In a letter and video statement to the government and church leaders in Uganda, Rick Warren laid out his reaction to the anti-homosexuality bill that is pending with the Ugandan Government. Warren opposes it.
Now there are some provisions in the bill that any Christian should oppose such as imprisonment and possible death penalty for homosexuals (apparently just for being a homosexual), forcing pastors to report private counseling with gays, etc. However statements by Warren such as "While we can never deny or water down what God's Word clearly teaches about sexuality, at the same time the church must stand to protect the dignity of all individuals – as Jesus did and commanded all of us to do." does not address at all what the Bible teaches on sex outside of marriage which is defined as between a man and a woman including homosexuality. All sex outside of marriage is a sin before God and must be repented of. This also means that repentance will be followed by a turning away from practicing sin to practicing righteousness (1 Jn. 2:29; 3:4, 8, 10). When Warren states: "ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God" this is true but the Gospel is left out of this equation, thus presenting only part of the picture, thus presenting error alongside of truth. God wants all men to be saved and does not want anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9), but that is why He sent His only Son to die to purchase us salvation and forgiveness from our sins if we believe in Him and repent. Homosexuality is a sin and those who practice sin are destined for damnation (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Practicing homosexuals are living lifestyle sin, thus God does not love their sin and will punish them if they do not respond to the conviction of their sin by the Holy Spirit.
Though some of the provisions of the anti-homosexuality bill are unjust and should be removed we have to understand that HIV/AIDS is a huge problem there and is being propagated and spread by homosexual behaviors as well as other methods. Uganda is trying to find ways to protect their society against this deadly sexual disease. Warren states that we all have "the freedom to make moral choices and our right to free expression are gifts endowed by God.". This statement comes from his erroneous teaching on "gifts". He has taught repeatedly on this subject in his "Purpose" series and often confuses natural gifts with spiritual ones. Do we have the right to make choices that cause others to die of AIDS? If the "free expression" of homosexuality is a "gift endowed by God" then why does God prohibit it in Scripture? We are not just free to do anything we want as people created by God. There are laws against murder, and infecting others with HIV/AIDS should be prosecuted just as any other act of murder is. If you knowingly give someone poison and they die will you not be tried for that crime? I have often stated that false faith healers like Benny Hinn ought to be indicted for claiming they have healed people from AIDS when he doesn't even check out to see if those claims are true. If you don't believe me get our video series on Benny Hinn and see for yourself:
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/spiritoftruth.html
In any case if a person knows they have AIDS and gives it to another person and they die, should they not be tried for murder? Unfortunately that is one oversight of justice in our country due to the fact that we are too overcome with political correctness and afraid of the gay lobby.
In the last part of the letter Warren affirms that he is against the death penalty and life imprisonment for homosexuals.
Interviewer: Do you support the death penalty for homosexuals?So we have the freedom to make the choice to infect someone else to satisfy our own pleasure? That is absurd! If a gay person makes a choice and another unsuspecting gay gets HIV/AIDS, is this a "moral choice"? Isn't it immoral and worthy of prosecution? I don't know how far the Ugandan bill goes in "criminalizing homosexuality" but if a person infects another with HIV/AIDS then this should be no different than any other criminal case.
Rick Warren: Absolutely not. ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God. My wife, Kay, and I have devoted our lives and our ministry to saving the lives of people, including homosexuals, who are HIV positive. It would be inconsistent to save some lives and wish death on others. We're not just pro-life. We are whole life.Interviewer: Do you support life imprisonment for homosexuality?
Rick Warren: Of course not. I oppose the criminalization of homosexuality. The freedom to make moral choices is endowed by God. Since God gives us that freedom, we must protect it for all, even when we disagree with their choices.
On another subject, speaking of "moral choice," Warren made a choice to, at the very least, be disingenuous semantically, or at the most tell outright lies. He stated the following in response to a question in the letter:
Interviewer: Are you and Peter Wagner attempting to rid the world of homosexuals?I have Rick Warren's doctoral dissertation. In the "FirstSearch: Dissertation Abstracts Online Detailed Report" it states this:
Rick Warren: Absolutely not. Peter Wagner was a seminary professor of mine, but not my doctoral dissertation advisor. I have not had contact with Peter Wagner for many years and am certainly not conspiring with him for any purpose. Additionally, the event chronicled at Angels Stadium in 2005 has been grossly misrepresented. I was simply arguing that Christians could have a tremendous effect for good in the world if they had the same dedication as the followers of Mao. I would never argue that anyone should emulate or espouse the views of Mao, Hitler or Lenin.
Title: NEW CHURCHES FOR A NEW GENERATION: CHURCH PLANTING TO REACH BABY
BOOMERS. A CASE STUDY: THE SADDLEBACK VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH (CALIFORNIA)
Author: WARREN, RICHARD DUANE
Degree: D.MIN.
Year: 1993
Pages: 00413
Institution: FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, DOCTOR OF MINISTRY PROGRAM;
0790
Mentor: C. PETER WAGNER
Advisor or mentor, what is the difference? C. Peter Wagner was his mentor for Warren's dissertation. Warren references Wagner's books more than any other author in that (lame) dissertation.
As to Warren not having any contact with Wagner for many years, how can Warren have been on the Mission America's Facilitation Committee (http://www.missionamerica.org/leaders.html) and not have been in contact with Wagner since Mission America is Wagner's project? There have also been many events where New Apostolic leaders got together. You can't tell me that they have had no contact. Maybe someone can provide additional information on this.
Please refer to this article for more information on Warren's disingenuousness in the Uganda letter:
Rick
Warren denies he's "conspiring" to "rid the world of homosexuals"
by Bruce Wilson, 12/10/09
