In this episode of Talk Back, we discuss the brouhaha over Alistair Begg’s counsel to a grandmother about attending her grandchild’s “wedding”. What does the Bible have to say about sexual immorality and a pastor’s responsibility to teach and counsel according to sound doctrine?
Resources
Interview video with Begg’s initial remarks (28:45)
Begg’s response sermon (entire sermon)
Relevant portions (excerpts) of Begg’s response sermon from Protestia
Justin Peters’ video (recorded prior to Begg’s response sermon)
Shepherds Conference Removes Alistair Begg– Berean Research
Alistair Begg– Michelle Lesley- Discipleship for Christian Women
Have You Been Dealt the Pharisee Card?
Thank you, bless you and Walk Worthy!
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What about parents who have continually told their child (opposite sex) planning a wedding that they do not approve of? They have voiced their disapproval from beginning of relationship. Son/daughter continues moving forward toward wedding with the parents paying for it. Should the parents refuse to pay? Not attend? To sever relationship?
Hi Tonya- I think it would depend at least to a degree on why the parents disapprove. Is the couple actually in sin, are the parents in sin (they don’t approve because the fiance/e is a different ethnicity, they’re Catholics who don’t approve of their Protestant daughter marrying another Protestant outside the Catholic “church,” etc.), or is it a non-sinful preference (the parent’s don’t care for the fiance/e’s job, or he/she is too messy, etc.)?
If the parents are the ones in sin, they need to repent, attend, and pay/not pay as they would for any of their other children.
Personally I would not advise parents to completely sever the relationship with their child except under the most extreme circumstances. For example: the child is a threat to the parents’ physical safety or their property. There are various circumstances in which it may be appropriate for parents to create a little more distance between themselves and their child, but that is not the same as “severing” the relationship altogether.
Parents are never obligated to pay for their children’s weddings, so any parent may decline to do so for any reason. I would certainly neither pay for nor attend a wedding my child was entering into sinfully, such as a homosexual “marriage,” a marriage of unequal yoking (either your child is saved and the fiance/e isn’t, or vice versa), or a second marriage that is unbiblical due to the circumstances of a previous divorce, just to name a few.
Thank you for such a needed discussion on this subject! It can be a challenge to know how to respond and I think you’ve given some good points to do that.
Thanks, Cynthia. And thanks for listening!
Did you hear what her gift was?
To my knowledge it is not even generally known who the grandmother is, whether or not she actually went to the “wedding,” whether or not she actually took a gift, and if so, what the gift was. Do you know her personally and know this information?
Thank you, Ladies, for this wisely-spoken, biblically sound podcast. Please tell me if the scripture of Titus 3:10-11 would apply here if he refuses to repent? I pray he does. Thank you
Hi Karen-
Thank you so much for listening and for your kind words. If we look at the context of Titus 3:10-11, we can see that God is instructing pastors about dealing with church members. Titus 1:9 would be much more directly applicable since it is in the list of qualifications for pastors themselves.