A commenter at IM offers this criticism and suggestion:

Now the issue is not James Dobson, Sponge Bob or the Tele Tubbies. The issue is the Glory of God. I find it hard to swallow that the issue of homosexuality means little to you…Living at OBI provides insulation against the reality and unrelenting efforts of homosexuals to push their agenda in every sphere of life. Perhaps we should work as hard to promote our world(view) as they do.

First, living at OBI doesn’t insulate me against anything. How many lesbian-leaning teenagers has the average pastor in Clay County counseled? How many hours answering questions about the Christian view of homosexuality does the average pastor do in a year? How many committed unbelievers who approve of homosexuality and say so are speaking up in Sunday School at the average church? How many churches have “expelled” people they love for unrepentant homosexuality? Insulated? If I want to be insulated I will go back to pizza and the gospel pony at the local churches I served as youth minister.

How is homosexuality- and Dobson’s response- related to the glory of God? I believe sexuality does reflect creation and fall, so God’s glory has been denied and suppressed, exactly as Romans 1 says. But I do not believe that God is glorified in Dobson’s quest to make Caesar behave according to Christian standards. One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 3:21 21 “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” I’ve put my life in the church because the church glorifies God in the Gospel. Dobson sees the church as a political tool, and dictates the church’s agenda in the culture in a highly selective way. He wants the church to influence congress. Great. I want the church to preach and teach salvation by grace through faith by Christ alone.

In fact, on the subject of the “glory of God,” I am teaching John’s Gospel and you hear this: John 11:39-40 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Resurrection. Not political action. I understand how the glory of God comes up in this conversation, but Dobson’s political agenda isn’t where scripture focuses the glory of God: the cross, the mediator, the gospel. I’m not compromising on homosexuality or the glory of God by not taking up Dobson’s agenda or buying into his paranoia about homosexuality in the culture. I read Romans 1, and I am down at the church doing the rest of the book.

Should Christians promote their worldview like homosexuals do? No. I don’t want schools making pledges to Christ. I don’t want Christians pressuring Hollywood to put them in sitcoms. I don’t want Congress to pass Christ-friendly laws. I don’t want the Christian faith made the law of the land. If I wanted to act like gay activists I would join Fred Phelps. I don’t want to imitate Dobson or gay activists. I want to do what Jesus commanded the church to do, the way Jesus commanded the church to do it.

Should I be more upset that gays are telling my children homosexuality is OK? Frankly, that is a minor problem compared to the fact that most of the preachers and churches in America don’t proclaim- or even understand- the Gospel. The fact that Joel Osteen is the most popular preacher in America is a crisis. The lack of the Gospel in the church….there’s a problem I can grieve about. Frankly, Christians who are upset at homosexuals more than the sin in their own lives and churches have issues that go to the heart of the Gospel itself. (I Corinthians 5:9-13, I Corinthians 6:9-11, Titus 2:11-15, Titus 3:3-11) Despite what he says, I think Dobson is throwing stones, and I am hanging with the guy that says “Neither do I (condemn you.) Go and sin no more” to me.