The "RISK" of Compromise

On Compromising the Gospel in the Name of Bravery

Pastor Phil Phaneuf, who now identifies as a woman.

There can be no such thing as a trans pastor. However, a Methodist pastor from Rochester, New York, decided to announce that he would be going through a transition process from being a biological male to hormone therapy to accept his felt womanhood. Pastor Phil Phaneuf, of North Chili United Methodist Church, came out  “with joy,” saying,  “I’m not becoming a woman but giving up pretending to be a man.” 

According to Scripture, this would be enough for any pastor in the early church to be defrocked and excommunicated. However, the now transitioning pastor’s overseer, Bishop Burgos-Núñez, encouraged the openly trans pastor, saying,

“I give thanks for Rev. Dr. Phil Phaneuf’s courage and honesty in embracing the fullness of who God created her to be. Her gifts in preaching, pastoral care, and service continue to enrich our connection. We stand together in love and prayer as she walks this path.” 

UMC Bishop Burgos-Núñez

What bravery? Hardly. This is the opposite of bravery. I was instantly reminded of C.S. Lewis’ imaginative conversation with the compromised theologian in The Great Divorce. While trying to talk the compromised theologian into making his residence in heaven, the theologian talks about the great “risk” he took in preaching a sermon that defied orthodoxy."

"I preached my famous sermon. I defied the whole chapter. I took every risk.’ ‘What risk? What was at all likely to come of it except what actually came—popularity, sales for your books, invitations, and finally a bishopric?" (pg. 16)

Lewis’s fictional dialogue with the compromised theologian is very appropriate. I would say the conversation is timeless. You see, most Westerners tend to think that we are living in the worst times in history. But imagine, for a moment, living in Hitler’s Germany, Russia under Stalin's rule, or in China during the dictatorship of Mao Zedong. But at least most of the world could recognize an objective wrong during the 20^th-century horrors of socialism. However, there is something sinister about how casually the clergy treats God’s Word in our present age.

Hitler, Stalin, and Mao gave us an objective example of what is wrong we could point to, but now, these current clerical sexcapades are celebrated. These pastors claim to be “taking risks,” or the culture may deem them as “brave.” But being homosexual in the West is more celebrated than a pregnancy in Africa.

One of Lewis’s most famous quotes came from the same chapter of The Great Divorce. How potent are these words today?

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.” (Lewis, p.16)

The “risk” of self-will is the eternal problem. When we will something against God and dismiss His Word, the end result is redefining God in our image. Compromising the gospel is not a simple decision, but a potent lifestyle choice that must first harden the heart and, finally, commit the sin of making God into their own image. As Lewis points out, those who attempt to compromise trading in the will of God for their own will be sorely disappointed – if not in this life, in the next.

The compromised theologian says, “He (Jesus) would have outgrown some of his earlier views, you know, if he’d lived. As he might have done, with a little more tact and patience. I am going to ask my audience to consider what his mature views would have been.” (Lewis, pg. 19)

 Redefining God in your own image is the final “risk” one must take in apostasy. Let me be clear with my closing thoughts. The Bible teaches us to “Beware, those who call evil good and good evil,  who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20) Our only response is to remain vigilant, be bold, and be willing to not live in the land of nuance on scripturally clear issues. I am growing weary of those who claim Christ compromises the gospel and call it brave. There is no risk involved if the culture has your back.

The real risk, in my observation, is telling clergy like Phil Phaneuf, "You ought to be ashamed, but you aren’t. Why do you need Christianity? You stand against God’s Word. You stand against the God of Christianity. You make a mockery of the cross. You are not brave, or you would learn to “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:7-8) Because speaking the truth in love will always come with risk, compromising the truth for the sake of desire is cowardice. And so I conclude - "There is no RISK to compromise."

Sources:

Lewis, C. S. The Great Divorce. Kindle ed. In Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper. New York: HarperOne, 2014.