There has been a lot of discussion about the Manhattan Declaration. I have found it interesting what a number of Christian leaders are writting as their reasons for not signing this document. Mainly, I find myself thanking God that these leaders see the Gospel as so important that they will not compromise that by signing the Manhattan Declaration. I include John MacArthur’s initial point here:
Although I obviously agree with the document’s opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and other key moral problems threatening our culture, the document falls far short of identifying the one true and ultimate remedy for all of humanity’s moral ills: the gospel. The gospel is barely mentioned in the Declaration. At one point the statement rightly acknowledges, “It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season”—and then adds an encouraging wish: “May God help us not to fail in that duty.” Yet the gospel itself is nowhere presented (much less explained) in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed, that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches and what it means to be a Christian.
Dan Phillips has a blog post with nineteen questions for signers of the Manhattan Declaration.
I decided to dedicate this blog entry to collecting links to those articles of leaders who have not signed it:
