MSNBC Promotes Evangelical Liberal Rachel Held Evans, Who Advocates Culture War Retreat on Homosexual ‘Marriage’

Rachel Held Evans says today’s younger Christians are uniting against legislative action (such as pro-traditional marriage amendments) opposing the homosexual agenda.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, there’s nothing that MSNBC and the Left-biased media love more than to highlight an evangelical Christian who has sold out on homosexuality (or abortion). That is essentially what evangelical blogger Rachel Held Evans has done on the homosexual “marriage” issue — hence she is featured prominently in this MSNBC piece titled, “Could marriage debate drive young christians from church?”

For the life of me I cannot fathom the shallowness of Held Evans’ thinking, beginning with her casual acceptance of personal identity (“gayness”) based on a sin (homosexuality) that God calls an abomination. Are today’s young Christians really that soft-headed and brainwashed (yes, brainwashed by the politically correct media, Hollywood and academia) that they believe that because they “know someone who’s gay,” they can no longer fight and speak out against something as evil as legalized homosexual “marriage”?

Is it beyond the comprehension of the under-35 crowd that perhaps out-and-proud “gayness” and other misguided secular ideas are prospering precisely because the influence of biblcal Christianity is waning in our culture?

Also note in bold below Held Evans’ particular aversion toward Christians opposing the political/legislative homosexual agenda — while presumably it is fine for the powerful Sin Movement that calls itself “gay” to use our American freedoms to push boldly toward achieving its radical goals. (Goals that include teaching homosexuality and gender confusion (transgenderism) to the very young in schools; blacklisting and silencing pro-family (Christian) voices in the media; and undermining religious freedom itself insofar as it conflicts with homosexuality-based “rights.”)

In other words, Held Evans and fellow “nicer-than-Jesus” evangelicals advocate a unilateral surrender in the Culture War.

Strange. So many Christians, who possess biblical Truth, act like they are ashamed of it — while homosexual activists — promoting a revolutionary ideology at war with historic, Judeo-Christian norms — rally confidently behind their ungodly agenda. [By the way, for the edification of all who care about the Bible and how it applies to homosexuality, see this new report by Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Professor Robert Gagnon, which deals in-depth with the curious notion of “gay Christianity.”]

As my friend Pastor John Kirkwood says, Held Evans and people like her need to reflect on what the Bible says about “loving the world”:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

The world is continuously gushing forth with fads and trends that come up against biblical teachings. Today in the West, it is homosexuality as a “civil right”— and a cavalier attitude toward sexual sin in general as epitomized by the notion of casual “hook-up” sex. But rather than selling out God and the Bible to make peace with these amoral trends, believers need to stand up for the Creator’s timeless truths even if it means getting mocked and persecuted by the world. All the while, we need to reach out in love with the Gospel, which in this case cannot abide the message that “being gay” is “who you are.” [Hear Part One of AFTAH’s interview with former homosexual Stephen Black HERE; and Part Two HERE.]

So Rachel Held Evans and the “poll-driven church” have got it completely backwards. It is tragic that she is leading youth away from God’s Truth — however politically incorrect — and defending it in the Public Square. But for MSNBC and other liberal media, that’s one story they simply can’t get enough of. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
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Here are excerpts from the MSNBC article:

Could Marriage Debate Drive Young Christians from Church?

By Becky Bratu, msnbc.com

As the battle over gay marriage heats up in this election year, one evangelical Christian writer is calling for a truce, fearing that the outspoken opposition to gay marriage among some church leaders could alienate an entire generation of religious youth.

“Evangelicals have been so submitted to these culture wars for so long, so that’s hard to give up,” evangelical writer and speaker Rachel Held Evans, 31, told msnbc.com. But “the majority of young Christians really, really, really want to stop with the political emphasis.”

Held Evans, who regularly speaks at Christian colleges, said the young Christians she meets are much more open to gay rights than are older generations, an observation backed up by polling data.

A 2011 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute shows the generation gap between young Christians and their elders is large, with 44 percent of white evangelicals aged 18-29 in support of marriage equality compared to only 12 percent of those 65 and older.

According to the same survey, nearly 70 percent of young Christians also agree that religious groups are alienating young people by being too judgmental about gay and lesbian issues.

“For young Christians, having gay and lesbian friends is just a part of our life,” Held Evans said. “It’s just really hard for us to see them as mere issues to debate, because we’re talking about our friends here.”

The shift is manifesting itself increasingly on Christian college campuses, including at Biola University in California, where, about two months ago, an anonymous group of students announced the presence of the “Biola Queer Underground,” asking that the LGBT community on campus “be treated with equality and respected as another facet of Biola’s diversity.”

…

While young Christians may be divided on whether gay relationships should be celebrated in the church, Held Evans said, they’re increasingly unified on their stance against legislative action, such as North Carolina’s gay marriage ban and others that will be up for votes this fall.

“Even young Christians who think that gay relationships are not God’s design, a lot of them will still say ‘but I think it should be legal for gay people to get married, because this is America,’” Held Evans said.

“I think the main problem we have is that a lot of the folks voting about homosexuality, voting about gay marriage, don’t know any gay people,” she said. “And I’m certain that if they did, it would change their attitude.”