Bethany Christian Services, one the largest and most influential Christian adoption and foster care ministries in the United States, has decided to join the secular revolution. And The New York Times couldn’t be happier.
On March 1, 2021, The New York Times ran a report with this headline: “Major Evangelical Agency Will Now Serve Gay Parents Nationwide.” According to the report, Bethany announced “that it would begin providing services to L.G.B.T.Q. parents nationwide effective immediately.” Further, the report provides a quote from Chris Palusky, Bethany’s president and CEO, explaining what Bethany intends to do: “We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today.” And just like that, Bethany Christian Services compromised their Christian identity and, in their estimation it seems, for a higher cause.
There is no doubt that Jesus has called His followers to care for the orphan; Jesus spoke of welcoming strangers into our homes (see Matthew 25:35) and James 1:27 makes it abundantly clear how important caring for orphans really is in God’s Kingdom: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Engaging in orphan care and connecting orphans with adoptive families is a noble and Christian thing to do; however, placing orphans in the care of LGBTQ couples (or now even throuples) is not only unChristian, but harmful to those children, possibly for all eternity.
Yes, that’s a strong statement, but it is intentional and designed to clarify the issues for Christians. If you believe what the Bible says about the Creation order, marriage and family you cannot also believe that it is right, healthy, appropriate or beneficial for a child to be raised in any other type of family arrangement that deviates from His order. In short, a Christian can never claim it is right or best or better to place a child into a situation that confuses the basic Creation order and teaches that child that sin is right, normal, natural and healthy. The eternal destiny of that child is of the utmost importance, if you’re a follower of Christ, and anything that could serve to keep that child from coming to know Christ cannot be something a Christian engages in or condones.
Bethany Christian Services has been placed in a very difficult position by the secular culture that now controls almost every aspect of life in the United States–including government. Bethany found itself at odds with authorities in places like Philadelphia, when it was revealed–shockingly, I suppose–that a Christian organization would not compromise its beliefs and place a child with any family unit other than as defined by Scripture. When that was revealed, Bethany Christian Services was threatened and as unable to continue its ministry of placing orphans. Indeed, this was extremely negative for the children, but the secular revolution cares nothing for the children: the agenda is king! And the agenda the secular revolution was and is advancing is a revolution to redefine the family and normalize sexual deviancy. The secular revolution rejects the Christian understanding of family and community and societal stability and seeks to push Christians and their archaic beliefs out of the public square. And, they are succeeding. Christian ministries, like Bethany, are also making their job much easier by giving in and going along, now, with the revolution.
Which leads me to the real question we must consider: Is it better for Bethany Christian Services to continue serving children, even if that means placing them unbiblical family units, or is it better for Bethany Christian Services to refuse to compromise, even if that means the end of their ministry to orphans? Put more succinctly, should Bethany compromise their beliefs for the higher cause of helping children? Granted, Bethany Christian Services should have never been put into the situation to choose between their beliefs and providing care for orphans, but welcome to the new world order. That’s where we are today. Christians and their beliefs are no longer allowed a place in the public square. There is simply no place for Christians to serve other Christians unless they are willing to do completely unChristian things.
The issue with Bethany Christian Services is that, perhaps, they don’t really have beliefs. According to The New York Times report, Bethany’s board of directors issued a statement that says, “Christians of mutual good faith can reasonably disagree on various doctrinal issues, about which Bethany does not maintain an organizational position.” That statement is nothing other than capitulation or a revelation of Bethany’s lack of true Christian identity. No faithful Christian could agree with the statement that the structure of the family and sexual norms as revealed in the Bible are up for debate among Christians. The Bible does not support and even condemns what is now known as the LGBTQ lifestyles. There is no reasonable Christian who could disagree over what the Bible says on these topics unless they are biblically illiterate or faithless.
Here’s what I believe about Bethany Christian Services and many other Christians who compromise the plain teaching of the Scripture in order to get along with the secular revolution: They don’t really believe its right or best to toss out God’s word on the topic, but they think He will understand. They are compromising, in their minds, for a higher cause. That higher cause is helping children. If “doctrinal” positions get in the way of that higher cause, then the doctrinal positions must go. They see the highest cause not as being faithful to God’s word but rather as doing the work they feel called to do . . . or want to do . . . or get paid good money to do. To those who compromise their “doctrine” for anything, they are saying that what they believe is either not important (or true) or only secondary to the work they are doing.
Our highest and first commitment as Christians is to Jesus Christ and His word. From that commitment to Him flows our obedience to Him (for example, caring for orphans). Without our beliefs–our “doctrine” which really is just a description of what we know to be true about God–we are nothing other than human being doing “good deeds”. God’s glory should be our highest priority and detracting from His glory by attempting to obey Him contrary to His word is unacceptable. This is the hardest thing for many Christians to accept: there are some things more important than “social justice.” There are some things that are more important than even “orphan care” (please don’t misread what I am saying: orphan care is a Christian responsibility but disobeying God in order to do so is not acceptable). If we, as Christians, do not start with God’s glory as our highest priority then we will find ourselves compromising His word and putting our sense of obedience to Him (or, more than that, our sense of personal justice) ahead of what He has said. And we will lead others to believe that either God’s word is not true or that what He has said is of less importance than us trying to “obey.”
We cannot comprise for a higher cause; there is no higher cause! Obedience to God is not a higher cause than fidelity to God’s word. We cannot claim to be “obedient” to one portion of the Bible while violating other portions. We cannot justify doing “good things” when those “good things” serve to confuse children about God, the Creation order, right and wrong. If our “good deeds” drive them away from the truth that can save their very soul, what good are our good deeds?
Christians should continue to be leaders in orphan care and adoption and foster care. Government should stay out of the way and allow Christians to do what they have historically done: care for those in need in accordance with their Christian beliefs. But Christians must not compromise the truth of God’s word . . . otherwise, they are something other than Christian and only serve to further confuse a world spiraling into chaos.