(Tim, w/thanks to a bunch of people) "Such artfully crafted ambiguity" isn't a summary statement describing the caviling of Tim Keller concerning what distinction his church makes between her male and female officers. Rather, it's a quote from the The New York Times which recently has published several articles on the mainstreaming of androgyny. Running in the Fashion & Style Section, first there was a piece titled "Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?" Then, this past week, a second piece ran titled "It's All a Blur to Them."
Karlo Steel of gender-bending clothier, Atelier, said this about New York's love affair with metrosexuality: "Today the more successful designers are the ones that try to bridge the gap between the sexes rather than drive a wedge between them."
Finally, I'm coming to understand why Manhattan's Redeemer Presbyterian Church makes no distinction between her male and female officers. From beginning to end including their nomination, training, examination, election, and installation, male and female officers are lumped together in a mass, indiscriminately. The process is entirely androgynous...
Why? Well, the New York Times already answered that question. Read the articles linked to above.
Pomos hate distinctions, starting with that glorious distinction God first gives each of us in our mother's womb--"male and female He created them."
Recently, Tim Keller wrote:
There are two very different motivations for adapting and accommodating our message to the sensibilities of a group of people. The first motive is 'ambition' -- we do it for our sake, for our own glory and approval. The other reason we may accommodate people is for their sake, so that we can gradually win their trust until they become open to the truth they need so much. The first motive will so control us that we will never offend people. The second motive will help us choose our battles and not offend people unnecessarily. The Farels of the world cannot see any such distinction -- they believe any effort to be judicious and prudent is a cowardly 'sell-out'.
Gender-bending, androgyny, and metrosexuality are not small compromises for the sake of the Gospel. They are rebellion against the Word of God. And they are particularly tragic because anyone who calls men and women to repentance at precisely this point finds the Spirit of God working in power, transforming lives with His grace in ways beyond comprehension.
I invite Tim Keller to visit Church of the Good Shepherd to see the opposite of Manhattan's androgyny. It would be eye-opening for him to see what God has done here in opening the eyes of the blind--particularly those blind to that glorious gift of sexuality. It is God Who created sexual diversity and we make no effort to hide it. It's something we kick back and relax in. Something we relish. Something we do with gusto. And when we do it like God commanded, men and women come to repentance and confess faith in Jesus Christ.
We don't hide sexual diversity, convinced if we don't bring it up with those unbelievers who come into our church, that we will "gradually win their trust until they become open to the truth they need so much." Just as the Apostle Paul called the men of Athens to repent of their "ignorance," we call IU Music School students to repent of their androgyny. And as always where men depend on the power of God to work salvation among unbelievers, some are snatched from the fire, repent, and believe.
We make many accommodations to the sensibilities of people of different colors, educational levels, and classes, but kowtowing to the androgynous culture surrounding us is no accommodation. It is not an "effort to be judicious and prudent."
It's simply a cowardly sell-out.
