Baylor Bears, Magnolia Wares, & Tastefully Done Apostasy Part I

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Everyone, take a deep breath before reading this.

Repeat after me. “I will not let my alumni status or love of farmhouse chic prevent me from critical reading or thinking.”

Let’s start with the Baylor Bears.

Grrrr. Again, let me say on the outset–some of my favorite people went to Baylor. Some of the most God-honoring people I know have been Bears for generations. God is good everywhere. God can move anywhere. God can call us anywhere.

I have a son who is a senior this year and even as we pray about his future, I am fully aware the only safe place for him to be is in the center of God’s will for his life. Y’all may be shocked to know that the best music schools in the country are not necessarily bastions of conservative thought and Christendom. But even “Christian” campuses can lead kids astray, and secular campuses can be a place of salvation. The school matters. Some. But every student and every school still bow to God’s sovereignty and timing.

Wherever you send your kids for education, send them as a response of obedience not earthly allegiance. Send them discipled already.

With that said, I don’t know that there is anything more dangerous than a school that claims to be Christian lacking clarity about what it means to follow Christ.

This week, Baylor (also in Waco and the alma mater of Chip and JoJo) found itself under fire over a $643,000 grant from the Baugh Foundation.

The grant was to fund a research project titled “Courage from the Margins.” The study aimed to explore exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within church congregations and develop training resources to foster inclusion. Baylor announced the grant June 30th and gave it back July 9th after growing backlash.

The university president, Linda Livingstone, affirmed Baylor’s beliefs that sexual expression is to be reserved for heterosexual marriage… while emphasizing that Baylor remains a “loving and caring community for all — including our LGBTQIA+ students.” Because those things are obviously consistent and compatible. (They are not.)

Here’s the problem: You cannot affirm LGBTQIA+ identities and simultaneously uphold biblical fidelity to God’s view of sexuality, gender, and marriage.

You just cannot. I know you think you are doing this well. The Lord disagrees. This is the downfall of the modern church–wanting to have it both ways, to be both friend of the world and friend of Christ.

If Scripture has authority, then living a transgender lifestyle is sin.

If Scripture has authority, then how does one even define the “+”  in LGBTQIA+? Much less “honor and support that journey?”

Many commented this week, “What happened to love the person hate the sin?” Friends, our current culture does not allow the two to be separated. Hate the sin is hate the person in their eyes. In fact, “hold to Biblical values” is “hate the person” by today’s standards.

I can absolutely love you and be kind, while acknowledging that these views are antithetical to my own. But look around…this is a principality. It does not want love and kindness. It wants domination.

How in God’s name can you continue to welcome young people onto your campus promising to uphold Biblical authority WHILE allowing the practice of lifestyles that do not submit to it? How is that not creating confusion?

It’s not just about a grant, it’s about existing student groups, it’s about the positions of the faculty. Just be a secular university on a lovely campus in a great college town. Fine. Or honor Christ alone.

Opposite worldviews do not coexist, they war. And in a war, someone wins and someone loses.

One must be compromised to give way for the other. And Baylor made that choice long ago. Baylor has long represented the progressive wing of the Baptist bird. This wasn’t the beginning of a partnership with the Baugh Foundation. Baugh has supported Baylor financially for 30 years. I honestly don’t know how this even made the news unless donors and alumni are expressing concern.

Baugh is as moderate-progressive as they come. Their religion is social justice. Allie Beth Stuckey did a fantastic episode on the Baugh Foundation this week. You can find it here.

Here is the dangerous dance that Baylor and Magnolia are both doing–“What is the difference between supporting and promoting? How do you affirm without approval?”

Y’all, I would not want to offer semantics to King Jesus to explain my disobedience. You?

“We don’t promote LGBTQIA+ lifestyles, we just create a community that is accepting, inclusive, and safe for their exploration.” Fabulous. So, you are preaching repentance? 

If a conversation began in a class, and a straight student kindly and respectfully, told a trans student they were living a lie that was contrary to the Bible, would they be protected or punished? We all know the answer.

You and I both know a progressive would read that question and immediately say it is an oxymoron because it clearly couldn’t be kind. Kind celebrates and truth is condemnation.

Y’all only one side is unclear on this. The left KNOWS FULL WELL that inclusion, allowance, and acceptance mean exactly the same thing as endorsement and approval. Only the religious right clings to the fantasy that it doesn’t.

Baylor has taken money from progressive groups for years in hopes that it would do exactly what it has done, influence its students and the community. Chip and JoJo lead me to believe that money was well-spent.

“We are presenting a same-sex couple with children, but we aren’t promoting that lifestyle…” Fabulous. So, you are calling them to repentance?

Still crickets?