Kissing Marriage Goodbye

[Tree of Life]

Joshua Harris - former mega-pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye - announced Thursday that he and his wife are separating.

The Author of a Wildly Popular Manifesto on Abstinence Before Marriage Is Separating From His Wife

This comes at a time when the "purity culture" of the 90s and 2000s is under intense criticism and there's a growing population of "exvangelicals". It appears that American Evangelicalism is in a bad way right now.

I think that these exvangelicals reject too much. They end up landing in a place that does not at all resemble the religion of Jesus. This is what happens when the gospel is reduced to a particular moral message. The message of purity culture was "be good". When sinners found this to be unworkable they ended up rejecting Christianity altogether.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Then there are men like George Sodini who thought he could murder and take his own life based on Eternal Security.

 

[Tree of Life]

Then there are men like George Sodini who thought he could murder and take his own life based on Eternal Security.

Please don't introduce your favorite subject into this thread. Stay on topic.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Please don't introduce your favorite subject into this thread. Stay on topic.

I am merely showing you the fallibility of your argument. Just because some men may teach holiness as a part of God's grace does not mean they cannot fall and or that they are not being double minded. My point is that those who believe in Eternal Security have done far worse (Which destroys your argument).

 

[bèlla]

Harris reversed his stance on the book’s message.

Harris has released a statement apologizing for I Kissed Dating Goodbye and announcing that he will be discontinuing its publication, stating “I no longer agree with its central idea that dating should be avoided. I now think dating can be a healthy part of a person developing relationally and learning the qualities that matter most in a partner.”

 

[mina]

I know plenty of people who were miltantly pro-courting who are now divorced. I always thought there were lots of problems in a young single person telling hordes of other young singles how to be and stay married when they haven't even really talked to members of the other sex much less understood how to be a friend or be in a relationship with them. I honestly think it's less about Jesus and theology and more about human pride.

 

[Tree of Life]

I am merely showing you the fallibility of your argument. Just because some men may teach holiness as a part of God's grace does not mean they cannot fall and or that they are not being double minded. My point is that those who believe in Eternal Security have done far worse (Which destroys your argument).

Thanks, Jason. You win.

 

[~Zao~]

Joshua Harris - former mega-pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye - announced Thursday that he and his wife are separating.

The Author of a Wildly Popular Manifesto on Abstinence Before Marriage Is Separating From His Wife

This comes at a time when the "purity culture" of the 90s and 2000s is under intense criticism and there's a growing population of "exvangelicals". It appears that American Evangelicalism is in a bad way right now.

I think that these exvangelicals reject too much. They end up landing in a place that does not at all resemble the religion of Jesus. This is what happens when the gospel is reduced to a particular moral message. The message of purity culture was "be good". When sinners found this to be unworkable they ended up rejecting it altogether.

Separating tradition from gospel seems to be a full-time affair.

 

[Tree of Life]

I know plenty of people who were miltantly pro-courting who are now divorced. I always thought there were lots of problems in a young single person telling hordes of other young singles how to be and stay married when they haven't even really talked to members of the other sex much less understood how to be a friend or be in a relationship with them. I honestly think it's less about Jesus and theology and more about human pride.

Being pro-morality without understanding the gospel of Jesus is always spiritually devastating.

 

[Dave-W]

Joshua Harris - former mega-pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye - announced Thursday that he and his wife are separating.

Sorry to hear about that.

He did back track on much of his stuff in that book a few years ago, stepped down from pastoring a mega church (one that I pass at least twice a week) and enrolled in a seminary somewhere out west.

This comes at a time when the "purity culture" of the 90s and 2000s is under intense criticism and there's a growing population of "exvangelicals". It appears that American Evangelicalism is in a bad way right now.

It is in a bad way, one of largely its own making.

I think that these exvangelicals reject too much. They end up landing in a place that does not at all resemble the religion of Jesus.

Evangelical Christianity has NEVER looked anything like "the religion of Jesus." The religion of Jesus was orthodox Judaism.

 

[Dave-W]

Being pro-morality without understanding the gospel of Jesus is always spiritually devastating.

indeed. It is a recipe for lethal legalism.

 

[Tree of Life]

Evangelical Christianity has NEVER looked anything like "the religion of Jesus." The religion of Jesus was orthodox Judaism.

By "the religion of Jesus" I mean the spiritual worship that Jesus said the Father was seeking. Though Jesus was a Jew, there are many who are not Jewish who still worship the Father in spirit and truth.

 

[Sketcher]

Joshua Harris - former mega-pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye - announced Thursday that he and his wife are separating.

The Author of a Wildly Popular Manifesto on Abstinence Before Marriage Is Separating From His Wife

This comes at a time when the "purity culture" of the 90s and 2000s is under intense criticism and there's a growing population of "exvangelicals". It appears that American Evangelicalism is in a bad way right now.

I think that these exvangelicals reject too much. They end up landing in a place that does not at all resemble the religion of Jesus. This is what happens when the gospel is reduced to a particular moral message. The message of purity culture was "be good". When sinners found this to be unworkable they ended up rejecting Christianity altogether.

There were rumors that had already happened years ago. I had always wondered if they were true, as I do not automatically believe rumors. I guess now, they finally did come true.

I have no love for Harris's courtship ideal, which I will give him credit for renouncing. It was extremist, and what was more damaging was the half-extremism that sought to meet him halfway and was much more popular. Still, abstinence is good, and when married couples divorce, it's a shame. Perhaps the church will look to healthier ways of promoting abstinence and marriage now.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Being pro-morality without understanding the gospel of Jesus is always spiritually devastating.

But Josh Harris was a part of a church that understood the popular Christiandom view of Justification (Which states that no works save).

"...neither repentance nor works save,..."​

Source:
Covenant Life Church Statement of Faith.

"Specifically, justification in an act of God in which He pardons or forgives all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight. This is possible because of what Jesus Christ has done in dying on the cross for our sins. Justification is all of grace, meaning God didn’t have to do it, He was under no obligation. And it is all of faith, meaning it must be received as a gift. It cannot be earned."​

Source:
Martin Luther and Justification by Grace Alone

"Forgiveness - Jesusʼ blood was shed and His body broken to cleanse you from all your sin, past, present and future."​

Source:
https://www.covlife.org/pdf/Preach-the-Gospel-to-Yourself.pdf

Joshua Harris is merely stepping down to go to school and not on the grounds of disagreeing with the gospel message that his church teaches.

See this article here:

Joshua Harris Sunday Remarks

So it was not mixing morality with the gospel that was the problem here. He never believed that morality or God's good ways played an integral part of the gospel even though the Bible does teach that (See Romans 5:21, Titus 2:11-12, and Ephesians 5:25-27).

 

[Tree of Life]

There were rumors that had already happened years ago. I had always wondered if they were true, as I do not automatically believe rumors. I guess now, they finally did come true.

I have no love for Harris's courtship ideal, which I will give him credit for renouncing. It was extremist, and what was more damaging was the half-extremism that sought to meet him halfway and was much more popular. Still, abstinence is good, and when married couples divorce, it's a shame. Perhaps the church will look to healthier ways of promoting abstinence and marriage now.

I recommend the gospel!

 

[thecolorsblend]

Joshua Harris - former mega-pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye - announced Thursday that he and his wife are separating.

The Author of a Wildly Popular Manifesto on Abstinence Before Marriage Is Separating From His Wife

This comes at a time when the "purity culture" of the 90s and 2000s is under intense criticism and there's a growing population of "exvangelicals". It appears that American Evangelicalism is in a bad way right now.

I think that these exvangelicals reject too much. They end up landing in a place that does not at all resemble the religion of Jesus. This is what happens when the gospel is reduced to a particular moral message. The message of purity culture was "be good". When sinners found this to be unworkable they ended up rejecting Christianity altogether.

This is why I think posts about “Christian conduct” (and, by extension, most of CF’s rules) are absolutely asinine.

 

[Tree of Life]

But Josh Harris was a part of a church that understood the popular Christiandom view of Justification (Which states that no works save).

"...neither repentance nor works save,..."

Statement of Faith

"Specifically, justification in an act of God in which He pardons or forgives all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight. This is possible because of what Jesus Christ has done in dying on the cross for our sins. Justification is all of grace, meaning God didn’t have to do it, He was under no obligation. And it is all of faith, meaning it must be received as a gift. It cannot be earned."

Martin Luther and Justification by Grace Alone

"Forgiveness - Jesusʼ blood was shed and His body broken to cleanse you from all your sin, past, present and future."

https://www.covlife.org/pdf/Preach-the-Gospel-to-Yourself.pdf

Joshua Harris is merely stepping down to go to school and not on the grounds of disagreeing with the gospel message that his church teaches.

See this article here:

Joshua Harris Sunday Remarks

So it was not mixing morality with the gospel that was the problem here. He never believed that morality or God's good ways played an integral part of the gospel even though the Bible does teach that (See Romans 5:21, Titus 2:11-12, and Ephesians 5:25-27).

Thanks again, Jason.

 

[Tree of Life]

This is why I think posts about “Christian conduct” (and, by extension, most of CF’s rules) are absolutely asinine.

I don't follow.

 

[Sketcher]

I recommend the gospel!

We had that, and still have it. What gave his ideology the space it needed to spread was a lack of Biblical instruction on dating (surprise surprise, dating didn't exist in Bible times), and Christian leaders failing to vet his book before it became a bestseller.

 

[Tree of Life]

We had that, and still have it. What gave his ideology the space it needed to spread was a lack of Biblical instruction on dating (surprise surprise, dating didn't exist in Bible times), and Christian leaders failing to vet his book before it became a bestseller.

See I think his problem was that he sought to provide "biblical" instruction on dating while missing the gospel, which alone has the power to change sinful hearts to faithful obedience.