This Is Your Warning

I can see it now:  it will be the year 2039, and people who call themselves Ex-Christians will be marching in Gay Pride Parades, sponsored by NAMBLA.  (That’s the “North American Man Boy Love Association” for those who don’t spend as much time as I do, researching depraved ideologies on the internet.)  Popular activists, many of whom still consider themselves “spiritual,” will be apologizing for the way they used to treat pedophiles, saying things like:

“…to the Man-Boy Love community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I once taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against sexual rights for children, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.”

The rapid normalization of pedophilia will be a MAJOR issue for The Church in 20 years, and I imagine that my grown children will want to fight that cultural battle…

But, I fear that they won’t be able to have conversations with their fellow Christians about the damage being done by the “Sexual Freedom” movement, because everyone will still be focusing on Josh Harris’ book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” published in 1997. 

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In case you don’t know, Josh Harris apologized for the book he wrote about Christian Sexual Ethics when he was still a kid.

It seems, before he got married, Josh was under the impression that having a wife would solve all of his problems, especially the sexual frustration–and he passed on his Formula-for-Great-Sex to many gullible peers.

So, now he feels the need to apologize to everyone that he influenced to wear a tacky ring and miss out on hot dates.

(DANG IT, JOSH!!!)

But, Josh unintentionally got a few things right. He wrote:

“…[our generation has] wished for intimacy without obligation. We wished for sex with no strings attached. We wished for the pleasure of love with none of the work, none of the vows, none of the sacrifice.

And we got it.

But the results aren’t what we hoped for. And we’re left feeling emptier than before. The intimacy is superficial. The sex leaves us dissatisfied and hungry for something real, something true. Where is true joy? It’s found in God’s brand of love – love founded on faithfulness, rooted in commitment…”

This is a chunk of truth which Young Joshy was correct to endorse–even if he stumbled on it by accident.

So, it’s unfortunate that Grown-Up Josh has begun backtracking and apologizing for even the TRUE things in his old book, as he shifts away from Christianity altogether.

If there are any peers who may be tempted to let Josh Harris’ half-baked ideas influence them–just like they did the 90’s–let me speak to you bluntly:

THIS IS YOUR WARNING!

Josh is still a confused, spiritually immature dude who is better at putting words together than at thinking about them first.  He seems to say some smart things now and then.  But, his Theology is pretty man-centric and crappy.  (JUST AS, APPARENTLY, IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN.)

Dozens and dozens of people have lamented that Josh led them astray when they were teens, because he told them God cares about purity, so–to those people–I am going to shout this next part:

THE PURITY MOVEMENT ISN’T THE ISSUE. YOUR INABILITY TO DISCERN TRUTH FOR YOURSELF IS.

We should be able to think about what we’re being taught, and then take the good while leaving the bad.  We shouldn’t decide to swallow everything a person says, just because they’re young and published.

Don’t come crying to me in 20 more years because Josh seemed to suggest that sexual freedom would lead to happiness, and now you realize the Anti-Purity Movement has ruined your life.

I am trying to warn you now that your are too easily led astray with your focus on formulas instead of God.

When I ask God what he thinks about I Kissed Dating Goodbye, I can conclude that the statement “purity starts in the heart” was true.  But NOW that Josh Harris is renouncing Christ and talking about “marriage equality,” he’s off track and leading people astray.

All Christians ought to strive for the ability to make these judgments for themselves.

We ought to recognize that it doesn’t make sense for Grown-Up Josh to say sorry for preaching “a less-than-biblical view of sexuality,” when he no longer reveres the bible himself.

We ought to recognize the inconsistency of an ex-preacher who tries to affirm gay people having a “place in the church” THAT HE LEFT…

If you cannot read problematic words and see those issues for yourself, then you should beg God for wisdom and the courage to use it.  (But don’t take my word for it.  Ask good questions and ask the Holy Spirit if what I’m saying here is solid.)

THIS IS YOUR WARNING.

Unless you figure out how to discern Truth from falsehood, you will continue being led astray by popular books about dating and blog posts about “deconstructing faith” and activists who are pressuring you to accept pedophilia in the year 2039.

Don’t wait for two decades and an official apology before you learn to recognize what’s right and good and true.

Ask God to teach you how to resist false teaching RIGHT NOW.