Several of my friends recently attended a General Assembly
of a denomination in the Wesleyan-holiness evangelical tradition. Social media
posts featured many smiling faces, stirring sermons, and lots of friends
reconnecting. I wish I could have been there. I’m sure that I would have seen
another familiar face around every corner.
Controversy was stirred at this same event. The vendor hall
featured display upon display of various ministries. One of the vendors
represented a local church within the denomination with a rainbow-hued backdrop
and the slogan “Love Wins. LGBTQ.” Alarms went off among the faithful. Myself
included (see figure 1).
Figure 1
I don’t know the motive or agenda of the vendor. I don’t
know if they are seeking to advance an LGBTQ agenda in their church.
Apparently, they claim they are not. Attendees inquired and learned that
someone in the church has been converted out of a LGBTQ lifestyle, and is
launching ministry to people grappling with sexual identity issues. While the
ministry outreach may appear laudable, the ignorance of the symbolic use of
words and colors is disturbing.
For years, I have observed as the church and para-church
organizations have been so influenced by the prevailing culture that they/we
have co-opted the symbols of the culture and made them our own. We follow the
culture’s lead and use the word “gender” when we mean “sex.” We adopt the
language of neo-Marxism liberation theology and use the term “social justice”
when we mean “Biblical justice” in the spirit of Christ’s mandate in Matthew 25.
We use the world’s language to represent a Christian cause, and are shocked
when the world’s baggage of meaning comes along with their symbols. Try as we
might to sanctify the world’s language and visual symbols, we cannot, We are
bound by the larger socio-political-cultural meanings. Gradually, I observe, we
abandon our Biblical principles in a quest to be relevant.
Some folks make this compromise in direct capitulation to
the world. They surrender the battle field. They declare loss to the enemy.
They are defeated, conquered. Others, attempting to be relevant, adopt a
lexicon of talk and images that is so laden with the world’s agenda, they
cannot communicate a redemptive, transformational message of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. They are compromised. Whether one is the compromising actor or
the one who is acted upon by the prevailing culture, compromise with the
world’s sinful agenda is always wrong.
At Wesley Biblical Seminary we faced a symbolic issue in the
summer of 2015. We had redesigned our logo in 2013. The new logo was a
beautiful color presentation of a “W” for Wesley, an open Bible for the
inerrant Word, a fish for the fellowship of believers (koinonia), a flame for
the abiding presence of the sanctifying Holy Spirit, and a triangle
representing the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (see figure 2).
Figure 2
In the summer of 2015, the United States Supreme Court
issues made same-sex marriage the law of the land, in its landmark Obergeffell
v. Hodges decision. That summer, “Gay Pride” rainbows were everywhere.
One day, a Wesley Biblical Seminary teammate approached me
with horror in his eyes. He showed me a photo of a rainbow hued condom wrapper
that was being distributed at “Gay Pride” events (see figure 3). The proponent of the blasphemy was the Chicago
Theological Seminary.
Figure 3
Wesley Biblical Seminary responded quickly with symbolic
awareness, and distanced ourselves from any brand confusion with the LGBTQ
agenda. We moved to a blue monochrome logo which we continue to use (figure 4).
Figure 4
Here’s the issue. We, as Christians, had better understand
the significance of the symbolic world in which we live. Noah’s rainbow from
God has been hijacked by the LGBTQ agenda. I would love to retrieve our symbol
from the abomination, but we will not redeem or restore the rainbow to its
proper symbolic place by further compromising its colors with the language of
the world’s agenda.
