Tony Compolo Comes Out in Favor of Gay Marriage

Another trending topic on Twitter today is the news that emergent church leader, Tony Compolo, has come out in favor of gay marriage.  Of course all the liberals are SO HAPPY for his "courageous stand".

"From this foundation I have done my best to preach the Gospel, care for the poor and oppressed, and earnestly motivate others to do the same. Because of my open concern for social justice, in recent years I have been asked the same question over and over again: Are you ready to fully accept into the Church those gay Christian couples who have made a lifetime commitment to one another?

While I have always tried to communicate grace and understanding to people on both sides of the issue, my answer to that question has always been somewhat ambiguous. One reason for that ambiguity was that I felt I could do more good for my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters by serving as a bridge person, encouraging the rest of the Church to reach out in love and truly get to know them. The other reason was that, like so many other Christians, I was deeply uncertain about what was right.

It has taken countless hours of prayer, study, conversation and emotional turmoil to bring me to the place where I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the Church.

For me, the most important part of that process was answering a more fundamental question: What is the point of marriage in the first place? For some Christians, in a tradition that traces back to St. Augustine, the sole purpose of marriage is procreation, which obviously negates the legitimacy of same-sex unions. Others of us, however, recognize a more spiritual dimension of marriage, which is of supreme importance. We believe that God intends married partners to help actualize in each other the “fruits of the spirit,” which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, often citing the Apostle Paul’s comparison of marriage to Christ’s sanctifying relationship with the Church. This doesn’t mean that unmarried people cannot achieve the highest levels of spiritual actualization – our Savior himself was single, after all – but only that the institution of marriage should always be primarily about spiritual growth.

However, I am old enough to remember when we in the Church made strong biblical cases for keeping women out of teaching roles in the Church, and when divorced and remarried people often were excluded from fellowship altogether on the basis of scripture. Not long before that, some Christians even made biblical cases supporting slavery. Many of those people were sincere believers, but most of us now agree that they were wrong. I am afraid we are making the same kind of mistake again, which is why I am speaking out.

I hope what I have written here will help my fellow Christians to lovingly welcome all of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters into the Church."

Here;  http://bereanresearch.org/tony-campolo-calls-for-full-inclusion-of-lgbt-into-the-church/

Tony is the founder of RED LETTER CHRISTIANS which is a group the elevates the RED LETTERS in the Bible (put there by men...obviously) which are the words actually spoken by Christ. Their argument is that if Jesus didn't say anything against gay marriage....then it must not be that big of deal!

Hmmmm.....boy, that sure puts a dagger in a lot of things Paul, Peter, Jude, James and others said in the New Testament....

Also, just a heads up for any of my Covenant denomination readers....Tony Compolo has been an invited and welcomed speaker at North Park College....so don't be surprised when The Covenant starts to follow the Lutherans and Methodists down the slippery slope endorsing gay marriage.

IF that ever happens we will need to have some long, hard discussions on whether we can stay in The Covenant....if they abandon biblical truth in favor of pleasing men.