In an exclusive Christianity Today article, World Vision president Richard Sterns answers the question, “Why we’re hiring gay Christians?” As Quick Draw McGraw used to say, “Hold on just a minute here!”
The first issue to be addressed here is in the question itself. Do you see it? There is propaganda being used in the very heart of the question. By definition a follower of Jesus Christ (a Christian) is a person who imitates the Lord, who is without sin and therefore not gay.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is straight forward. Repent (of sin), for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Accept the Lord’s perfect sacrifice for the sin you are guilty of doing and walk in the light as He is in the light. Jesus put it more succinctly, “Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness.”
What Richard Sterns is embracing is the universalism of the false church. He states that asserts that the “very narrow policy change” should be viewed by others as “symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity.” Sterns is attempting to appeal to the broadest common denominator possible.
However, in so doing he is rejecting the clear teaching of Jesus and His Gospel message.
Sterns claims to be leaving such matters in the hands of the local church saying, “This is not an endorsement of same-sex marriage. We have decided we are not going to get into that debate. Nor is this a rejection of traditional marriage, which we affirm and support.”
Stearns said that the World Vision U.S. board has had to confront a pressing question: “What do we do about someone who applies for a job at World Vision who is in a legal same-sex relationship that may have been sanctioned and performed by their church? Do we deny them employment?”
Continuing his list of what he insisted the policy shift is “not about,” Stearns said: “This is also not about compromising the authority of Scripture . . . . People can say, ‘Scripture is very clear on this issue,’ and my answer is, ‘Well ask all the theologians and denominations that disagree with that statement.’ The church is divided on this issue. And we are not the local church. We are am operational organization uniting Christians around a common mission to serve the poor in the name of Christ.”
Yet World Vision requires that employees affirm the Apostles Creed or the organization’s own trinitarian statement of faith. How do we define what it means to be a Christian? What standard should we adhere? Stearns claims that he is not undermining the authority of scripture, somehow holding that scripture is unclear on the issue of same sex relationships. He would be wrong.
Writing to the Corinthian Christians, the Apostle Paul stated: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” [1 Corinthians 6:9-10]
World Vision claims to be building the Kingdom of God. Yet, the Kingdom of God rejects sinfulness. The good news of the Gospel is that the Lord is without sin and He has made a way for us that does not accept sin, but deals with it.
Jesus makes a way for sinners to be reconciled with God without lowering the righteous requirement. Paul follows those words with these: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” [1 Corinthians 6:11]
World Vision must return to Christianity or the church of Jesus Christ will not be able to work along side of this once noble organization.
