one many may not like but certainly not a radical or hateful one, at least as written. In factm this statment should have outraged just as many people:
  
  “We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.”
  
  To suggest that any will be damned is “hateful”, is it not?
  
  I would suggest those finding their pieties outraged by somebody else’s faith belief, remember the right-thinking Pharisee and the chosen High Priest…and then the “wrong” Samaritan. Then consider the good her ministry does, regardless of what she believes.
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scissors August 14, 2020

No need to apologize.
I’m guessing your recommendation was intended to be ecumenical rather than an endorsement of everything the site owners believe.
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