Contact: Debbie Thurman, 434-929-8002
MONROE, Va., Sept. 22, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- R. Al Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently chided some of his fellow Christians for fomenting "a kind of homophobia" because they speak out against homosexuality unlovingly and without having all the facts.
"Not everyone got what he was saying," says fellow Southern Baptist Debbie Thurman, author of "Post-Gay? Post-Christian?: Anatomy of a Cultural and Faith Identity Crisis." "In a sound-bite-driven culture, there is the danger that half-truths will shape our attitudes about sin in any area," she says.
Thurman points to the proliferation of bloggers and Tweeters who continually repeat hearsay without fact-checking. "Of course, if something is repeated often enough, it is accepted as fact," she says.
Both sides in the gay debate are guilty of manufacturing their own versions of truth, Thurman says. "When angry people are reduced to shouting past each other and name-calling, no one wins." It is her desire to see Christians realize their scriptural authority to speak truth about God's design for sexuality, but to temper their words with grace.
"We also must realize the gay community has a low threshold for hypocrisy. They readily sniff it out in Christians who offer smug platitudes while refusing to see their own sin," says Thurman. "The Church must acknowledge the mess we have made of marriage all on our own, well before gay activists started the push for same-sex marriage. And we must stop placing homosexuality at the top of the imagined sin hierarchy."
To say things like, "Homosexuality is a choice" (it isn't) or "All gays are going to hell" (only God can judge the human heart) or "Most pedophiles are gay" (some are) only rubs salt in a wound, says Thurman. "Christians are to bind up wounds, not inflame them."
Where do we start in seeking to put our mistakes right? "In the pulpit," Thurman says, without hesitation. "When preachers expound and exhort clearly from Scripture, hypocrisy and hate go out the window. They are the leaders who ought to be driving the discussion. If enough preachers stand in their pulpits and preach truth with grace, it will trickle down to our national consciousness."
Parents also must be fearless in discussing these issues with their children, Thurman says. "Talk about current events -- movies, TV shows, celebrities who are gay -- in your home. Help your children to see the bigger picture. Let them ask questions. Be prepared with truthful answers. Examine God's Word together. Pray for the confused."
"Post-Gay? Post-Christian?" is available wherever books are sold. The book trailer may be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfUOJn4cK0.
