When Christian is No Longer Christian

Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a Christian college in Washington state.  It was originally founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church, as the Seattle Seminary. Somewhere along the way, the university has lost its way.

With all of the secular, non-biblical beliefs that are becoming institutionalized in so many institutions of higher learning, even Christian schools, the Board of Trustees of this Christian college wanted to make sure that they were able to remain faithful to the Bible. To do this, they decided to issue a statement on human sexuality that affirmed several biblical beliefs:

• Human beings are created in the image of God.
• All human beings are of ultimate worth.
• Human sexuality reflects the entirety of human relational createdness and is not a matter of genital sex alone.
• Marriage and family are central to God’s purposes and is limited to the covenant between a man and a woman.
• Staffers are expected to refrain from sexually immoral behavior that is inconsistent with biblical standards, including cohabitation and extramarital sexual activity.

Well, the outcry that resulted might make one think that they were advocating indiscriminate murder. The faculty of this “Christian” college held a vote of “no confidence” in the school’s board of trustees with 72% of respondents voting in favor. Following the vote, the faculty put out a statement that said: “The board’s decision to maintain SPU’s discriminatory hiring policy related to human sexuality, as well as its manner of delivering that decision, have regrettably compelled the faculty of SPU to pass a vote of no confidence in the SPU board of trustees.” They further stated that the decision by the school’s leadership “imperil[s] the ability of SPU and its community to flourish.”

So what in the world is going on? Seems like this is another case of the tail wagging the dog. These teachers were hired at a Christian college to teach students based on the beliefs and morals of the Christian faith. Obviously a large majority of those teachers don’t even believe in the beliefs and morals of the faith.

Sadly, this is not the only Christian college to take their belief and moral cues from society rather than from the teachings of the Bible. It is actually becoming more and more common.

And that is exactly the problem. Non (and anti) Christian beliefs have become so prominent in modern society that Christian beliefs are increasingly being not only pushed to the side, but actually being demonized. These anti-Christians are literally asserting that Christian morality is immoral.

What is most curious, however, is that the ones making the accusations have nothing to base their assertions upon beyond their own personal moral preferences. They do not believe that there is such a thing as objective morality. Morality, for them, is what they deem it to be. They decide for themselves what they want it to be, and poof, their decision is magically what is considered moral.

Sorry, but it just doesn’t work that way. What makes their preferences right? Why do they get to decide morality for everyone else? They have no logical answers for those questions, and will try to destroy anyone who even asks them.

So how can Christians push back against this? The antidote for lies is the truth. So all you need to do is to insistently ask the questions and force those promoting their immoral beliefs to answer them. Lies ultimately can not stand up to the truth. You need to become a bastion of truth in a world that is built on lies. If enough Christians start doing that, the truth will ultimately prevail.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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