NAE Hosts Pro-Life Event
Cindy Evans of the United Methodist Task Force on Abortion and Sexuality
March 29, 2010

Featured Speaker: Dr. Dennis Hollinger, President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Cindy Evans)

Approximately 100 people gathered at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, MO on March 12 to hear ways that churches and church leaders can get involved in the cultural battle to restore sanctity to the covenant of marriage and reduce the perceived need for abortions. The event was co-sponsored with the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), after the NAE’s board meeting.

As the first in a series of forums, the event featured a presentation by Dr. Dennis Hollinger, President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA, followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer period.

The opening comments by Rev. Alton Garrison, Assistant General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, emphasized the cultural problem when he suggested that everyone “take the ‘Disney channel challenge’ and the ‘Nickelodeon challenge’” – set our “DVR from 5-10 pm any day on those two channels, then uninterrupted, the commercials included, watch what your children or your grandchildren are watching.” Doing so, he suggested, would both confirm the need for greater involvement by churches and individual believers and demonstrate that talking about “purity issues” must begin “much younger” than is currently assumed.

In his opening remarks, Hollinger reviewed the statistical data, saying that “for more than a decade, teen pregnancies and abortion” had decreased, but that “suddenly, in 2006,” the last year for which data was available, “teen pregnancies rose 3% and … abortions rose 1%.” Hollinger noted that “all of this occurred in the context of rising funds … for abstinence education, including abstinence-only education” and that the Guttmacher Institute (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) “puts the blame on abstinence education.” Cautioning that Guttmacher’s logical fallacy of assuming that “if these two are occurring at the same time, they must be related,” Hollinger admitted that “old approaches simply seem to not be making the difference we had hoped.” He said that the “old approaches” of “heaping on guilt, simply mouthing a command, ‘thou shalt not,’ or arguing on the basis of the dangers” are not having the desired impact on today’s young people.

The solution, Hollinger suggested, is to “get to the meaning and the purpose of sex.” “[T]here is a meaning to sex that we find in God’s Word and it is this sexual ethic … [that] needs to be heard – not only in the church where it is usually NOT heard, but also in the larger culture.”

Teaching that in its proper context “sex is a good gift of God,” Hollinger asserted “can have an impact on the preservation of human dignity and human life.” Referring to Genesis 1:27-28, he gave two theological reasons for his belief that “sex is a good gift of God:” creation itself – sex was part of God’s creation which He called “good” (Gen. 1: 31); and the physical incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ, as a male human being. Jesus' maleness shows that he was sexual. And Jesus' celibacy shows that active sexuality is not necessary to be sacred in God's eyes. 

In speaking about the incarnation, Hollinger referred to the heresy of Doscetism, which denied that Jesus had a physical body. "If Jesus had a body, it meant that He was a ‘sexual’ being," Hollinger said. "And He had hormones like everybody else, even though they hadn’t heard of hormones yet at that time. But Jesus was fully God and fully man.”

Hollinger also quoted Luce Meeds’ book, "Sex for Christians," saying: “Christian piety does not have to be nervous about the sexuality of Jesus. He was a male, and His masculinity shaped His human life from His hormones to His soul. God did not become a third sex. He did not become neuter. He became a male and lived among women and men as a male, and it is true that Jesus did not get married, and this fact tells us something about the possibilities of being a sexual human being without having genital sexual relationships. That the Word became flesh is the Gospel’s absolute ‘YES’ to human sexuality.”

Using theology, admonitions, and guilt alone, however, will not have the desired effect on a sex-saturated culture, Hollinger warned. To affect the culture and individuals, church leaders and individuals must demonstrate the “four purposes of this good gift of God … affirmed in Scripture [and] understood by natural observation and human experience.” The four purposes “set the boundaries for sex” and “are very significant for the protection of human life.”

Panel Discussion following Dr. Hollinger's address. Pictured here from left to right: Cindi Boston, Executive Director of the Pregnancy Care Center in Springfield, MO; Pastor Joe Fuiten, senior pastor of Cedar Park Church in Bothell, Washington; Dr. Melody Palm, Executive Director of Still Waters Counseling Center in Springfield, MO; and Dr. Dennis Hollinger, President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Cindy Evans)

According to Hollinger, those purposes are first, the consummation of the marriage, when the status of the two individuals changes from child and family member to a new and unique relationship with the “sexual act complet[ing] the marriage;” second, procreation, “by which life on earth continues;” third, a “deep, organic expression of love” that is able to withstand the “‘better or worse’ aspects of life;’” and lastly, pleasure.

While recognizing that Christians often struggle with the concept of sexual pleasure, Hollinger urged the audience to recognize that “part of the reason for God’s good gift of sex is that it is meant to be enjoyed.” The problem arises, he believes, because in today’s culture, sex has been taken out of the covenantal marriage relationship for which God designed it. The four purposes of marriage “can only come together in one place – in the marriage of a man and a woman.”

Hollinger concluded by saying “the Christian meaning of sex best safeguards the dignity of human life,” that “we need to help our youth understand [sex] as part of Christian discipleship,” and “a foundation for good sex may be a powerful apologetic for our time when people … really do … seek to find some kind of framework to make sense of things.”

Following his presentation, Dr. Hollinger joined Cindi Boston, Executive Director of the Pregnancy Care Center in Springfield, MO, Pastor Joe Fuiten, senior pastor of Cedar Park Church in Bothell, WA, and Dr. Melody Palm, Executive Director of Still Waters Counseling Center in Springfield, MO, for a panel discussion of specific ways and projects their organizations are using to help people facing various sex-related issues.

The full audio of the event is available online at the AGTS website. Click here to listen.