Dan Savage, the outspoken lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights activist co-founded the It Gets Better Project to encourage homosexual teens that life will get better when they are older.  He particularly stands against bullying so it is notable that in his talks (some call them rants) he verbally bullies those who disagree with his position, particularly those who are Roman Catholic or Protestant Christians.  He makes a point to include in his ridicule the Roman Catholic Pope.

Savage came under particular scrutiny for an April 13, 2012 speech where he was asked to speak about bullying at a journalism conference sponsored by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association. He laced the speech with profanity encouraging high school students to, “learn to ignore the (expletive) in the Bible about gay people.” He ridiculed those who would believe the Bible.  The continual profanity, and ridicule of the Bible and Christian teens, prompted some students to leave the auditorium. Even as they exercised their consciences, Savage insulted those who were leaving. Those who stayed followed Savage’s taunts and hooted and hollered at those who were leaving.  The video of the speech went viral on You Tube and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Among other things, Savage mocked what the Bible taught about homosexuality and Old Testament dietary laws for Israel, and claimed that the Bible favored slavery.  Dr. Wayne Grudem, one of the top systematic theologians in America today, provided a quick response to Savage’s comments that would help people who might be wrestling with these questions. These were his responses:

(1)   Savage throws out and mocks the entire Bible as a source of moral standards. Do we want to do that, or is there a better way to interpret it than what he is doing?

(2)   The OT laws for the nation of Israel were given for the people of Israel at that particular time.  No responsible Christian leader today says Christians or anybody else should obey all the laws of an old covenant that was discontinued when Christ died and rose again (2 Cor 3:6, 14; Heb. 8:6-7, 13, 9.15). We don’t follow the laws about animal sacrifices, dietary laws, clothing laws, etc.

Should we believe Savage’s interpretation of the Bible or the interpretation of all the recognized Christian Bible teachers in the whole world who say that the old covenant rules aren’t required for people in this age?  (This includes the laws about shellfish, menstruation, and stonings for adultery, for example, as well as laws about how to plant certain crops.)

(3)   The New Testament moral standards for all people, Jews and non-Jews alike, view homosexual conduct as morally wrong. (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10). These are not laws given only to ancient Israel before the time of Christ.

(4)   The Bible doesn’t approve of slavery. About 2/3 of the leaders of the abolition movement in the US in the 1830s were Christian pastors preaching from the Bible that slavery was immoral and should be abolished. (see Politics According to the Bible, by Grudem, at page 50.)  There were some pastors in the South that argued that slavery was supported by the Bible but they lost the argument and no recognized Christian leader advocates that today.

[The verses translated “slave/ slavery” are better translated “bondservant” and refer to a different institution than American slavery, but that is a detailed discussion for scholars. I have an extended discussion of this issue in my book Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth, pp. 339-345, the .pdf of which is here: http://www.cbmw.org/images/onlinebooks/evangelical_feminism.pdf#page=339. From its 2011 printings onward, the ESV has changed “slave” to “bondservant” in I think 18 key passages in the NT. The NASB also has bond servant in several of these places.]

(5)   The Bible doesn’t have any laws about “dinner” (??) or about masturbation, as he claims.

http://www.fpiw.org/about/family-policy-blog/grudem-responds-to-savage.html

First Baptist Church of Perryville is located one and a half miles east of Rt. 222.