Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sexual Orientation and Belmont University

Within the last few days, the trustees of Belmont University voted to add "sexual orientation" to the school's nondiscrimination policy.  In other words, they don't want a person's sexual preference to make any difference at all when a person is considered for employment at the university.  You can read the story here.  In order to understand the impact of this decision, it will probably aid you to know some things about the school's history.

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to the history of Belmont, but since I'm the pastor of a Tennessee Baptist Church (TBC) that was in cooperation with the school until just a few years ago, hopefully I can make a few informed statements.  Belmont was a school created by the Tennessee Baptist Convention in the early 1950's.  As with the other TBC institutions of higher learning, the purpose of the school was to train young men and women to be champions for Christ - whether serving him in Christian ministry or in the secular world.

Since its inception, music has played a strong influence on the livelihood of the college.  That's not hard to understand, especially since Belmont is located in Music City, USA (Nashville).  Many popular singers/songwriters received their education at the University, and consequently a good number of them have become influential donors since their graduation.  To put it in a nutshell, Belmont relied heavily upon the TBC during its early years.  As time passed, dependence on the TBC wained as the school became increasingly dependent upon the substantial gifts of some wealthy donors.

Many so-called "Christian schools" have gone down that path.  It's almost as if you can see gold becoming their god right before your very eyes.  Decisions are made much less on biblical convictions, and much more on what will attract the almighty dollar.

The recent decision by the Belmont Board of Trustees is just another very sad sign of this disturbing trend.  And yet, this trend is really nothing new.  In fact, it's as old as the Bible itself.  Just consider men like David, Solomon, and a host of others.  So long as they were ruddy little shepherd boys and ignorant young men calling on the wisdom of God, they made decisions based on God's Word and God's favor was added to their lives/kingdoms.  Yet when they begin to prosper, somewhere along the way they allowed their prosperity to turn them away from following the Lord.  In the cases of David and Solomon, both of them ended in some manner of disgrace because they failed to completely trust the Lord and heed His commands during their latter years.

In my opinion, that is precisely what has happened to Belmont.  In this situation of their lesbian soccer coach, they had a wonderful opportunity to step up and shine bright for Christ, declaring the uncompromising truth of Scripture.  Instead, they chose the path of least resistance.  For every guy like me who writes to confront the institution with their sin, there will be many deep-pocketed donors who will assure them that they made the right decision.

What can we take from this?  We better be very careful who we align ourselves with.  We can align ourselves with the counselors and resources of this world, but I'm sure of this - none of them will be there to stand in judgment for us when we are called to give an account to Christ.  What has Jesus said?  "Whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 10:33).  Are we Christians?  Then let us stand on the Word of God.  If weren't not willing to stand on His Word, then let's stop giving lip-service to God.  There is simply too much at stake.  There is a world out there watching this situation unfold and they're looking for someone to lovingly declare the truth of God's Word.

I certainly wish Belmont no ill will.  My prayer is simply that the school's leadership would repent of this decision, ask the Lord for forgiveness, and begin again to lovingly share the truth of God with a world that so desperately needs to hear it.  Now is no time for compromise.

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