The Christian Chronicle (Part 2)
Since those two articles discussed previously, appearing fifteen years apart in Spiritual Perspectives (February 4, 2024), there have been other issues of the Christian Chronicle containing erroneous emphases. Your congenial editor wrote two articles concerning the Chronicle’s favorable reporting of those who believe in the direct influence of the Holy Spirit (February 18th and 25th, 2018). Later that same year (November 11), it was necessary to call attention to the fact that the Chronicle published statements endorsing homosexuality. Below is an excerpt from the article.
Does The Christian Chronicle have a position on this matter, or are they just reporting? Only reading further can clarify the matter. The following words begin the article in November’s issue of 2018:
Dallas—Carrie Underwood’s “Love Wins” video played on the big screens as the E3 Conference opened at the Highland Oaks Church of Christ (3).
The reader does not have to wait long to find out the purpose for this conference. After quoting some of the words from “Love Wins,” the article unabashedly states:
Helping parents of LGBTQ children and leaders of Churches of Christ “better understand and love unconditionally” was the goal of the recent conference organized by CenterPeace. The Dallas-based ministry provides support for people who experience same-sex attraction.
E3 aims to “equip, empower and encourage” Christians to engage in more thoughtful dialogue about faith and sexuality.
Would it surprise anyone to discover that the word homosexual—an appropriately descriptive word—is not used anywhere in this entire article? Why are euphemisms used in place of what the practice under discussion actually is? Hmmm….
The article now turns to Don McLaughlin, “senior minister for the North Atlanta Church of Christ in Georgia” (26). Brethren have used him for youth meetings all over the country. He is more accomplished in story-telling than in handling the Scriptures. He has also written a book: Love First: Ending Hate Before It Is Too Late. He told the crowd that Christians are turning their “gay brothers and sisters into spiritual orphans” (26). Are we turning our unscripturally divorced and remarried “brethren” into spiritual orphans? What about Paul? Was he willing to turn the man living with his father’s wife into a “spiritual orphan” (1 Cor. 5)?
These few paragraphs provide enough material that the reader should be able to see where the Chronicle stands. Nothing has improved at this paper in more than two decades; they celebrate every digression from the truth that churches of Christ have adopted. The article below serves as just one more example.