Welcome to my first blog. I intend to post short opinions on matters pertaining to theology, Old Testament studies and whatever else is on my mind.
I have posted only twice before (for Gordon-Conwell Seminary and for discusstheology). The reason I am starting to blog is that I find myself wanting to go beyond tweeting short statements (which actually fits my style very well) but without posting lengthy articles. We'll see if it works or not!
The first opinion is related to the reversal by World Vision concerning their policy on marriage. While we all join in extending our heartfelt support for this wonderful change, questions still linger in my mind. How could there be such a systemic breakdown in their decision-making process? Would not the Board and the President realize the incredible backlash they were going to receive from the evangelical world at large? The consequences for the overseas operations would have been equally catastrophic. I can't imagine the African branches of Word Vision being too happy with such a stance in hiring policies. The larger problem in my mind was the devastating precedent this decision would have set for other Christian institutions in the US. Evangelical colleges and seminaries would have been under increasing pressure to cave-in as did World Vision. We just can't predict where this would have taken us as a movement. My prognostic last night was extremely grim: the end of the post-WWII coalition that Billy Graham, Bob Pierce, Harold Ockenga and several others created. Now I have hope again. But still, the theological rashness with which World Vision's position was defended continues to confirm that we as professional theologians have pretty much failed to educate evangelical leaders to think theologically and biblically. In this case, American pragmatism based on the bottom-line was the guiding light until, thanks to many of us praying for World Vision US leadership, cooler heads prevailed! We dodged a big bullet today as a movement. Let's make sure we create mechanisms so that this doesn't happen again.
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