A Response to The Nashville Statement

Greetings, Friends!

I think God cries. Now, I will happily acknowledge that I tend to anthropomorphize everything and I do know that God is far bigger than our human imaginations yet, I also believe that, since we are made in God’s image and likeness, some of our human experiences must be common to both God and us. So I think God cries. In my worldview, God cries at injustice and tragedy, God cries at pain and suffering, God cries watching the unspeakable hatred and hurt we inflict on one another and God’s creation.

Lately, it seems there’s been a lot to cry about. We have the threat of nuclear war; the very visible demonstration of white supremacy, neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism resulting in innocent deaths and injuries; too many victims of natural disasters in Texas, Louisiana, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh; and, the most recent source of suffering, the release of the Nashville Statement by leaders of many evangelical Christian churches and organizations which attacks those who don’t identify within the sexual identity binary and labels them as non-Christian and immoral. This divisiveness within Christianity, this “I’m right and you’re not a Christian,” must cause God to cry. Rather than give all Christians a place upon which to build, this statement builds a huge wall between us and dilutes our ability to proclaim Jesus’ Gospel of love for all people – a gospel the signers of the Nashville Statement also preach. When we could be doing so much together for the Kingdom, our combined effectiveness is limited.

If you haven’t seen the Statement, here it is:

“Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves…”

Preamble
Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being. By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life. Many deny that God created human beings for his glory, and that his good purposes for us include our personal and physical design as male and female. It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferences. The pathway to full and lasting joy through God’s good design for his creatures is thus replaced by the path of shortsighted alternatives that, sooner or later, ruin human life and dishonor God.

This secular spirit of our age presents a great challenge to the Christian church. Will the church of the Lord Jesus Christ lose her biblical conviction, clarity, and courage, and blend into the spirit of the age? Or will she hold fast to the word of life, draw courage from Jesus, and unashamedly proclaim his way as the way of life? Will she maintain her clear, counter-cultural witness to a world that seems bent on ruin?

We are persuaded that faithfulness in our generation means declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it—particularly as male and female. Christian Scripture teaches that there is but one God who alone is Creator and Lord of all. To him alone, every person owes glad-hearted thanksgiving, heart-felt praise, and total allegiance. This is the path not only of glorifying God, but of knowing ourselves. To forget our Creator is to forget who we are, for he made us for himself. And we cannot know ourselves truly without truly knowing him who made us. We did not make ourselves. We are not our own. Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be.

We believe that God’s design for his creation and his way of salvation serve to bring him the greatest glory and bring us the greatest good. God’s good plan provides us with the greatest freedom. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it in overflowing measure. He is for us and not against us. Therefore, in the hope of serving Christ’s church and witnessing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture, we offer the following affirmations and denials.

Article 1
WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.

WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.

Article 2
WE AFFIRM that God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.

WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.

Article 3
WE AFFIRM that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in his own image, equal before God as persons, and distinct as male and female.

WE DENY that the divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth.

Article 4
WE AFFIRM that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing.

WE DENY that such differences are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome.

Article 5
WE AFFIRM that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male or female.

WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.

Article 6
WE AFFIRM that those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in his words about “eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb.” With all others they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known.

WE DENY that ambiguities related to a person’s biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ.

Article 7
WE AFFIRM that self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture.

WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption.

Article 8
WE AFFIRM that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ, as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life.

WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation, or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel.

Article 9
WE AFFIRM that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality— a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality.

WE DENY that an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexually immoral behavior.

Article 10
WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of
moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

Article 11
WE AFFIRM our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male or female.

WE DENY any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God’s design of his image-bearers as male and female.

Article 12
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin.

Article 13
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender self-conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female.

WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God’s revealed will.

Article 14
WE AFFIRM that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ’s death and resurrection forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure.

WE DENY that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.

There are many problems with what was written, of course, and I am not the biblical scholar or theologian who can refute all of them but, for me, one of the biggest concerns is recognizing that not everything contained in this Statement is wrong or evil. Most of us would agree that “an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality” does not justify “sexually immoral behavior.” We would also affirm that God’s arm is not too short to save and that no sinner is beyond the reach of God’s love and salvation. Presenting mixed messages makes it extremely difficult to refute. To begin with, it seems we would disagree with the signers in the definition of immorality and sin.

The other huge problem I see is the lack of love in these words. To me, they read as more law and boundary-drawing than inclusion and grace. Of course, that is the point here: the signers want to draw lines to define the boundaries of Christian belief which leave some in and some out. I will admit that I understand a bit of their motivation. Confession here: I spent some twenty years in evangelical churches before coming home to the Episcopal Church. I am grateful for the rich Bible study and discipleship I experienced and I know it was a foundational time for helping me become the person I am today. I understand their desire for the purity of the Church in the same way the Israelites desired to avoid the influences of those whose gods were not the God of Israel. I also understand the desire to see my friends experience the love and grace of God the way I have in knowing Jesus as my Lord and Savior. If these are the motivations for this statement, I can understand…a tiny bit. But, where is the love of God expressed in these words?

Since the Nashville Statement came out, social media has been abuzz with comments and rebuttals – and sadly many of them have included name-calling and insults on both sides of the topic. A divisive statement seems to only lead to more division. And God cries. Rather than going out to seek and serve God and God’s kingdom, many have lost their focus and spent too much time in snarky, mean-spirited discussions.

Thankfully, other responses have come out of this that do express God’s love and mission. The House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, CO, with their rector, the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, issued the Denver Statement in response (the words of the Nashville Statement are in italics for comparison):

“Know that the LORD Himself is God (and we are not)”-Psalm 100:3

Preamble
Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in an exciting, beautiful, liberating, and holy period of historic transition. Western culture has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being by expanding the limits and definitions previously imposed by fundamentalist Christians. By and large, the spirit of our age discerns and delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life that is so much richer and more diverse than we have previously understood it to be. Many deny that God created all human beings for God’s glory, and believe that God’s good purposes for us are limited to those whose personal and physical design is cis-gendered, heterosexual, and socially acceptable expressions of male and female. However, many Christians now understand that binary and backwards thinking excludes a large and important part of God’s beautiful plan for God’s people. The pathway to full and lasting joy through God’s good design for God’s creatures is clearly inclusive of a variety of identities of gender and expressions of sexuality that have previously been denied by shortsighted and limited thinking, teaching and preaching that has ruined lives and dishonored God.

Article 1
(Nashville)WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.
WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.
WE AFFIRM that God has created humanity out of love and for the purpose of love.

WE DENY that God intends marriage as a gift only to be enjoyed by those who happen to be heterosexual, cis-gendered and fertile.

Article 2
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.
WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.
WE AFFIRM that God created us as sexual beings in endless variety.

WE DENY that the only type of sexual expression that can be considered holy is between a cis-gendered, heterosexual, married couple who waited to have sex until they were married. But if you fit in that group, good for you, we have no problem with your lifestyle choices.

Article 3
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in his own image, equal before God as persons, and distinct as male and female.
WE DENY that the divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth.
WE AFFIRM that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in God’s male & female image, and that all human beings share this image of God in common but express it differently in body and spirit.

WE DENY that we as human beings can fully conceive of the glory of God’s image or rightfully believe our language can define its limits. Therefore, we deny those who do not conform to society’s gender norms are outside of some kind of “divine plan”.

Article 4
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing.
WE DENY that such differences are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome.
WE AFFIRM that the glorious variety of gender and sexual expression is a reflection of God’s original creation design and are aspects of human flourishing.

WE DENY that such variations are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome.

Article 5
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male or female.
WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.
WE AFFIRM that the biological capacity for human beings to reproduce is a glorious wonder and that humanity continues to discover the gender and sexual diversity with which God has created humans.

WE DENY that gender is always linked with biological sex characteristics, and we deny that those whose bodies contain physical or psychological realities outside of the “norm” need curing or reparation.

Article 6
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in his words about “eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb.” With all others they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known.
WE DENY that ambiguities related to a person’s biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ.
WE AFFIRM that the bearing of God’s image occurs in every glorious genital and chromosomal variation found in the human race.

WE DENY that any variation in the human body exempts one from living a joyful and full life.

Article 7
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture.
WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption.
WE AFFIRM that there is no longer male or female but all are one in Christ Jesus our Lord.

WE DENY any self-conception that presumes one is capable of knowing God’s holy purposes for other people, and that such self-conceptions can be consistent with the Gospel of grace, love, and mercy as demonstrated in Holy Scripture.

Article 8
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ, as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life.
WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation, or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel.
WE AFFIRM that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is outside the natural goodness of God’s original creation, or that anything puts a person outside the hope of the gospel.

Article 9
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality— a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality.
WE DENY that an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexually immoral behavior.
WE AFFIRM that sin distorts all aspects of human life.

WE DENY that human beings can escape sin by simply upholding a particular doctrine or lifestyle.

Article 10
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.
WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.
WE AFFIRM that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free, and while we believe in the full inclusion of all people into the body of Christ (here we stand we can do no other), we cannot bind the conscience of other Christians.

WE DENY that it is sinful to approve of queer identities and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

Article 11
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male or female.
WE DENY any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God’s design of his image- bearers as male and female.
WE AFFIRM our duty to love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another.
WE DENY any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God’s image-bearers.

Article 12
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin.
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ is sufficient for this day.

WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ is something that must be supplemented by works, piety or doctrine.

Article 13
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake
transgender self- conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female.
WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God’s revealed will.
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake prejudice and see such prejudice as our own and not as God’s.

WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-righteous assertions of absolute knowledge of God’s will.

Article 14
(Nashville) WE AFFIRM that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ’s death and resurrection forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure.
WE DENY that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.
WE AFFIRM that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ’s death and resurrection forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person; this is a supreme treasure.

WE DENY that God is a boy and has actual arms.

Article 15 (this one is just ours)
WE AFFRIM that the church has often been indistinguishable from the dominant culture in the ways in which it has sanctified oppression and bigotry towards historically marginalized and demonized people groups, of which the LGBTQ+ community is one.

WE DENY any ideology, theological or otherwise, that results in the further marginalization, rejection, dehumanization, and overall suffering of LGBTQ+ individuals.

(Read more here)

In an interview with Vox, Bolz-Weber…

…criticized would-be “traditional” notions of biblical sexuality as no less grounded in cultural mores as a more progressive stance. “If we’re talking biblical sexuality,” Bolz-Weber noted, pointing to the diversity of depictions of marriage and sex in the Bible, “I can only assume that the organization [of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood who prepared the Nashville Statement] tacitly condones rape, stoning women, prostitution. To take your own personal hang-ups and piety and say ‘that’s Biblical’ reveals your own ignorance of the text.”

That said, Bolz-Weber argued that a truly Christian — and compassionate — theological worldview should be flexible: not to the prevailing winds of culture, per se, but to the lived experience of human beings. “You could draw a direct harm from [the Nashville ideology] to people’s actual lives…I can’t tell you how many of my [queer] parishioners have considered suicide or have gone through self-harming behaviors because of these messages. And to me, the starting point should be human beings, not doctrine we adhere to because we think we’re — quote — doing God’s will.”

The article in Vox can be found here.

A quick Google search will bring up many other articles you might find helpful.

As a Church, we are working hard to become the Beloved Community as an outgrowth of our desire to love God with all of our being and love our neighbors as ourselves. These are the commandments that Jesus told us fulfill all the Law and the prophets. This is our focus and mission. In a time when so many long to know the love of God and need our help and attention, we must work together to erase boundaries and build bridges. May our lives be examples of our Loving God’s eagerness to draw all people to know of God’s love, mercy and grace that we dry the tears of God.

Let us pray –

A reading from the gospel of John: 

Jesus said, “Father, I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” – John 17.20-23 (New Living Translation)

O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions.

Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may henceforth be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~ The Rev. Judith Schellhammer, chair, Resolution Review Committee, Diocesan Council