I FULLY expect this sad headline to provide an excuse to attack and villify the hated conservative Evangelical on various and sundry "discernment" blogs.
I'll update - possibly - if I feel so moved - if someone comments.
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The apparent trajectory of the marriage.
Shannon [ and perhaps Josh ] abandons the Evangelical ethos
Josh [ and perhaps Shannon ] abandon the purity culture.
THEN marital dissolution appears.
That appears to be the trajectory
Dissecting Wartburgwatch and I-Monk which presents themselves as blogs dissecting Christian trends but dissect, mostly, conservative Evangelicals who have an historic orthodox view of Scripture. Not a lot of happy commenters seen on those blogs.
There seem to be two streams of thought regarding Harris. One, possibly mainly from women sees him as something of a victim of his upbringing, of fame and fortune through his book written probably before he had the maturity to cope with it. This stream is sympathetic to his plight.
ReplyDeleteThe other stream, predominantly male, sees him as committing apostacy, and especially those of a strong calvinist persuasion see him as never having been a genuine Christian at all. (He has 'gone out from among us'.) I think this judgement is somewhat premature.
I'm not sure either side is simply right or wrong, but I couldn't but help see Harris' collapse in the face of the LGBT assault on the faith does speak of a real loss of faith.
My own sympathy for him is somewhat blunted by the fact that many Christians throughout history and today suffer for their faith and don't give it up in the face of such adversity. Giving up the faith is an act of moral wickedness, and this aspect does not deserve sympathy.
That said, I have appreciated the very few commenters who still hold out hope for a reconciliation and restoration of the marriage and a firm faith in Christ.
I don't like the speculation indulged by some but there may well be more that will come to light in the future.
Ken B