Working With Apostates?

Today I have received my ABMen's Men-In-Action. On page 4 is an article "A Word from your President: The Dividing Issue of Human Sexuality." There is no name attached to the article so this will simply be an open response.

I was encouraged to read that the author believed what is written in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is true, and that Paul accurately describes sin. He states in the third and final paragraph that the Scriptures are "simple...to read and understand....So the question at hand is, are the Scriptures true or not?" He then asks for American Baptists to not argue about things that take us away from Jesus.

He is right that we need to believe what God defines as sin. The problem is that he misses the point. Liberals within the denomination do not believe God has defined homosexuality as sin. Liberals use arguments in order to obscure the text of Scripture.

Therefore the President (of ABMen I presume), has naively thought that by just saying, "Let's just all get along and preach Jesus" will somehow unite us. False teachers will not unite. They are not even able to define sin. Grace is something that frees us from social problems and social injustices (homosexuality being one of them). Therefore the Gospel in inherently weakened or denied.

In my own area, there American Baptist churches who are wondering how to deal with a denomination that allows any church to go in any direction pertaining to this issue. How do we yoke ourselves with churches that deny the clear Law of God? Why do we remain yoked with them? We are told the autonomy of the local church can't be overruled. This is true. But does that mean we must work with Apostate churches? Is this glorifying to Jesus when pastors will not stand for the truth? Why work with Liberals who redefine Jesus as just someone who wants to help out with our social problems?

A call to Pastors to embrace the inerrancy of the Scriptures would be a good place to start. The Chicago statement of faith would be a good direction. Perhaps a statement of faith or Creed that is clearly defined to discourage false teachers would help. I won't hold my breath though.