The belief that God exists and that He has spoken in the Scriptures cannot be reconciled with arguments that promote the moral goodness (or moral neutrality) of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender views of sexuality. To believe both is a logical fallacy because God clearly sets forth His good design for human sexuality in the Bible, and it is a very narrow vision.

The force of this logic seems to elude many in the current debate as they seek to hold the veracity of Christianity alongside the “right” of sexual/gender self-identification. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and member of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, who is one of the clearest thinkers in the evangelical world, exposed the logical fallacy of this position well in a recent appearance on campus at the University of Louisville. Mohler discussed his 2008 book Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheism (Crossway) at The Campus Church which meets at the U of L. During a question and answer session, Mohler gave a clear-headed analysis of the logic that should drive our thinking on issues of gender and sexuality. Here is his answer in its entirety to a question on the relation of atheism to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sexuality:

“I think the question is morally and intellectually significant. If there is no God, if the Bible is not His revealed Word to us and if it’s just a human artifact, then it would frankly be immoral to try to advise persons on the basis of the Bible now. We don’t go back to anything else that is that old and say, ‘This is how you should live your life.’ I’m thankful we don’t have doctors who use Galen’s medical books from ancient Greece. I don’t want my house designed by somebody that doesn’t understand anything about modern engineering. But when it comes to morality, we as Christians keep going back to the Bible. When it comes to basic worldview issues, plausibility structures, truth, we keep going back to the Bible saying, ‘God is here speaking to us.’ If that isn’t true, we are immoral people. We are about an immoral experiment, because we are telling people, ‘You need to organize your life this way, we know the truth about you, we know the truth about what God intended for us and our sexuality, we know what God thinks of marriage. It is for God’s glory and your good, your thriving, your happiness, that you are organizing your life this way.’

“If the Bible is not the Word of God, then we are just the agents of prejudice, and agents of a system that, frankly, is making claims that would be immoral to make, that would be overreaching, that would be spectacular. If God is not speaking to us in the Bible, then we’d better shut up. And when you have a contentious issue, a very controversial issue like sexuality and sexual orientation, that’s where it comes down to the fact that, if there is a God, not merely a deity, but the God of the Bible is indeed the God who is, then the issue of sexuality is very limited in terms of any elasticity. To put it bluntly, in the Bible, we find a very tightly defined understanding of human sexuality. It’s not only heterosexual; it’s monogamous marital heterosexuality. The Bible is very restrictive monosexuality, in terms of the norm, is that human beings are to be related to each other sexually in one and only one way and everything that falls short of that, everything that is other than that, whether heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, you name it, is wrong. And you have an entire structure of law in the Old Testament that is incredibly specific about exactly what this is…It is very clear. And we believe as Christians that it is essentially for our good. Then in the New Testament, you have the law of Christ that is deeply rooted in the very same understanding of sexuality—restricted to heterosexual marriage.

“This is where this plays into atheism: if indeed there is not God, then there are no rules. If evolution is the only mechanism and if a naturalistic worldview applies, then you can’t bring any ‘ought’ into this other than the naturalistic ‘ought’ of natural selection. You could say this is a behavior that does not lead to optimal reproduction, but you could come back and say that reproduction is not the only issue, we seem to be reproducing just fine and that’s not all that important and the rules are off. I would say that is true when it comes to sexuality, but that is true when it comes to any area of morality; if there is no God, then there is no judge at the end and there is no lawgiver at the beginning, so everything moral is by definition constantly socially negotiable. There is the great divergence. If there is no God, not everything is permitted—no sane society or group permits everything—but it is a process of constant, necessary social negotiation. If there is a God and He does exist and He has spoken in the Word, we’ve got very little room for negotiation. It’s a very tight understanding of human sexuality to God’s own glory, by His own creative purpose and, as He has the authority to tell us, for our good, our thriving, our happiness as well.”

You can watch the video of Mohler's message here .

Dorothy Patterson has been one of the leading complementarian female writers and speakers among evangelicals for many years. She is the author of A Woman Seeking God among several other books. She also co-edited the Women’s Evangelical Commentary on the New Testament and is editing the second volume on the Old Testament. Patterson is the wife of Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. She serves as professor of theology in women’s studies at the seminary. Gender Blog caught up with her at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in New Orleans this week.

QUESTION: You travel and speak a lot at schools and churches around evangelicalism. What major gender-related issues do you see on the horizon right now?

DOROTHY PATTERSON: One big issue that is always with us is what is the authority of Scripture? You have two polar opposite positions: egalitarianism and complementarianism. Both claim that they are standing under Scripture and that they are doing exactly what Scripture says. Now, when you start debates, you can narrow that down very quickly, but that’s the broad response. But a basic ongoing issue is: Does the Bible mean what it says and are we going to follow it? That has always been the big issue.

Q: It seems that we always need more female complementarian writers and scholars on gender issues. How can we encourage women to be studying and writing about gender issues?

DP: We are doing our part at Southwestern Seminary, starting with a certificate and going all the way to Ph.D. We even have a homemaking track in our college now. We need to get past the notion that women are incapable of learning certain things and that we really don’t need these extra things for women. Paul said we should learn, and I take that very seriously. I think the key is for women to get a vision for the importance of learning because we have to teach women. We need women teaching women. We need it in every discipline, and we need it across the board because the women of this nation, whether they are single or married, they have in their DNA this matter of maternal nurturing. That’s in the DNA of a woman. That’s why you find so many women in helping and teaching professions who have that gift, and we need to encourage women in whatever they are doing, whether it’s homemaking, as I am doing, or something else, because they will be molding the next generation whether it’s raising their own child or teaching in a classroom. It may be in a church setting or a community setting or a neighborhood setting. As evangelicals, we need to make training for women available.

Q: What do you say to those who dismiss a great number of women by saying, ‘Oh, they’re just stay-at-home moms?’

DP: I’m going to write on the homemaker next year because I’ve been told that since I travel with my husband and do all these things, that I’m not a homemaker. But I do these things to support my husband because I am a homemaker. Every homemaker is a helper, every homemaker is different, and that’s a vision we’ve lost. I think we need to see that homemaking is a professional pursuit in that you need to prepare for it and give yourself to it with all your energy and all your creativity and with all your commitment. And you must bring to it all the preparation you can because it is an overwhelming task. It’s not just keeping the home. It’s helping your husband, it’s rearing your children, it’s doing volunteer work. We’ve lost a lot of our volunteer workers because we’ve denigrated homemaking to the point that every woman thinks she has to have a paid job, and this is true in churches and schools and communities.

The Fall 2009 issue of the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has arrived. Select articles are available to read online at this time, including:

• Editorial: A Critical Look at the Barna Study on the Religious Life of Homosexuals by Denny Burk
• You've Come a Long Way, Baby by Mary A. Kassian
• "Son of Man" or "Human Beings"?: Hebrews 2:5-9 and a Response to Craig Blomberg by Barry Joslin
• Finally Unconvinced: A Review of John G. Stackhouse Jr., Finally Feminist by Robert E. Sagers
• New Testament Theology and a Biblical View of Gender: A Review of Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology by Christopher W. Cowan

All of the articles will be available online on February 15, 2010. If you would like to subscribe to JBMW you may do so here.

This is Part 2 of our series on Richard Baxter's instructions for the Christian family. You can read Part 1 here.

It is important to realize, when reading Baxter and the Puritans, that there was no guarded language when speaking of how the Christian household ought to look like. They simply assumed the clear, biblical teaching of a husbandʼs authority in the family and a wifeʼs joyful submission. So then, at one level, Baxterʼs direction for women wouldnʼt sound too different than John Piperʼs or Wayne Grudemʼs.

However, Baxter, in a way that Puritans are known for, approaches the heart of the wife. What would cause a wife to rebel against the biblical mandate to follow the leadership of the husband? Baxter gives a few reasons:

1. Failure to believe Godʼs will is best. Godʼs design for the Christian family, which includes the structure of authority and submission, is best! God is wise and we, as sinners, need divine wisdom. He writes, "Who are you to assess Godʼs Word in a way different than his own qualifications." What Baxter means is, we are to allow Godʼs Word to explain itself in its own terms. We must not explain away difficult, but clear, instruction. As Christians, we must trust Godʼs counsel for the home. Failure to trust Godʼs will can only bring turmoil and unrest.

2. Discontentment. There is something about the sinful heart that is always wanting something other than the place in which God has placed him or her. When something other than God is the desire of the heart, it begins to desire more than the portion granted. The sinful cravings of the heart are deceitful and can justify sin or can explain away divine instruction. Baxterʼs appeal to wives is to find your contentment and treasure in Christ and you will recognize the joy in resting in his purposes.

3. Distrust in the leadership of your husband. Following the leadership your husband is not first and foremost based upon his merits, but upon the design of Godʼs intentions. Baxter recognizes the failures of husbands, since he was one himself, and there is no biblical expectations for women to follow their husbands in sin or submit to abuse. Yet, many may see the husbandʼs imperfections as an opportunity to exchange roles, as if he has lost his chance to lead. Baxter encourages wives to put away their fears of following their husbands, for it is not in him that you place your trust, but in the Lord who has given you good and perfect instruction for your joy. Rebelling against Godʼs instruction for the home will never bring peace or contentment.

For Baxter, submitting to Godʼs will for the home, whether it be for men or for women, is fundamentally a heart issue. Baxter wrote in a day when feminism didnʼt exist as a movement. There were no books to argue for egalitarianism. No one was attempting to re-interpret Ephesians 5. Yet, he understood that men and women have always had sinful impulses to rebel against Godʼs instructions.

Much could be said about Richard Baxterʼs, the 17th century puritan, instruction for the Christian family. He is deeply practical and has the actual family in mind when writing. What I mean is that he is not speaking to academics, scholars, or, even other pastors. He is mainly speaking to fathers, mothers, and, also, children. For the Puritans, every home was a small church, with the father as the shepherd. So then, Baxter has two concerns when writing to families: perseverance in the faith and growth in godliness. He begins his directions for the family with the husband.

Directions for Husbands

The husband has the authority in the home. Baxter doesnʼt argue for the husband's headship in the home, but rather assumes it as biblical. There is a question, however, of first importance that every man should ask of himself: Am I fit for task? The purpose of the question is not necessarily to see whether or not one should start a family (though it may be a good one to ask before you begin), but ultimately to know exactly what to repent of and, then, seek godliness. Out of all the qualities a man needs in leading his family, godliness has pride-of-place. Baxter writes:

And if God shall not govern in your families, who shall? The devil is always the governor where Godʼs governments is refused; the world and the flesh are the instruments of his governments; worldliness and fleshly living are his service. Undoubtedly he is the ruler of the family where these prevail, and where faith and godliness do not take place. And what can you expect from such a master?

According to Baxter, an ungodly man is the chief stranger and enemy to Godʼs design for the Christian family. A godly governed home “is an excellent help to the saving of all the souls that are in it.” Men, fit yourselves for the task!

Why is godliness so important to the task of leading the home? For Baxter, the husband is responsible for the normal teaching and instruction in godliness. Therefore, the husband must hunger and thirst for the knowledge of Godʼs Word. Baxter writes, “Those husbands that despise the word of God and live in willful ignorance do not only despise their own souls, but their families also.”

Because the husband is responsible before God for his family and all this included in it, apathy is not an option. An apathetic husband has authority over his family in name and image only. Husbands, do not be marked by a couch and a remote control. Do not lie to yourselves, thinking that your work is done at 5:30 pm. Too many young husbands, today, spend more time on XBox than instructing their families in godliness. Men, if your children relate you with video games more than service and care, then you should repent.

Tomorrow, we will look at Baxter's directions for wives.