Tim Keller: Don't Preach Against Homosexuality Sunday Mornings--You Might Offend Someone

Well, I've been warning people about Tim Keller now for a few years. Here's more reason to not listen to this false shepherd who loves the applause of men but refuses to believe in the purity and power of the Word of God and therefore faithfully preach it AS TAUGHT. Keller has been Emergent/Seeker-Friendly for some time now. I was scoffed at for proclaiming this. But as he continues on the downward grade, as does Ravi Zacharias (I've posted on his pro-homosexual views), its only going to get worse. **Update on Keller's continuing liberalism on homosexuality here.**

Remember his church was built for UNbelievers by his own admission. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/june/15.20.html . He is the Reformed version of Rick Warren. He won't touch the topic because of the various audiences in his church and it might hurt someone's feelings---in a real church, it should be believers and all types of sin should be addressed. Jesus did. Paul did.

Mat 5:28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Eph 5:3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
1Co 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
Jud 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

As you will see (thanks to Apprising Ministries and balyblog) Keller trips all over himself:

CHAPELL: [CTS student question] How do you think the church is or should be proactive with regard to the issue of homosexuality? I see the prevalence of homosexuality, yet the church seems to be afraid to touch the issue. How do we actively speak to believers about this topic in truth and in love?

KELLER: Uhhhh….well…(sigh)…The church is afraid to touch the topic? I….it may…….it..its possible…that….in the 20 yrs that I’ve seen that this issue has actually not.…ummm. it..uh…it hasn’t gone away its really gotten to be much much more..socially….

KELLER: Well, it’s much, much, much easier to to have private conversations about it. I think…..uh…I can make this short. I…I believe in general that if you preach on why homosexuality is a sin,..uhhh….there are……at least in my…in my..in my..in my church I know there’s lots and lots of folks who have same sex attraction who know that that’s not….as a Christian, I can’t do that. I’m not gonna go there. There’s a good number of them. I’ve got a lot of non-Christians who are present who are friends of gay people but are not gay. Uhhh…and then uhh there’d be a number of people with same sex attraction who…are there. And generally speaking, it’s almost impossible to preach a sermon and hit all 3 or 4 of those constituencies equally well. Ummmm.. it’s just.. it’s just think about..you know..you know…you’re a communicator. You know you need to…well, what’s my goal? Who are my audience and..wow! it’s like a conundrum you can’t solve. So, the best thing has always been for me..[CONSPICUOUS COUGH]…to not do the public teaching as much as segment my audience through…ummm [CONSPICUOUS COUGH]..Books, through classes, through one-on-ones, and so on. I think the time is probably coming in which we’re going to have be more public in how we talk about homosexuality. And I haven’t….I’m actually thinking quite a lot about it. Uhhh.. as to how I will go about it or how we should go about it but I’m not prepared to give you 3 bullet points.

CHAPELL: have you been able to say…again, very different congregations and cultures…Could you would you say from the pulpit at Redeemer, ‘Same-sex attraction, if it leads to activity that is same-sex oriented is a sin’?

KELLER: O yeah..well, you have to because you get to it and you’re preaching and you do. sure. But..what I’m saying is if you go…if you make it the subject of your sermon, uhhhh… it’s uhhhh..uh an entire sermon on it would not be an easy thing to get..you..you…you have to say what the Bible says and nobody at Redeemer doubts where we are. But for me to do teaching in the worship service, I am now going to give you the re…you know….the biblical teaching on homosexuality, that has been a hard thing to do when my audience is so diverse. I would have to say the average church, the audience isn’t nearly that diverse. And…so….I have not…made that the main place in which I’ve taught. But…we…we’ve done a fair amount of teaching inside amongst our leaders, our counselors, our undershepherds, our elders. We talk about it. Nobody doubts where we are. But I think that preaching on a Sunday about it…uhhhh…making public statements is…kind of in the cards because I think it’s gonna be a very, very divisive issue in the future.

End quote.

Divisive? But Scripture teaches against it and addresses it along with other sins specifically. How can teaching AGAINST sin be divisive.....unless you are amusing the goats who will be upset with you. This is a huge problem since the church is biblical an assembly of called out believers.

A.W. Pink said:"Inasmuch, then, as Christ’s salvation is a salvation from sin—from the love of it, from its dominion, from its guile and penalty—then it necessarily follows that the first great task and the chief work of the evangelist is to preach upon SIN: to define what sin (as distinct from crime) really is, to show wherein its infinite enormity consists; to trace out its manifold workings in the heart; to indicate that nothing less than eternal punishment is its desert. Ah, and preaching upon sin—not merely uttering a few platitudes concerning it, but devoting sermon after sermon to explaining what sin is in the light of God—will not make him popular nor draw the crowds, will it? No, it will not, and knowing this, those who love the praise of men more than the approbation of God, and who value their salary above immortal souls, trim their sails accordingly. "But such preaching will drive people away!" We answer, Far better drive the people away by faithful preaching than drive the Holy Spirit away by unfaithfully pandering to the flesh."


What Keller said was so different than what MacArthur said on Larry King's show.
What a FAR CRY from what John MacArthur said TO a homosexual sitting right next to him on the Larry King show a few years ago: (video here) In part he said:

KING: All right, John, let me -- let me move to other members of the panel. We have four members of the panel. I want to get everyone in. John, what do you say to those who say, What about Chad and the love of his life being together? Isn't that better than, say, the heterosexual marriage where one of the partners cheats? Who is contributing more to the moral decay of the society, the adulterous husband with the female wife or the loving gay couple who don't do that?

MACARTHUR: Yes, well, you're asking me to do something I really can't do, and make a judgment on which sin is better or worse than the other. We've suffered in this country from adultery, divorce, the abuse of children, pedophilia, you name it. I'm not going to classify those in rank. They're sins, and they destroy the family.

KING: And homosexuality is...

MACARTHUR: And homosexuality...
KING: ... a sin to you.
MACARTHUR: Yes. And...
KING: Therefore, it's a choice.
MACARTHUR: It's a choice you make. It's a sinful choice.
KING: Did you make a choice to be heterosexual?
MACARTHUR: I don't think I had to make a choice to be heterosexual. I think that's a natural thing.
KING: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. In other words, one is a choice and one is not?MACARTHUR: Yes.
KING: So he was unlucky and you're...
MACARTHUR: Because -- because you're not talking about -- because it's natural to be heterosexual. That's built...
KING: What do you mean by natural?
MACARTHUR: Well, I mean, that's the way God made us. That's the normal...
KING: But if he doesn't feel that way, what is he, then? He's not a sinner. It wasn't his decision.
MACARTHUR: Yes, I think it was his decision.
ALLEN: I would love, absolutely love for the pastor to point out for me when in my life I made that decision because I have to tell you, it caused a lot of pain in my family. It caused a lot of pain to me. It's a very, very tough thing that I had to go through. I don't remember making that decision. If I did, maybe can you point it out, but that wasn't the case for me.(CROSSTALK)ALLEN: It's who I am. You also said that it was in the fabric of the human being that -- to understand that marriage was between a man and a woman and that's what family was. It must not be because it's not in the fabric of what who I am. It's not the way I see it. I think families come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

MACARTHUR: Well, let me respond this way, Chad, and say it had to be in the fabric of humanity or you wouldn't be here.ALLEN: I believe that reproduction is. I'll give you that. I absolutely believe that reproduction is. However, I think family, the definition of family and the definition of reproduction are very, very different things.KING: All right...MACARTHUR: Well, what I said earlier is the DNA, the genetic structure of humanity, of civilization, of society is family. Everybody knows that. That's in the heart. That's how it works. You're coming along with others who are homosexual in their perspective and overturning what is natural to everyone.
KING: Could they also be asking to the privilege of something you have preached for years? Marriage is a healthy, wonderful thing, and they're saying, Let us in...(CROSSTALK)
KING: Why would you deny it to them?

MACARTHUR: Let me respond to Chad, too, just on a personal basis, Chad, by saying, I don't think at some point you said, OK, I'm going to be a homosexual. I got two alternatives. You know, I'm going to go be a homosexual. But I do think whatever sin patterns show up in our lives -- and it may be different for us -- we can choose to continue down those paths of sin, whether it's adultery or whatever it is, or we can say, Look, this is sin, and I need to deal with this in my heart. If this is the way I'm being led, it's not right. It doesn't honor God. It's not according to his word. It's not going to ultimately bring blessing on life. I make the choice at that -- I can't make a choice to be a sinner, OK? I am. We all are. But once you start down the path of sin, if you recognize that it is that, then you look to the Lord for the remedy to that.

ALLEN: And I respect you beyond anything for your belief on that. I really do. And let me tell you where the sin was in my life, as I see it. When I was in high school and kids were getting picked on and I was one of those kids picking on other kids, the ones that couldn't help but show that they were gay, the effeminate boys, and I picked on them and I beat them up. That was a sin for me. The sin for me was hiding who I was, when I was -- when it was dark inside my life and I was hiding who I was and trying to be something else, that was the sin for me. I believe that it's God who's called me to open up and start talking.


Scripture is extremely clear. Homosexuality is damnable. Lusting after someone of either sex is sin, Jesus said. True Christians need to renew their minds daily and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit by grace.

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, Tit 2:12 instructing us TO DENY UNGODLINESS and WORLDLY DESIRES and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, Tit 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to PURIFY for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.