The Nashville Statement is a vision of Christian salvation, Trump-style

[trotsky]

http://religionnews.com/2017/08/31/the-nashville-statement-is-a-vision-of-christian-salvation-trump-style/

When the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the evangelical Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released their joint “Nashville Statement” on Tuesday (Aug. 29), they tipped their theological hand.

The statement aims to clarify conservative evangelical positions on same-sex relationships and transgender identity. These positions are not new, nor are they particularly clarifying. They simply restate, perhaps in a more concise form, the condemnations that conservative evangelicals already express in faith statements and denominational policies.

But there is something fresh happening in the Nashville Statement that caught my, and many others’, attention. An underlying theological principle that was perhaps somewhat covert or subtle previously is now being openly pressed. And this principle, I believe, is a key reason for the magnitude of the outrage that has occurred in the hours and days since the statement’s release. It strikes at the very heart of American Christianity’s current cultural transition.

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.

The affirmation that approving of same-sex relationships or transgender identity is sinful and an essential departure from the faith is stunning, precisely because the cultural transition in which many Christians find themselves has them opening up to different perspectives on these issues.

Of course it is worth noting that this isn't really "stunning," since it is the official position of the Catholic Church as well. All the popes, including the current one, have stated as such.

[Lordquinton]

1. According to some here

This makes them no longer Christian.

[trotsky]

2. Perhaps they just title themselves as Christians.

[NeoGreen]

3. Is it all just "branding"?...

...just like all the "trump" tower(s).

[Cartoonist]

4. Who's asking for approval from these cretins?

I think that's a key word in the statement. OK, so you disapprove. That gives you no reason to deny others their basic human rights.