In 2023, North Point Community Church hosted the Unconditional Conference which had
speakers who were gay affirming. They included speakers like Bian Nietzel (who is married to a same sex partner) and Justin Lee (who is also married to a same sex partner), and many more. They spoke to parents who had same sex attracted kids and offered advice on how to stay connected with them. This understandably created a storm in the evangelical world with countless of articles responding to Andy Stanley on why he would even host this type of conference at his church. I think it is important to build bridges when you have family or friends who may be struggling, but it’s how you cultivate that is key. We need to approach these situations with biblical standards in mind.
Andy responded with a message to his church, which he decided not to stream (I will post the tad bits below), addressing what he calls “confusion” from those who criticized his decision on who to bring to the conference. I want to try to address some of the claims Andy made.
Andy stated that you cannot find Jesus in “all the other stuff and theology and complexity of messages”, referring to churches. He proceeded to make the case that the bad version of Christianity “draws lines,” then stated that the good version of Christianity is where “Jesus drew circles so large, including so many people in His circles, that it consistently made the religious people nervous.” Ironically, Andy Stanley just did theology with this very statement about God. Theology simply means the teaching of God, but I digress.
Since the Bible is the Authoritative Word of God and is inspired by God Himself, it is pertinent to go back to the book of Genesis to answer these claims. I will start by pointing out the various distinctions made throughout Scripture. Note that there are a lot more, but these will serve as sufficient in what I am saying.
Starting with the book of Genesis, God separates the day from the night, the light from the darkness, the waters from the sea, the dry lands from the waters, the animals from man, and man from woman. In Genesis 1:26-27 it states:
“Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”.
A few verses later, it states that God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and to multiply and to have dominion over all the land and all the animals. These are clear distinctions that are set forth. While Adam and Eve are both created in God’s image, and both men and women have value, dignity, and worth; there is nevertheless a distinction between males and females. We have roles that are rooted in our gender. For example, women birth children and nurture them while men are naturally the protectors of their home. Just to be clear, this is not an article to defend complementarianism vs egalitarianism. For more information on that, see Mike Winger!
A distinction between mankind and animals is made in this passage. Mankind is created in God’s image – while animal is not. In a blind evolutionary process, there is no distinction between animals and humans because we all share a common ancestor. However, we know that this is not true, because God has put His moral law, a distinction we all know as humans, in every one of our hearts to point us to a transcendent moral law Giver.
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his
invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived,
ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without
excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but
they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” -Romans 1:19-21.
This passage points to a theological term called general revelation. It makes the case that man knows the difference between right and wrong, that we have a clear distinction on what evil is: the absence of good. To know what evil is, we need an absolute standard of good. If we do not have an objective moral standard outside of ourselves, there is no difference between saying whether stealing is wrong or giving to charity is good or even whether same-sex attraction/marriage is wrong. It simply becomes our own subjective opinion. Since God exists, there is a clear distinction between good and evil. This is something animals do not possess.
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis stated:
“A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.”
Let’s look at a few more examples. In Scripture, there has always been distinctions made between Israel and the other surrounding nations. Israel was supposed to live in such a way that they reflected God’s Holy character to surrounding nations. They were not to conform to the behavior of the surrounding secular nations but were rather to be a light to them – to be set apart. Isaiah 49:3 states,
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Unfortunately, Israel failed many times at being the light, but there was still a distinction that God made. That they were supposed to worship God alone and no other gods. God was distinctive in that He alone was deserving of worship and that there is no other (Isaiah 45:5).
In the book of Judges, there is an important truth that is highlighted. It says that people did what was right in THEIR OWN eyes. Their disobedience, however, would ultimately point them to their need for a Savior who would be the true light of the world. But now that our Savior has come, as Christians we are called distinctly to be transformed and renewed in our minds by not conforming to this world, but by our submission to Christ (See John 8:12 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, and Romans 12:1-2). We are “not” to do what’s right in our own eyes, as they did, nor are we to compromise on the truth of God’s word. Nor are we to allow those who “do right in their own eyes” to be examples for our children. If we allow those who “do right in their own eyes” to be examples for our children, it creates an identity crisis that is not rooted in our Creator. Instead, kids find their worth in the secular material they are being encouraged to read and in the never-ending pressure on what the world wants. This breeds situations where there are countless sexually explicit materials in our schools, even as young as elementary!
Within scripture, there is also a clear distinction made between man and God. God is the uncreated Creator – He is infinite. We are created and limited – finite human beings. And although we are created in His image, we are not God nor are we little gods. Isaiah 45:5 states,
“I am the LORD, and there is no other beside me there is no God….” And Isaiah 44:6-8 says, “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; beside me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
While we are fallen human beings (Romans 3:23), God is Holy and perfect and righteous (1 Samuel 2:2).
In the New Testament, Jesus Himself made distinctions. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said,
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are MANY. For the gate is NARROW and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are FEW.”
This narrow gate is not a “circle so big” with everyone in it. A distinction is made between the narrow gate and the wide gate. It’s true that anyone can come to salvation in Jesus by faith; however, righteous fruit should follow those who are His. Let’s make this clear: Our salvation is not based on how good we are so that “everyone is in that circle”, but it is based on what Christ has done for us (Ephesians 2:8-9) and our receiving of that salvation. And once we have done that, the fruit of salvation will follow – which includes repentance from sin. Jesus said to Thomas,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In Matthew 25 Jesus gives a parable about the separation of the sheep and the goats. He says,
“Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left…..Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels….And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Jesus emphasizes a distinction between those who are His and those who are not.
In Matthew 7:21-22, Jesus says:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’.
Here’s the thing, when it comes to the gospel, God DOES draw a circle called the WORLD(John 3:16), but He makes distinctions within that circle. It doesn’t matter the shape or what qualifier one might use linguistically, no one is excluded from His love. However, one cannot be in unity with God if they ignore the distinctions on what is required to be one of His children, which is repentance, turning away from sin, and to deny yourself in picking up your cross.
“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him
or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is
righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil
has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the
works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seen abides in
him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who
are the children of God and who are the children of the devil….” 1 John 3:6-10.
Lastly, it should be noted that Jesus didn’t make religious people nervous for “including everyone,” He made them “nervous” because He claimed to be God and He forgave sins (Matthew 9:2-8), which is something only God can do. Jesus called out the “religious people” because they thought they were “good” enough for heaven with all their “good works” before men. He exposed their heart issues and their shortcomings (see Matthew 5) which in turn showed them their HYPOCRICY.
The term religion has negative connotations within and outside of Christianity, but it shouldn’t scare us. The term religion doesn’t tell us what someone specifically believes. But James clarified what true religion does. In James 1:27 he says,
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in
their affliction, and to keep oneself from the world.”
A religion based on the person of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:14-19), should drive us to care for those around us AND to live holy lives. This should be the product of our belief in Christ. We have good reasons to believe this including eyewitness testimony of the disciples and extra-biblical accounts to attest this. A good resource is J. Warner Wallace, Cold-Case Christianity (the updated version).
In the first and greatest commandment, it says to love God first with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength (see Matthew 22:37-40). This involves our obedience to Him and His word. This is also what gives us the justification to love those around us. Telling them the truth in love – not loving them into hell without telling them the truth. Without the first greatest commandment, we have no basis for the second.
To wrap things up, it’s worth noting that our culture states many things that are unbiblical including that there is no distinction between male and female. Might I also say that we live in a culture that has no idea what a female even is! Our postmodern society is good at throwing God’s distinctions, even between us and Him, into a blender and mixing them all together for personal gratification. And this fact not only applies to the claims Andy Stanley has made, which I mentioned at the beginning of this post, but to differing worldviews as well. For example:
Pantheism states that all is God and God is all – there is no distinction from Creator and creation. Similarly, Panentheism states that God is IN all and it makes no distinction from Creator and Creation. Mormonism states that we are little gods – there is no distinction from Creator and creation.
As Christians, we would be wise to remember that when we keep in mind the distinctions set by God throughout Scripture, we will better understand our relation to a Holy and perfect God and understand that we are sinners in need of a Savior – which is the entirety of the gospel message. Christ came to restore us to Him and to renew His good, but broken creation. He did not come to leave us in our sin so that we can perpetrate that sinful behavior on others. In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And restating my point from earlier, God drew circles, called the world. But within that circle there are clear distinctions to be made. You cannot be in unity with God if you refuse to submit to the standard within the circle and distinctions in it.
By Damara
References:
Audio for conference:
For further assessment of the conference:
An Assessment of Andy Stanley’s Unconditional Conference
For resources on this topic and the reliability of Scripture:
Defending Inerrancy: Affirming the Accuracy of Scripture for a New Generation: Norman L. Geisler, Roach, William C., Packer, J. I.: 9780801014345: Amazon.com: BooksCold-Case Christianity (Updated & Expanded Edition): A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels: Wallace, J. Warner, Strobel, Lee: 9780830785308: Amazon.com: Books