InterVarsity Christian fellowship, an evangelical college outreach ministry, has announced in a new document on that same sex relationships and support for the same fall outside the bounds of the Bible's teaching. In addition, staff who support same sex marriage should come forward in order to resign.
The official InterVarsity position paper human sexuality, which spends considerable time on same sex relationships, is carefully worded and acknowledges that Christians have failed the LGBT community in many ways. It notes that some sins have wrongly been elevated above others. The document addresses many other issues related to sexual ethics beyond same sex relationships, such as pornography, lust, and divorce. However, the section related to same sex relationships goes into great detail outlining different perspectives and the reasons for choosing to oppose same sex relationships.
Many progressive evangelicals immediately responded with dismay at the change that not only could result in many staff resignations but could also dramatically limit the ability of InterVarsity to reach college students. If we look at the current trends among millennials and evangelicals in general, there is a case for taking a more generous approach to same sex marriage and relationships:
Where Do Students Stand on Same Sex Relationships?
If the mission of InterVarsity is to reach those outside the faith, such as the unaffiliated, this move has made that challenge all the more difficult. America in general is more accepting of same sex marriage and relationships and continues to trend in that direction, especially among younger generations.
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A striking 80 per cent of the unaffiliated support same sex marriage, and now one of the leading campus outreach groups will become synonymous with denying what many of the unaffiliated believe to be a basic human right. Overall, the students that InterVarsity hopes to reach with the Gospel may use this development as one more reason to reject the Gospel.
What Will the Future Hold for InterVarsity?
The decision to take a strong position against same sex marriage may appear to be a wise choice based on current evangelical beliefs, but the next twenty years could lead to a colossal shift. While only 27 per cent of evangelicals support same sex marriage at this time, Pew Research found that 54 per cent of millennials support same sex relationships and 47 per cent support same sex marriage.
That means evangelical organizations like InterVarsity will have to account for this widening gap between the beliefs of the majority of future evangelicals.
Is There Another Way Forward?
While verse by verse debate could continue unabated, groups such as the Gay Christian Network may suggest another way forward. The group, includes voices who are affirming and non-affirming has two sides—side A and side B.
You could say that the sense of the "sides" is that they are two sides of the same coin. Both sides have lined up their biblical arguments for their beliefs and practices, but neither excommunicates the other. There is a generous orthodoxy that acknowledges the commitment of both sides to the authority of scripture while making room for disagreement. Most notably, this discussion is being led by people who actually experience same sex attraction.
This isn't an "anything goes" approach. Rather, it's an acknowledgement of the divided reality that is already present among the younger generations that are supposed to be IVP's main constituency. InterVarsity is in a position where it can declare that half of millennial evangelicals reject the authority of the Bible, or it can admit that millennials are divided in their interpretations much like previous generations have divided over important theological issues.
Most importantly, at the heart of this issue is whether InterVarsity will hinder its mission by drawing boundaries around its staff like this. Can a more generous approach to human sexuality be reconciled with the mission of God?
The Unsettling Stories of Scripture
While it's understandable that those who support InterVarsity's decision will ask if there's any biblical precedent for such a generous approach to our orthodoxy, there's every reason to find a biblical precedent for generosity. At the heart of the biblical mission of salvation are the stories of Abraham and David, and they both received very generous treatment from God.
While supporters of traditional marriage define marriage as a man clinging to his wife and becoming one flesh with her (Genesis 2:24), the two central characters in biblical history completely missed that standard, clinging to multiple women. Abraham and David not only married multiple women, they each forcibly married a woman—Hagar and Bathsheba respectively. If marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman, these two figures who are central salvation history clung to many wives.
While we would rightly scrutinize such men today, God still blessed them. David was even called a man after God's own heart despite his many wives and deeply troubling marriage to Bathsheba where she most likely didn't have a say in the matter.
If God could bless such men, then it's suddenly not a leap to find a generous orthodoxy that can make room for a diversity of views on two consenting same sex adults joining in marriage. While we can't hope to resolve this debate any time soon if even those who experience same sex attraction can't agree, we can certainly learn from their example by seeing that our different views need not result in termination or a break in our commitment to sharing the Gospel together.
Ed Cyzewski (MDiv) is the author of Pray, Write, Grow, A Christian Survival Guide, and The Contemplative Writer. He writes at www.edcyzewski.com and is on Twitter as @edcyzewski.
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