In an article in the Washington Post entitled, “I went to church with Bruce Jenner. Here’s what Caitlyn Jenner taught me about Jesus,” Santa Monica worship pastor Joshua Cobia writes about (like the title says) what Caitlyn Jenner taught Josh Cobia about Jesus (here’s a link to the article: http://tinyurl.com/ptqegvh). Cobia’s article is in the mold of the Andy Stanley’s and others who see themselves (and who the Mainstream Media sees) as the vanguard of the “New Evangelicalism.” Their message is simple, and I’ll summarize it in a synopsis of Cobia’s article:
Bruce Jenner is a nice guy who kept going to church even when his famous wife and daughters (the Kardashians), who help us plant a church, stopped going. Bruce Jenner is a nice guy and consistent church goer. Now as Caitlyn, Jenner is the same nice person he was before. Bruce/Caitlyn was/is nice to me. Because Jenner is nice and knows about Jesus, Jenner must be a Christian, too. Christians are nice people except when they are not so nice and get hung up on issues like gay rights, transgender rights, and the like. My LGBT friends are nice. I wish Christians could be accepting like the LGBT community. When people are genuinely nice they act like Jesus. Jenner, in being nice to me, is acting like Jesus and so Jenner knows Jesus. Here’s what Jenner taught me: Let’s be nice by acting like Jenner and Jesus. Let’s not get hung up on the Bible. Let’s just love (love goes undefined).
Cobia took longer to say all this and also probably got paid more than me to write what he wrote. But here’s the problem with Cobia, Stanley, and others like them. There’s great deal of emotions, feelings, and niceness in all their talk about compassion but there is often little or no Bible, biblical principles, or Gospel message in what they say. God’s Word doesn’t factor into their equation. Given all the Jenners' and Kardashians' public conduct and immorality does Cobia truly believe they are "okay?"
On the surface, Cobia's words sound nice and loving. However, in reality, there’s very little love. We say this because rather than sharing the true Gospel with a pitiful, but admittedly rich, lost soul like Bruce Jenner, who might be searching for truth---Cobia affirms Jenner in his sexual identity confusion and perversion. This is the opposite of love. If Cobia loved like Jesus, he'd share Jesus' Gospel, which in Mark 1:15 is the call to repent and believe the Gospel.
Additionally, implicit in Cobia’s writing is a condemnation of Christians who don’t see things Cobia’s way. Cobia has been unfair to Jenner and unfair (disobedient is a better word) to his calling to ministry as a Christian. He’s providing Jenner a death by comfort approach, like some involved in the social Gospel do for poor, homeless, godless people who are about to perish without Christ. Cobia is affirming Jenner and others like him by saying Jenner is okay. In so doing, Cobia is sending Jenner on his way without the Gospel. Like those who send poor people well dressed, well fed, and in some cases well educated to hell because in the social Gospel there is no biblical Gospel, Cobia is sending Jenner off in the same direction. What does it profit Jenner or lost homeless people if we send them off affirmed and fed without the Gospel? What does it profit Jenner is he gains the world but forfeits his soul. Is this love? With Cobia’s reassurance Jenner may feel okay when he is not okay (see Matthew 7:21-23) and that will be spiritually and, perhaps eternally, disastrous for Jenner if nothing changes.
We live in an age where good intentions are more highly valued than truth, facts, or reality. The presentation is more important than content. We ought to be nice rather than speak the truth. Imagine an oncologist trying that: no truth but all niceness. Someone once said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Perhaps Josh Cobia has good intentions but he is paving the way to hell for Bruce Jenner and should know better. Bruce should know better (read Romans 1:18-32).
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