Joshua Harris
In the 1990’s Evangelical pastor Joshua Harris wrote a book called I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It’s a book that was really popular among Evangelicals and even Catholics. Last year he repudiated the book in the same way that Thomas Merton repudiated The Seven Storey Mountain. He recently announced that he and his wife were getting a divorce. He more recently announced that he no longer identifies as a Christian. By the way, yesterday I was on the phone with a friend talking about this and he said that Harris’ book was awful.
Here is what he said on social media:
My heart is full of gratitude. I wish you could see all the messages people sent me after the announcement of my divorce. They are expressions of love though they are saddened or even strongly disapprove of the decision.
I am learning that no group has the market cornered on grace. This week I’ve received grace from Christians, atheists, evangelicals, exvangelicals, straight people, LGBTQ people, and everyone in-between. Of course there have also been strong words of rebuke from religious people. While not always pleasant, I know they are seeking to love me. (There have also been spiteful, hateful comments that angered and hurt me.)
The information that was left out of our announcement is that I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.
Martin Luther said that the entire life of believers should be repentance. There’s beauty in that sentiment regardless of your view of God. I have lived in repentance for the past several years—repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few. But I specifically want to add to this list now: to the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.
To my Christians friends, I am grateful for your prayers. Don’t take it personally if I don’t immediately return calls. I can’t join in your mourning. I don’t view this moment negatively. I feel very much alive, and awake, and surprisingly hopeful. I believe with my sister Julian that, “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Joshua Harris has denounced the Christian faith. Naturally at the middle of this was his views relating to the LGBTQ+(aka sodomite) community. It’s a shame that this modern demonic movement is shattering the faith of many people. However, one has to respect the integrity of Harris. He knows that he can’t wed his love of depravity with the Christian message.
One line in this whole thing really jumped out at me. He said:
Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith…
When I read this I thought of one person; Canada’s favorite apostate Michael Coren. In 2014 Coren left the Catholic church for Anglicanism(though he kept it secret for over a year while writing for Catholic publications and accepting Catholic speaking gigs) for the exact same reason as Harris left Evangelicalism.
While Harris realized that one cannot be Christian and contradict Christ, Coren has taken a different path. Coren is wedding the sexual revolution with the Christian faith. He is in the final stages of becoming an Anglican clergyman. Recently the Anglican Church of Canada narrowly voted against Sodomite marriage. Coren wrote about it.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-anglican-church-should-follow-jesus-teachings-and-welcome-equal/
The piece is called: The Anglican Church should follow Jesus’ teachings and welcome equal marriage. The Anglican Church has always had a problem with marriage, being born out of the infidelity of King Henry VIII. Of course Jesus never endorsed such an abomination as this. Coren knows that Jesus Christ doesn’t endorse it either. He’s just trying to mesh the sexual revolution with the Church. Harris hasn’t fallen for this.
I just want to show that contrast for everyone to see. An honest man versus a spiritual fraud. I should also point out that Coren is coming out with another book this fall. One of my favorite posts ever written was my review of Coren’s last book. Spoiler: I shredded it. I have a feeling that I’ll be shredding the next one. Here’ s the review:
Epiphany: A Christian’s Change Of Heart & Mind Over Same-Sex Marriage By Michael Coren
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.