After two days wind-surfing the zeitgeist, World Vision went ploosh in the water. They had announced a couple of days ago that they were reversing their policy and would now hire people who were tangled up in same-sex mirages, and that they were not doing this in response to any pressure. Not a bit of it. But this did not mean that they were incapable of responding to pressure. To prove this latter point, they promptly reversed their reversal when the bottom fell out of the bucket of their financial support. They are absolutely committed to biblical values . . . so long as the money keeps coming.
Like a whore who takes money for not doing anything, and calling it purity.
Here we go….
Post a comment
We called in this morning and canceled our automatic withdrawal. It broke our hearts to withdraw support for our sponsored child. So now what? Do we call them in the morning and ask for Frederic back, knowing full well that “in due time their foot shall slide (again)”? Or, more likely, that they’ll start supporting the mirage and hiring these people on the quiet, with the wink and the nudge? We had planned to pick up another kid elsewhere (we have another through a different agency), or straight through our church, but the opportunity to get back to supporting the… Read more »
Uh oh. Purity-shaming.
Rev. Wilson, I have never commented before on your site, but I am a regular reader. First, I want to thank you for standing for biblical truth in a world that has gone crazy. You are a gifted brother whose writings benefit many. I regularly find myself spiritually and intellectually edified (between laughs) as I read what you have to say. All of that is to say, I am on your side. Which is why I would hope you might reconsider your approach here. Should we greet an expression of repentance with cynicism? Shouldn’t charity lead us to accept it… Read more »
Jonathan writes: “We called in this morning and canceled our automatic withdrawal. It broke our hearts to withdraw support for our sponsored child” This is a joke, right? You’re going to punish a kid for something someone else might be doing with whom the child will have no contact? Again … this attitude is a parody of itself it’s so ridiculous. Look, World Vision raises money for those in need. It’s not like it’s raising money to line the pockets of its CEO. Doug, if you’re going to critique someone, why not John MacArthur who brings in $400,000 from… Read more »
Brother- While I appreciate your ministry, I think this is out of line. Are you right? Maybe, but I suspect that we have all had mixed motives in our repentance, haven’t we? Maybe the Lord is using all of this to work in the hearts of the leaders? I think it may be more helpful to pray for them, encourage their public repentance, and hope for the best. Love hopes all things brother. This doesn’t mean we should avoid discernment and prayerful consideration of how to interact with them, but also, we should be slow to condemn our brothers when… Read more »
James – What has light to do with darkness?
It’s simple. It’s straightforward. Would you use a charity to support a child if that charity was now embracing, endorsing, and employing avowed pederasts, serial murderers, and armed robbers, using a portion of your donations to fund those activities?
It’s the same thing.
Come on folks! Pastor Wilson is totally and obviously right on this. Worldvision carefully and thoughtfully violated the bible’s clear teaching. Obviously, the thing that changed their minds was funding. I have donated a couple times to WV and I totally have no desire to ever do it again…..I imagine I am by no means the only one. They got this feedback and were forced to backtrack.
The whole thing is funny. In a sad, sign of the times sort of funny.
Aaron and Garrett, thanks for the feedback and interaction on this point. The first thing to note is that I do hope this turnaround is genuine, or becomes genuine, and I am very grateful for all the faithful people who applied pressure to World Vision. And I am grateful for the public expression of repentance. But part of the damage caused by the original sin (which was huge — accepting abominable relationships on staff is no bagatelle) was the damage that was done to their Christian credibility, whatever direction they go after that sin. A mark of true repentance on… Read more »
Sigh. The real scandal here is the no one wants to acknowledge. Christians should have stopped supporting World Vision so e time ago? Why are we getting our knickers knotted over same sex “marriage” when World Vision is already on board with “family planning” and in bed with pro-abort group?
http://kamillaludwig.com/2012/10/world-visions-disturbing-partnership/
Apologies for typos.
Hope this tweet from Russell Moore bounces around in your head for a while, Doug:
Russell Moore @drmoore 6h
It’s the older brother who questions motives in repentance. Don’t be like that. The father’s house rejoices, receives.
James Bradshaw,
As someone who has criticized MacArthurin the past, I was curious where you got your numbers. I am not being skeptical, just curious.
BJ, check out – http://www.ministrywatch.org
Conservative Christians have been saying for a long time that they aren’t motivated by bigotry or hatred, but then they raise hell when a Christian has the temerity to hire a homosexual–not as a spokesperson or face of the organization or theological director or somesuch position where it might be relevant, but for any job, including the mailroom. Are you starting to understand where the bad press comes from, and why it is so easy to beat you in the public arena? I don’t think it’s bigotry, I think it’s fear. Christians truly believe that something like the “gramscian… Read more »
DW-Which repsonse turns more people to Jesus–yours? Or Casting Crowns? Dear Friends,For the past ten years, Casting Crowns has been a voice for World Vision and we’ve seen over 70,000 children sponsored. We stand on the stage before thousands of people every night and speak on their behalf, but we had no idea their decision concerning same-sex marriage was being discussed or decided.We’ve been in 21 countries and almost every state in the U.S. As Jesus-followers, we have purposed that we would never be the band that preached against behavior; but that we would be the band that pointed people… Read more »
For anyone who thinks this is genuine repentance. It goes without saying that we can’t read hearts. But we can read actions. Which is not to say that that is a proxy for reading hearts, but to say that based on any fair reading, this is not, thus far, showing signs of being genuine repentance. From the piece Doug linked: “We shouldn’t have been surprised but we were a bit,” Stearns said of the backlash. “Again, I think it goes back to we hadn’t done enough consultation on this. We hadn’t vetted this issue with people who could have… Read more »
The other thing here is who cares if it is “genuine” repentance? Public institutions being even nominally on your side is to be valued in the current climate, where anti-gay Christians are becoming something akin to what happens when you combine Hitler with a plantation owner. The whole concern smacks of “authenticity”: “but are they authentically Christian?” 75% of Christians in an openly Christian culture would fail this test.
God.
and…
I speak only for myself, but please disabuse yourself of the notion that I give a rat’s butt what the world or you think of me; my loyalty is to somebody higher up than the spirit of this age.
Matt, 75% may be too small a number. That’s what makes Mr. Stearns job so hard. He wants to feed children, so you make the tent as big as possible, until like one commentator said, it collapses in the middle.There are no gay married monogamous christians. The terms are mutually exclusive. Rich should have known at least that. Paul said “Such were some of you…” past tense. We welcome them with open arms! All of the past tense ones. Even the still struggling past tense folk. That is ALL inclusive. All of us used to be somewhere in the 1… Read more »
Touche sir, though as others have pointed out this isn’t always cut-and-dried.
James Bradshaw said: You’re going to punish a kid for something someone else might be doing with whom the child will have no contact? You’ve just made a wonderful Pro-Life argument against abortion in cases of rape and incest. Also, @matt, the issue here, as far as I can tell, isn’t about hiring or not hiring gays (or about being anti-gay). The issue is about whether or not the organization will recognize gay “marriage” and hire accordingly. Up to this point, I would assume that they were willing to hire celibate gay Christians, which is a perfectly reasonable Biblical stance… Read more »
If it were merely about extending benefits, it would be one thing, but Worldvision stated it was merely going to hire gays in a gay marriage, which you could extend to hiring gays who might be in a gay marriage someday, IOW any gay person who doesn’t openly oppose gay marriage, i.e. practically all of them. So it isn’t really about recognizing gay marriage or not, since my employees could be involved in any number of things that I don’t recognize, and since it is their personal life I don’t care. If being married doesn’t actually affect an employer in… Read more »
@matt: I wrote a longer response and then realized that without knowing 2 things, there was really no way to discern if your assertions are correct. The first thing we’d need to know is World Vision’s policy on celibate Christians with SSA, and the second thing we’d need to know is how the company enforces its policies regarding fidelity and chastity. My hunch is that it does the latter with some kind of signed covenant, and that it would make room for the former, but without knowing, there is very little with which to adequately rebut, refute, or reign in… Read more »
Gah: “rein in”. Sorry.