Recently, a friend visited a “social justice” congregation with a sizable young adult audience. She asked one of the pastors what he thought about homosexuality, and his reply was very revealing: “Well, we don’t treat one sin as being different from another.”
He is, of course, excusing his pastoral responsibility to confront proud sin. This church in Columbus, Ohio is known for its unspoken tolerance of open homosexuals, so-called “gay” Christians, while still claiming to follow Scripture.
He’s also teaching false doctrine. Jesus Himself made comparative references to sin as did His apostles. Stealing your friend’s lunch money is not the same as Hitler slaughtering six million Jews.
Let’s get real here—homosexuality is a grave sin. It decimates the body, distorts the family, corrupts minds and we can see how its anti-Christian influence is poisoning the American church.
Too many church leaders avoid dealing biblically with homosexual behavior and gender confusion, ignoring the evidence these practices are ripping apart the body of Christ. Their response is either to overtly accept these sins or fail to apply church discipline to open, proud, non-struggling congregants.
Even some self-labeled Bible-believers deny these are “essential” matters. The comment I and other pro-family advocates often hear is, “Why do you focus on this? Why not spend your time sharing the Gospel?”
But this is like saying to Abraham Lincoln, “Why confront slavery? Aren’t there more important issues in America?”
Any believer can pivot meaningfully from a discussion about homosexuality into core elements of Christian doctrine. These dialogues become fabulous opportunities to witness about the whole character of God and how we are to apply biblical standards to our lives.
For instance:
1. Homosexuality/gender confusion defy the glory of creation. Jesus is the Creator of all things including humans (John 1, Colossians 1 and elsewhere) and in Matthew 19:4-6 made it clear that people were created male and female (paraphrasing Genesis 2) and these unions define authentic marriage. This powerful affirmation of the male/female binary in all its beauty points those with same sex attraction or gender rebellion back to the basics. Look at anatomy and design, and see the hand of God at work. And our Creator God can also change one’s desires.
2. Homosexuality is a worldview issue. What do you believe and who is the Lord of your life? If we humans are autonomous, then one should be consistent and live with all the confusion and uncertainly that entails. If, however, we have a gut feeling a divine Authority exists, then we should take time to give the Bible an honest reading, pondering the goodness, mercy and righteousness of our Trinitarian God.
3. Believers are to commit our bodies as living sacrifices and as temples of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). And, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6: 18-19)
Sorry to get graphic, but where would anal sex between men fit here? Or lesbians who hate males and allow other women to use artificial sex objects as a replacement? These practices are phony, ungodly, and anatomically hazardous. Anyone proudly claiming “gay” Christianity is sadly deceived and deceiving.
4. True believers experience the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5: 22-23 --“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
So two of these characteristics are inconsistent with homosexuality: goodness and self-control. Also, consider “love.” We know from 1 Corinthians 13 and elsewhere that “…love does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth.” So true love cannot involve sin, and this boundary forms the parameter for sexuality reflecting both “goodness” and “self-control.”
5. Embracing homosexuality repudiates both anatomy and heritage. Each of us has parents-- one male and one female. The homosexual shows contempt for that example, dismissing the past and attempting to chart a new, godless future. The same is true of the gender rebellious person who disputes biological reality.
Like so much about current sexual fads, the “LGBTQ” identifier’s actions are thoroughly and sadly artificial, bearing the fingerprints of Satan’s mental and spiritual deceit. A frank consideration of one’s well-functioning body should lead the truth-seeking human toward God’s provision and toward acceptance and celebration of the unitive function that led to one’s existence in the first place.
6. We are to honor the creation of new life. Since Genesis 1, one of the blessings of human life is to bring forth the next generation. Nothing compares to the joy of parenting and grandparenting and it’s one of the glories of adulthood, marriage and maturity.
The person who embraces a same sex relationship can never create new human life through that union. They can adopt, use a surrogate, or involve a third party, but there is no human “fruit” from these relationships, which should be an enormous clue—a flashing red sign that signals God’s unchanging disapproval.
Nor can the chemically-castrated gender rebel ever be a parent. Yet mistaken parents and doctors are sending adolescents down this tragic road toward an outcome that can never be reclaimed. It’s another of Satan’s betrayals.
Remember Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”
Discussing sexual sin is a road with tremendous witnessing opportunities.
Yet the hope for change through the power of Christ is the greatest destination of all.
