Russell Moore, who said he would attend a gay wedding celebration, created an ecumenical document to dissent from the Supreme Court ruling mandating gay ‘marriage’ across the land. It’s receiving many signatures, but not all are pleased. Robert Gagnon, associate professor of the New Testament and Pittsburg Theological Seminary put up a stellar response to Russell Moore’s document…
First, the unnamed author of the document (Russell Moore?) erred in claiming that Christians should not express outrage at this decision: “Outrage and panic are not the responses of those confident in the promises of a reigning Christ Jesus.”
Jesus expressed outrage at sin repeatedly in his ministry (the cleansing of the temple is a fairly concrete case in point). So did John the Baptist (his direct criticism of Herod Antipas for taking his brother’s wife is an obvious instance). So did Paul (I would say that outrage was a hallmark of his comments on tolerance for the incestuous man in 1 Cor 5). So did John of Patmos in Revelation (comparing the Roman Empire and its emperors to a harlot and a disgusting 7-headed beast rising from the sea, a puppet of the dragon that symbolizes Satan; likewise symbolizing the provincial imperial cult leaders as a blasphemous beast rising from the earth). Friends, if this were the Supreme Court attempting to restore the Dred Scott ruling, would it be unchristian to express “outrage”? This is not a tea party. Democracy and liberty in America have been struck the greatest body blow in our lifetime. The action of the five lawless Justices will have enormous negative repercussions for the church corporately and Christians individually. And outrage at egregious immorality is not antithetical to love.
Indeed, one has to wonder how firm the resolve of Russell Moore will be on gay ‘marriage’ in coming years, while he’s attending their wedding receptions. Nonetheless, the lecturing against outrage (by someone who is outraged by nothing except, it seems, the Confederate Flag) isn’t going over well by many – not to mention a whole host of other problems that Gagnon recognizes in his post. We encourage you to read it.
You can find Gagnon’s post here.
