Since its inception under then President, Barak Obama, June is routinely proclaimed “Pride Month,” a full month celebrating all persons identifying as LGBTQ+. And every year at this time, we can count on a multitude of corporations to begin not only changing their decor but using their platforms to promote a message of support, acceptance, and affirmation of LGBTQ+ persons. This comes as no surprise to the Christian given that we are living in a culture that is increasingly, not just post-Christian, but anti-Christian in its practice. However, what we should never come to expect is this kind of promotion to come from a professing Christian company. Enter Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Eerdmans Publishing is not simply a corporation owned and run ostensibly by Christians, such as Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby. Rather, it is a publishing company that intentionally publishes and sells books specifically meant for Christian consumption. This means the books they publish should reflect the Christian worldview and sound, biblical doctrine. The books, while covering a wide range of topics and perspectives, should fall within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy.
This means that a variety of doctrinal positions could be represented and published, but should be falling within the boundaries of orthodox Christianity. Not promoting false doctrine, heterodox, or heretical positions (with the exception of refuting those matters). Most definitely what those books should never do is promote any sinful act or attitude as an acceptable practice in the life of a Christian. Especially, sins that are clearly and specifically condemned in Scripture. Yet, Eerdmans took a clear step in the opposite direction just recently. And to make matters worse, when called out by Christians for doing so, Eerdmans doubled down.
So, what did Eerdmans do? On June 3, 2022, Eerdmans published on its blog, Eerdword, a list of “Books to Read for Pride Month.” Were these books that addressed the sins of sexual immorality from a Scriptural perspective, which condemned these practices but encouraged loving evangelism and discipleship, calling such persons out of a lifestyle of sin? No, quite the opposite. In Eerdmans’ own words, “there is still such disunity and unrest on this topic, especially among people of faith. We find ourselves at a time again where we should be willing to listen and seek to understand those in the LGBTQ+ community who are simply fighting to be seen and heard, cared for and loved.”
In other words, this list of books, which they published, was culled for the specific purpose to cause Christians to doubt Scripture’s clear condemnation of sinful sexual practices. In stating that persons of the LGBTQ+ community are “fighting to be seen and heard, cared for and loved,” Eerdmans seeks not to appeal to the infallible foundations of Scripture, but to the ever-fickle and changing emotions of the heart. This is an appeal that implies that to respond to LGBTQ+ identity and practice with a call to repentance is to fail to see, hear, care for, and love these persons. That to truly care for this community means laying down the authority of Scripture and to hear their stories. If we want to love, we need to hear them out and understand they are not such bad people after all.
Thankfully, when Eerdmans promoted this article on their Twitter page, Christians responded vociferously. The response was not one of adulation but of open reproof and rebuke. In fact, the pushback was more than Eerdmans anticipated, resulting in the immediate removal of the tweet in question. However, they did not pull the article or the books they were promoting. In fact, when a Christian shared the article link and a much-needed rebuke, Eerdmans responded with the following, “We want to offer perspectives from all experiences, and these specific books highlight stories that are often overlooked. We simply wanted to share these stories because we believe in the value of listening to human experiences, stories we might be resistant to.”
On June 7, 2022, Eerdmans not only reposted the tweet promoting the article, but also a lengthy thread doubling down on their position. We’ll address that in a moment, but let’s look at their reasoning. Eerdmans believes in the “value of listening to human experiences.” This is highly problematic. Why? Because human experience is not the standard by which we measure whether or not something is approved of by God. Scripture is. God provided us with His special revelation to us contained in the 66 books of His Word. All of Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is infallible, inerrant, and sufficient for all of Christian faith and practice. There is nothing in this world that surpasses or supplants His glorious message contained in the Bible.
It is in Scripture that we learn of the true nature of the human condition (Jer. 17:9). It reveals that we are sinners from the moment we are conceived (Psalm 51:5). Through its commandments, we see how are hearts seek to rebel against God’s Word (Gal. 3:24-26). We see that the only hope is Christ who took on human flesh (John 1:14), that He lived without sin (2 Cor. 5:21) yet, because He loved us, He became sin for our sake and died for us on the cross (Romans 5:8). Christ did this that the wrath of God might be satisfied through His sacrifice (1 John 2:2). When we turn in repentance and faith to Christ, we are made new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) with new hearts and new desires (Ezek. 36:26-27). We turn from our wicked ways and seek to be obedient to our Lord and Savior (1 Cor. 6:11). There is nothing about the “human experience” all of Scripture does not address.
Yet, Eerdmans’ article and Twitter posts reject that Scripture is the sole infallible authority on human life. Rather, there is another authority, the “stories that are often overlooked.” It is the personal accounts and appeals from those living their lives in rebellion to God’s Word to which we must listen. That, in order to truly love and care for them, we ought not to seek to point them to God’s Word, calling for them to repent of their sin and submit to Christ. Instead, we are to be silent and read their stories, listening to how difficult their lives have been in a world where they have been told to live as their hearts lead them is wrong. And, instead of defining love and care by Scripture’s terms, we are to hear how they define love and care, then respond, not as the Bible’s commands, but in a manner these new definitions require of us.
This is what Eerdmans is calling on Christians to practice. Not be held to the authority of Scripture but to be swayed by the emotional appeals and redefinitions of persons who do not want to submit to God’s Word. What truly makes this even more tragic is Eerdmans’ failure to recognize that calling people out of sin and into Christ is the absolute most loving thing any Christian can do for them. Not letting people sit in the mire and muck of sinful debauchery which is leading them on a path to Hell. Instead, pleading with them as ones who have been purchased by Christ’s shed blood. We were rebel sinners bound up in sin and racing into the fires of judgment. Yet, Christ in His mercy stopped us dead, exposed the foulness of our hearts, and set us free from sin. No greater joy is there than when a sinner meets His Savior on that day and comes to new life in Christ, freed from the very sins he or she thought they could never live without. That is true love and care for those in our midst.
However, Eerdmans takes this madness one step further. Today, they released a statement on Twitter in a multi-post thread. Eerdmans wanted to make it clear that they did not take down their first tweet because they thought they were wrong. Instead, they took it down “because the overwhelming vitriol was alarming, and we wanted to protect our authors.” See, it wasn’t because Christians who rebuked them made them think twice and consider their position in light of Scripture. They never considered it to be something they should do. Rather, they were shocked and appalled that Christians would say such mean things and they simply could not allow the authors, whose books they publish and make money from, to be exposed to such biblical reproof.
Eerdmans rejected Christians’ claims of apostasy as having any merit. What they did do is claim that, as a publishing company, they represent a wide variety of views. Therefore, just as they “routinely publish books that contradict each other on many contested doctrinal points,” it should be understood that they would be willing to publish authors “who have come to an affirming conclusion on biblical and theological grounds.” In other words, debates over matters such as baptism, soteriology, eschatology, and the like are no different than debates over whether or not LGBTQ+ practices are actually sinful.
Understand this, on a matter which Scripture is explicitly clear about – that God has determined not only our gender but has clearly spoken about the only institution where sexual intimacy is permissible (one man and one woman in a lifetime monogamous relationship called marriage) – Eerdmans believes that there can be a multitude of beliefs which Christians should accept as valid. And that they, as a Christian publishing company, are not obligated to publish only those views that align with Scripture.
Eerdmans categorized those who call them out for such a blatant rejection of Christian orthodoxy as being ones who “promote division and discord by categorizing Christians into two camps.” They dismissed Christians who called them to repentance and to not promote false teaching by saying “We decline to swear loyalty to one faction’s ‘us’ and join their hostilities against all corresponding ‘thems.’” Eerdmans effectively stated that if you are a Christian who believes in the biblical definitions of sexuality, gender, and marriage and rejected false teaching promoting sexual immorality, you are engaging in “hostilities” against the LGBTQ+ community.
Eerdmans believes they have taken the moral high ground when they say “our aim is not to tell you what to think.” But they do tell you that taking a biblical stand, that holding to the sole authority of Christian truth in Scripture, rather than reading “books that we believe will promote informed and charitable thinking,” is to create division and discord.
Christian, to quote Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries, “We have a book.” And that book is God’s revealed Word in Scripture. While there are many doctrinal issues we will debate until the Lord’s return, one thing is crystal clear: what the Bible calls sin is sin. This is not divisive. This is not creating discord. This is calling all persons who claim to follow Christ to submit to Him as Lord over all our lives. To allow teachings that tell sinners to reject His commands, to demand to live as though He has not spoken on this matter, to live in utter rebellion, and to affirm or celebrate such a thing is not loving in the slightest. It is to hate those persons because we have the Words of life in Christ, but we refuse to give it to them, ensuring they continue on the path to Hell.
Paul wrote “What shall we then? Are we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:1-2). The most gracious and loving thing is not to sit and listen quietly to stories of those enslaved to sin, making space for them, and calling them Christians when they still serve another master. Rather, all Christians, including those at Eerdmans Publishing, must submit to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We must reject all teachings that blatantly contradict His commandments, and like our Savior, we must proclaim “repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
There are those within Evangelicalism who will chide Biblically discerning Christians with an admonition along the lines of “Why don’t you just listen to a person who thinks differently than you?” This admonition is typically leveled against Christians who seek to refute false teachings being brought into the church. The challenge is made to cause Christians to doubt their own patience, long-suffering, and kindness when they refute the false teachings. It also seeks to cause the Christian to simply be silent, to let false teaching be proclaimed without a challenge.
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