Blurred Gender Lines Part 2

Genders are not simply the basis for identity but also the basis for dating, marriage, the home, and thus to understand how God views the genders and their roles in His Creation, helps one understand dating, marriage, and the home.  With this as the backdrop, it is this author’s desire to present seven truths given to us by God about genders.

1. No one gender is practically more important than the other.  There are some in the world who perceive that God, and Christianity by default, see the masculine gender as more important than the feminine.  But this view is often based on three faulty perceptions;  first, God using men in the majority of Bible events makes them more important.  Second, since men have been commanded by God to lead their homes (Ephesians 5) and the local churches (1 Timothy 3), they are greater in God’s sight.  Third, because it is erroneously presented by some that women are the only ones commanded to be submission, thus allowing some men to become near dictators and wives to be little more than slaves.  First, God placed women in positions of biblical greatness just as He did men.  Examples of this include;  Zipporah, Deborah, Hannah, Esther, Ruth, Mary, and my favorite - Abigail.  Further, without women to give birth, there would have been no men for God to use.  Second, though the secular world often perceives it differently, church and family leadership does not make one great in God’s mind.  God’s method of leadership is servant hood not power or position (Mark 10:42-45), thus leading the home or church is not a sign of importance but of service.  Third, submission is a command to all Christians not just women (Ephesians 5:21).  In general God shows through 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 that each gender requires the other and that no gender is more important than the other.

2. No gender is spiritually more important than the other. Galatians 3:26-28 shows that in God’s kingdom genders are unimportant.  Here on earth there can be godly women and ungodly men and vice versa.  In the Bible, gender does not define a person’s spirituality as their faith, walk with with God, and spiritual condition marks the level of spiritual development.  In must be understood that God’s grace saves sinners regardless of gender and faithfully walking in God’s path is available to anyone.  In 1 Peter 3:1-4 God clearly states that an ungodly man can have a godly wife, thus making her spirituality based on something besides her husband and therefore her spiritual identity is tied to God not her husband.  Every person can walk with God to the same level as any person, regardless of their gender. 

3. Each gender has been given by God their own unique duties within marriage and the home.  However, some perceive these biblical marriage roles as gender inequality, whereas, God meant them as gender identity.  While it is true Genesis 3:16-19 shows the various parts of these gender duties within marriage, it is also true that those roles are to help mankind and womankind fulfill God’s overall purposes for their existence and not to create an inequality within the spiritual world.  For example, while men are to lead and provide for their marriages, there would be no marriage without a woman fulfilling her gender specific role within that marriage.  God’s gender roles in marriage help define not destroy.

4. Each gender has unique duties within the local church.  But once again this is not inequality but identity.  Even in the triune God, we are shown God the Father, as the lead authority of this unity, is not diminished in the equality of the other two parts of the Trinity.   As an example, Jesus at the time of His death (Luke 22:42) submitted to the will of the Father however this did not make Him less God, but, it showed that God is about order and design.  As a matter of fact through Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will, Jesus is exalted for that submission (Philippians 2:5-11).  While it is true that 1 Timothy 3 shows men are to be the leaders of the churches, it must further be clarified that Titus 2:1-5 and 1 Peter 3:1-5 show that women can be living examples for others to follow both in the church and home.  Men may be responsible for the preaching of the Word (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) but women are privileged to help fulfill the emotional and physical needs within the church body (Acts 9:36-43).  These roles are gender different but not gender unequal.

5. No gender is given greater abilities, but gender different duties are given based upon God’s purpose for that gender within the culture.  Having a baby is not for everyone, especially men, either physically and emotionally.  Any man who has seen his wife go through the birth of children would agree that they are anything but weak and, in most cases, are far more strong at that moment of time than any man.  That is not a shame as it is what defines her as better than the man at giving birth.  But as far as being a father, however, God gave men the physical and emotional tools to lead the home as the father.  Again, that does not make them better, just capable of doing what they have been called to do.  That does not mean woman cannot ever lead, but that God has given men the duty, and, through His Spirit, the abilities to be the head of the home, if men will take it.  In Genesis 3:16-17, God shares His plan for the genders when it comes to marriage, husbands are to lead their homes and wives are to allow their husbands to lead.  We must further accept that just because one assumes a particular task it is often seen as gender based and that may not be biblically based as gender specific.  For instance, some men can cook just as well as women, thus that is not a gender role, and, since God has not given Bible limitations for “women only cooking” then men should be able to help with this task and not feel less manly.  In simple terms cooking is not a Bible gender ability, even if some want to make it such.  It should be added that much of the gender roles of the Bible are within marriage and not within other relationships.  For instance, young ladies have no Bible obligation to be submissive to their boyfriends, and, young men have no right to demand the sole leadership in a dating relationship.  Marriage, however, does define their roles based upon God’s gender identity.

6. Many gender roles are generated by culture and situations not necessarily by God’s Word.  In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is speaking about prayer and submission and using the length of men’s hair and women’s head coverings to teach about these two subjects.  But as he concludes the discussion in verse 16, he makes this statement, “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.”  In other words, this is not about what God demands for all churches but about what the culture defines for some.  This does not give liberty for men to have whatever length of hair they want, but that godly men should be desirous to outwardly show the manhood distinctive that God created in him and conversely the woman should desire God’s plan for submission as a sign of her femininity.  There are many countries where a gender role is defined by the culture apart from God’s biblical definition, therefore one must grasp the God created genders, and accept that He did not create all the gender roles seen today in our world.  For example, a wife walking several steps behind her husband may show respect in some cultures, but in America it is a sign of something far less positive.  One must understand what is biblical and what is cultural regarding gender identity.

7. No gender will ever be complete without the One True Completer - Jesus Christ.  The gender identity crisis today is, in this author’s opinion, not about actual gender or even about cultural acceptance, but about the emptiness within the souls of people.   People are looking for someone or something to complete them.  Some would say that we, because of mankind’s created purpose and sin’s impact, have a God shaped void in their being.  Even those who are living properly within the bounds of their God given gender identity can still feel empty and totally incomplete.  Yet the Bible makes it clear that God’s desire is to make all complete in Christ (Colossians 2:8-10).  He is the Completer.  Marriage does not complete anyone - only Jesus can do that.  Christ does what no other relationship can do - make people complete!

Blurred Gender Lines Part 1

     

(This is Part 1 of 4 in a Series Regarding Gender Blurring in Today's World)

Though there is currently much debate regarding a variety of genders and gender identity, God’s Word is clear that He created two genders (Genesis 2:22, 5:2, Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6), and those genders are physically formed in the womb, and mankind comes into the world as either male or female (Leviticus 12:7, Jeremiah 1:5, Luke 2:23).  Genders are not based upon personal perception or emotional state of mind as modern psychology seems to present.  God’s Word has presented with clarity that there are two genders, and there is nothing which effectively refutes this, especially since it requires two distinct genders to procreate which was one of God’s main purposes for two genders (Genesis 1:28). 

To understand God’s view of genders, one must accept that the two genders are equal in God’s sight, but unique based upon physical attributes as well as gender defined positional fulfillment, such as husbands and wives within the home and various leadership positions within the local church. (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1-2).  There are other human compartmentalizations divided by physical attributes, such as skin color and other genetic based similarities, but genders is one divide that transcends all these people groups.  These other divisions are often referred to as the various “races” of mankind, such as is found the children’s song “Jesus Loves The Little Children," where children are seen as red, yellow, black, and white.  However, the Bible makes no such distinction based solely upon these physical attributes (races) because God did not create various races but made all mankind through a single woman, Eve (Genesis 3:20), and only divided mankind by nations, languages, kindreds, and peoples (Revelation 5:9, 14:6) after their desire to reject His plan and purposes at the tower of Babel (Genesis 10 -11).  The establishment of races appear to have developed from genetics due to the separation after the Tower of Babel.  It must be noted that the greatest demarcation of divisions within mankind is not found in either gender or race but in being saved or lost (1 Corinthians 15:45).

In his original condition, mankind, as all creation, was not influenced by sin as mankind was sinless and physically complete (Genesis 1:31).  Mankind willingly rejected God’s perfect creation and simple command of obedience, which led to God’s judgment on all creation and sin’s impact upon man’s spiritual and physical conditions as well as creation’s continual dissolution and ultimate destruction (Genesis 6:5, 8:31, Psalm 14, Romans 3:10-12, 5:12-19, I Timothy 2:14).

Presently there is great confusion and division over the issue of how are genders defined and how many genders are there within humanity.  In 2017, National Geographic Magazine published an article entitled “Gender Revolution” where a nine-year proudly stated, “The best thing about being a girl is, now I don’t have to pretend to be a boy.”  The article further alludes that the cultural acceptance of far more than two genders, and even the acceptance of people who choose to reject all gender identity.  Yet, God is the Creator of genders.  One cannot read the first chapter of the Bible without seeing this truth and understanding that God created two genders physically - male and female.  But today many have chosen to reject how they were physically made in exchange for how they emotionally feel.  They are rejecting that which is visually clear for that which is emotionally arbitrary.  This gender identity confusion has become the basis for the current gender identity crisis in our world.  Public organizations have begun to allow multiple gender identities, as examples, the city of New York, as of early 2018, to accept over 30 gender options in their paperwork for city employee positions and even internet social media site Facebook to list over 70 gender choices when one registers for their site. 

Though it may be true that many of those rejecting the two gender choices are doing such simply to reject God, there are those who are genuinely confused by their feelings and their bodies and so it is still an issue that the current generation needs to have biblical truth to stand upon and a biblical truth to share.  One must realize that the gender identity crisis in the world today goes far beyond, as some attest, just the food we eat or the secular culture which propagates itself upon us.  It is because the world needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel changes people within, even those who are rebelling against their God given gender.  But let it be clear, though there is a very small percentage of people born with genetic abnormalities known as intersex physical traits (both male and female body parts), God in His perfect Creation made just two genders by His love and for His ordained purposes. 

Nine Reasons I Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture

There are many who teach that the Rapture is not imminent but that Christians must go through the first part of the Tribulation Period.  However, this view is usually based upon two things, first, a misunderstanding of biblical judgment as every event in the Bible shows God protecting His faithful followers BEFORE His judgment falls, such as Noah on the ark and Rahab in Jericho.  Second, they tend to blend biblical events together, such as the Rapture and Second Coming.  Here are 9 Bible-based reasons that the Rapture occurs before the Tribulation even begins:

1. Though it is true that Christians can suffer persecution at the hands of other men (John 16:33, Philippians 1:27, 1 Thessalonians 3:3, 1 Peter 4:12-13), there is no indication that Christians will ever suffer the wrath of God.  Several passages give a clear indication that born again Christians are not reserved for God’s judgment (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9, Romans 5:9, Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 3:4).  According to the Word of God, our sins were judged in Christ (Romans 8:2, 10, John 16:8).
2. In Revelation 2-3, God gives a glimpse into three possible applications, one primary, and two secondary but easily plausible.  The main application is that there were literally seven actual churches in Asia Minor, who received direct communication from God by the pen of the Apostle John.  The secondary applications are that they are types of churches that exist at any given time.  Along with this second application of church types, it appears that they also indicate seven church ages beginning with the first churches following Pentecost and ending with the last church age before the Tribulation period which begins in Revelation 5, with chapter 4 serving as a bridge between the two.   If this last application is true, then the “come up hither” of Revelation 4:1, immediately following the church ages, is a clear picture of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.  The clarity of this begins in Revelation 3:10, where Jesus promises those of the final church age, Philadelphia age, that they would be kept “from the hour of temptation.” 
3. Jesus “appears” without warning for the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:18; Titus 2:13, 1 John 2:28, 3:2-3), whereas the Second Coming, which is not for Christians, has clear preceding events, such as the anti-Christ arrival (Revelation 12:13-17), the temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem (Revelation 11:1-2), and many the plagues on earth (Revelation 6-18).  Jesus’ coming to take His children is a matter of suddenness not signs.
4. Israel is the focus of God's Tribulation work, not the local church.  As a matter of fact, the local church is never mentioned in Tribulation (Jeremiah 30:7-11, Deuteronomy 30:1-3, Isaiah 61:2-3, Zechariah 12:10, Isaiah 54:7-17).  This means the believers in local churches either have been killed, which is not stated in Scripture, or they have been removed, which is stated (1 Thessalonians 4:12).
5. The Rapture and Second Coming are not the same event, which would have to be the case for a post Tribulation Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Ezekiel 37:11-14).
6. The earthly signs given for the Lord's Return precede the Second Coming not the Rapture (Matthew 24:29-31, Luke 21:25-28, Acts 2:19-21, Revelation 6-19).  However, there are no signs which precede the Rapture.  If the Rapture occurs either mid-Tribulation or Post Tribulation there would be signs preceding it.
7. If the coming of Christ for his Church is placed on a timetable of events, it loses its imminence. He then cannot come until certain things happen, especially the Great Tribulation and this would contradict 1 Thessalonians 4:12 and all other Rapture passages.
8. The churches of Revelation are all Jewish in nature and characteristics, including those claiming to be Jews who are not (Revelation 2:9, 3:9).  This would indicate that Gentile Christians are not included in the focus of the Tribulation, whereas today most Christians are Gentiles, not Jews.  This would seem to indicate a Pre-Tribulation removal of  Gentile Christians since they are not mentioned in Revelation at all.
9. Part of the Tribulation includes a period known as “the wrath,” i.e., the wrath of God (Romans 5:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9) and specifically says that Christians are delivered from the “coming wrath.”

Righteousness of God - He Brought Us Out to Bring Us In - The Next Generation

       To understand Paul’s meaning of the Righteousness of God it would do us well to look back at the foundation of his concepts.1  Since he had been raised a Hebrew of the Hebrews (Philippians 3:5), his foundational concepts about righteousness are going to be tied to this background.  For example, Paul seems to draw upon this heritage since throughout Romans he often shows the contrasts and connections between the Law and righteousness, Romans 2:26, 3:31, 4:13, 8:4, 9:31, 10:4-5.  So it would do us well to look back at why this connection is so pronounced.

       In the first part of Deuteronomy, Moses is preparing the next generation of Israelites to enter into the Promised Land.  Their parents and grandparents have all died off and now they are the generation that is allowed to enter into the inheritance.  But before they enter, Moses restates much of the foundational truths of the law that had been given during the days of wandering.  His reason in doing this is because the generation in front of Moses either did not see God’s hand of deliverance in Egypt or they were too young to understand what it all meant.   So Moses reminds them of God’s greatness and His holiness.  He tells them, for instance, that God is jealous (Deuteronomy 6:15) and He will not share His glory with anyone or anything, so He expects their complete obedience. 

       These “children” were what could be called “second generation” believers, because, they had not actually seen great wonders and they were believing God based upon what they had been told.  Moses knowing this tries to explain how a believing generation can influence the next generation toward believing in a God whom them only know through limited experience.  He states in Deuteronomy 6:20-25:

“And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.”

       Moses tells this “second generation” to remind themselves, in detail, of what God has done in the past.  For instance, he tells them to explain that it was God Who delivered from Egypt through His great power.  But then notice a phrase in verse 25; “It shall be our righteousness…”  The children of Israel were being instructed to allow their righteousness to be displayed by the doing of the “statutes” God had commanded them.  This truth is timeless but the Jewish mind often based it’s concept of their righteousness upon a misapplication of this concept.2  You see, they believed that Moses was commanding obedience to become righteous, instead of seeing that obedience comes from being righteous. 

       God had called Israel to be a separated people and He, by His actions, made them such, (Leviticus 20:26).  Israel was not righteous until God made them righteous.  Then once He made them "righteous," He expected them to obey the law and to be seen as through their obedience to the law. Thus we must grasp that the righteousness of any people is based upon the righteousness of God and not their own actions.  He is holy and through His holiness we can be made holy, 1 Peter 2:9.  Deuteronomy 6:23 says it best by way of an almost allegorical illustration, “…he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in…”  God brought them out of sin (Egypt) that they might live in victory (Palestine).  He makes righteous so that living righteousness is possible,

       However, when Paul writes Romans, there is still a huge disconnect as the Jews were still believing that their works were making them righteous, instead of their righteousness coming from God (Romans 6) and obedience displaying righteousness following that gift.  Their obedience to the law became a source of pride and that is what God was trying to break - their pride!  He is the jealous God of Deuteronomy 6:15 and will not share His glory with anyone or anything - including obedience to the law.   They were servants of sin, Romans 6:20, even when they were obeyers of the law because the law does not make you righteous.3

       So today, we must see the contrast - our righteousness is given by a righteous God and that righteousness of God, which is His character, and our ONLY source of righteousness!   In conclusion, there are two possible responses to viewing the righteousness of God.  First, there are those who have taken this concept of the Righteousness of God to teach the false doctrine of Calvinism.4  They contest that because God is so righteous, we cannot make decisions on our own accord, which is not biblical.  Second, there is the more biblically sound response that God’s righteousness is imparted at salvation and it should encourage God’s people to share their faith with a lost and dying world, because God wants to bring out so He can bring in.5 

1. Frank Thielman, “God’s Righteousness As God’s Fairness in Romans 1:17: An Ancient Perspective on a Significant Phrase,” Journal of Evangelical Theological Society, March 2011. https://www.galaxie.com/article/jets54-1-04 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.
2. Philip Stafford Moxom, “Personal Righteousness,” Bibliotheca Sacra, January 1900. https://www.galaxie.com/article/bsac057-225-03 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.
3. Nicolas Dobson, “Paul’s Use Of Δικαιοσυνη Θεου And The New Perspective Interpretation,” Journal of Ministry and Theology, Fall 2015. https://www.galaxie.com/article/jmat19-2-06 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 1, 2018.
4. B.G. Felce, “The Ground of Justification,” Tyndale Bulletin, Winter 1956. https://www.galaxie.com/article/tynbul02-1-03 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.
5. David Cloud, “God’s Law and Evangelism,” Sowing and Reaping, May 2, 2017. https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/gods_law_and_evangelism.html (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.

Defeating Temptation in My Life

My personal battle with temptation has two phases: LIFE and ESCAPE.  Phase one (LIFE) is about living LIFE to minimize any temptations in the first place.  I do this because I do not trust myself and I do not want to take God’s grace for granted (Romans 6).   Also this way I do not have to operate in escape mode very often.  Phase two (ESCAPE) is the immediate practical plan that I use to ESCAPE when a temptation is staring me in the face.  Each phase is based upon the truth that God wants me first to stay away from sin because of its power and second that God promised through Him I can defeat temptation.  I am convinced that so much of my effort in years past was spent upon the trying to survive the actual moment of temptation instead of in advance “pulling the teeth” of temptation’s power before it impact my life.

Phase ONE - LIFE

My daily LIFE should never be about focusing on sin, but on living in Christ.  If I am daily having to focus on my sin/temptation then my life is going to be filled with defeat and anxiety. (Philippians 4:6)  But if I can focus on my LIFE in Christ then I am free to serve my God and others.  My LIFE verse is:

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

The “LIFE I now live” is my focal point for my daily walk so that I can keep from temptation.  I start everyday with mediating on Galatians 2:20 and by focusing on:

L - Love God’s Word

I - Intense Prayer

F - Forget My Failures

E - Employ Myself to Service

Love God’s Word - I have found that when I fail to love God’s Word daily I am more likely to fall into temptation.  Then I am forced to cry out to God to deliverance from temptation rather than living in victory away from temptation.  But if I love, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word then temptations are less likely to appear.  Psalm 119:97, 113, 163, and 165.

Intense prayer time - The less I pray the more I am tempted.  It is that plain and simple -  when I do not spend quality and quantity time in prayer every day, I am going to be hit by temptation and hit HARD!   Jesus made it clear through the “Lord’s Prayer” that temptation can be something we ask God to keep away from us.  I seek to “pray” the Lord’s Prayer daily, but not in a mindless quoting of it, but a mediating on a specific word or phrase as I pray it.

Forget my failures - I have found that every time I begin to focus on my past failures, my flesh begins to justify them, and it starts to justify the temptation to do them again now.  Because of this I try to put the past behind me as much as possible and move on.  Philippians 3:13 is my focal point here and I seek to quote it daily, especially when I feel weak spiritually.  I know that I will remember my sin of yesterday, but on a daily basis I want to forget my failures and move on.

Employ myself to service - I NEED TO KEEP BUSY!  I know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that when I just sit and do nothing, even mental laziness, that two things will happen, one, I physically begin to lose control and two, my flesh begins to control me.  I was called by God to serve, first my God (Matthew 6:33), then my family (1 Timothy 5:8), and lastly others outside my family (1 Peter 4:10).  But if I keep busy serving then I am less likely to be tempted.

Phase Two - ESCAPE

To be honest, whenever I am faced with temptation it is usually because I have failed to life the LIFE which I should be living and now I am living in ESCAPE or panic mode.  When temptation hits I do not have time to do much beside run for the door as Joseph did in Genesis 39.  My ESCAPE verse is:

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

E - Escape

S - Shout

C - Convene

A - Admit

P - Plead

E - Enter

Escape - Whenever I am tempted I try to physically move myself from wherever I am at that time.  I have found that movement means a change in my mind because movement requires my mind to do something besides focus on the temptation.  (Genesis 39:12)

Shout - I immediately say out loud, “LORD HELP!”  This does two two things, first it shows my flesh that I mean business and that I am willing to humble myself by a vocal cry for help, and, second it shows the powers of darkness that help is on the way and they better run. (Psalm 55:17)

Convene - I try to get into the presence of someone, preferably another Christian, and in most cases my wife or family.  I have found that temptation is strongest when I am alone.  I have also found that if I am with other Christians I focus on them which helps me get my eyes off of myself and this helps defeat my temptation.  I remember the days of school fire drills and the gathering point to insure everyone was safe - that is the principal here.  (Matthew 18:20)

Admit - I need to admit that I need help.  I clearly was not able to keep from temptation, and so, I need to admit that I had to put my escape plan in place because I failed to live LIFE as God intended for me to do.  I must be willing to seek and accept help, but I cannot do that until I admit my condition and need. Galatians 6:1 may be directed for the mature to help the spiritually needy, but this principle also requires a needy person who is willing to admit they need help.  When I am being tempted I need help.

Plead - I plead the power of Jesus’ shed blood for my sins.  Usually I will internally pray and ask God to apply Jesus’ blood to my situation and ask for His help to defeat not just the temptation, but the fact that I had failed to live the LIFE I should have been.  I may also ask someone, like my wife, to pray with me at this point and together we plead for this power to be applied. (1 John 1:7)

Enter - Once the temptation is over and I have escaped, it is time to re-enter the LIFE I was supposed to be living.  I try to get back into that as soon as I can.  If I sit and allow myself to either pout about the temptation or to sit and feel overwhelming guilt for my failure, then I will be hindered from getting back into the LIFE God wants for me to live right.  In other words, I get over it and move on! (Philippians 3:14)

Billy Graham Role Model or Villain?

Can I make a point without being labeled a compromiser? To open I am an IFB preacher to the core who stands unashamedly for the KJV, a local soul winning church with standards, and sound doctrine, but, something has been bothering me:

Billy Graham has been vilified before and since his death. Some of this is justified as he did clearly compromise on his separation standards and it appears of his stance in some crucial doctrines....BUT.....he left a morally spotless legacy of being an honorable man, especially, when it came to being a father and husband. He NEVER was accused of infidelity or any such thing that was reported. There was NEVER a hint of financial misuse in his ministry or even an accusation of it that I recall. There was NEVER a hint of attack on his character by any of his "minions" that I can find. ALL of his children, and his wife, seemed to love and respect him. All of his children are at least walking in Christian beliefs, though maybe not doctrinally sound on every area to be honest. Yet his name is an absolute scourge, almost a villain, among IFB preachers....

HOWEVER....

How many Baptist preachers are exalted because they built big works, won thousands of souls, preached hard messages against sin, stood for personal dress standards, yet their personal lives were a DISASTER?  Some of these "exalted" men were accused again and again of adultery or even child molestation, yet they are still revered.  Some of them had ALL their children completely turn on God or at least fundamentalism, but of course, this is often explained away by the phrase "free will" not parental failure. (Which free will in children is true, by the way. Proverbs 22:6) Some of these preachers divorced and remarried two and three times, yet they are quoted again and again as experts on just about every subject in the Bible. Some of these men have books written about them, but all those close to them know that they knowingly covered up their own sin and sometimes the sins of others so that they could stay in the ministry. They were doctrinally sound yet sometimes morally empty in portions of their lives.

So in this I am confused?!?!

Now, I get that pastors are human and make mistakes.  I also understand that sound doctrine is CRUCIAL and that immoral events can be overcome.  But what about the pastoral qualification found in 1 Timothy 3:2 of being blameless?  Doesn't that mean anything today or is it just unsound doctrine that disqualifies men and allows us to attack-attack-attack?

I agree that Billy Graham compromised and I would NOT have him in my church to preach, but why is he more besmirched than some IFB who were clearly not blameless in their lives? I would not have certain of these IFB preachers in my pulpit either, but for a very different reason. Yet if I were to name those IFB preachers here I would be literally attacked for holding up Graham while attacking these "men of God."  Sound doctrine bears eternal consequence, but so does ignoring or even excusing the immoral behavior of "God's men."

Please know that this post is not asking for more attacking of the IFB men who failed, but, a request for more personal introspection of why we are over-exalting them in the first place. It should never be about the MEN of God, but the GOD of men!  Yes, Graham compromised, and yes, some IFB preachers failed, but God uses His Word and it will not return void. We ARE to honor pastors who preach truth but we are also to honor those who walk faithfully.  No preacher is above the God whom they serve!  Thus we must accept that there was a time when Billy Graham did clearly preach the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, people genuinely were saved, and he did this without the scourge of a marred personal testimony.  He may not have been a IFB preacher doctrinally, but he was a proper role model in his home.

Does doctrinal purity override all personal moral qualifications? No! But these two things should be in conjunction not exclusively one or the other?  Graham did compromise, which is not sound, but we should still recognize that he left a legacy in his home and "ministry" that we IFB preachers could learn from too.

God's Word or Man's Word?

I believe that the Bible is God's Word for many reasons. It was inspired by God, but, written down by men.

Here is one example of why I believe that based in logic and reason...man does not truly show the faults of the chosen and exalted among them.

As an example, I give you Margaret Sanger, who started Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood in their documents refuse to show her as she truly was, a racist, a hater of the nuclear family, and biased against the handicapped.(1) They instead says she is "heroic" just "imperfect. They then proceed to show her supposed good points while excusing her "imperfections." They state that she her relationship with eugenics was "nuanced" because she used the word "voluntary" not mandatory. But this was only true because she had no authority to make it mandatory. She embraced eugenics fully and in 1921 published an article entitled, "The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda."(2) In this article she states, "...we are convinced that racial regeneration like individual regeneration, must come 'from within.'" She was clearly stating that racial imperfections needed to be purged willingly, not that racial diversity was good. She HATED minorities, but, according to her defenders that is just an "imperfection." That is just one example of how mankind writes about its heroes.

But God's Word is completely honest about humanity! In the Bible God shows men such as Abraham and David (Two of the greatest heroes of the faith) in all their failures as well as their successes. God held nothing back as we are told of Abraham's lies and David's adultery and murder. Why? Because God wants us to know that He uses imperfect people and thus, in my mind, this helps to validate that the Bible is God's Word not man's. Man hides the failures, while does not.

The Bible is not about exalting mankind but about showing the fragility of humanity and the impact that sin has upon us...even in our "heroes." If man alone wrote the Bible, why would the failures of the "heroes" be so pronounced and transparent? Mankind does not work that way, but God does.

For some, this is not enough to prove the validity of God's Word as divinely inspired, but, to me, it is just another proof that I have chosen to accept. One of many, I might add.

1.https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/b5/d4/b5d47c32-89f2-45d9-b28c-243cb85f3f55/sanger_fact_sheet_oct_2016.pdf

2.https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webedition/app/documents/show.php?sangerDoc=238946.xml