By: Will BashamEvery church is unique. The members and leadership create culture within their local church and make decisions on orthodoxy as well as orthopraxy. This article concludes our series entitled “Errors of the Faith,” where we’ve examined some of the dangerous doctrines some churches choose to stand on. This erroneous footing may seem like it does not compromise the gospel, but in actuality, these errors inherently lead to an ultimate compromise of the gospel message and true Christianity altogether.
Pride month is upon us, and June has become an all-out declaration of embracing sin in our culture. How churches respond to this pride is crucial. Many churches are tempted to compromise on the issues of gender and sexuality and write off Scripture as dated, merely tying it to an ancient (and outdated) culture. This results in an affirmation of what the Bible condemns and calls what is bad good. Allow me to examine this controversial issue of our times from a few different angles: scripturally, culturally, and pragmatically.
How should Christians respond to LGBT+ pride scripturally?
It is not my intention in this article to give a full scriptural study of this issue. Rather, I want to encourage readers to study for themselves and form their own opinions. But in the word count I have, I want to survey the Scriptures on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism.
This past Sunday, one of our pastors preached on the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19. It is clear that those cities were filled with sexual perversion and homosexuality and God destroys them in wrath. Another Old Testament condemnation of homosexuality is found in Leviticus 18:22 which says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” To be clear, I believe there are ceremonial laws in Leviticus that are no longer binding for New Testament Christians. This has caused many people to dismiss verses like this in Leviticus, claiming it doesn’t apply since it’s the Old Testament. This hermeneutic has the danger of leading us to dismiss the entire Old Testament and it ignores the moral law that God gives through the Old Testament.
Nevertheless, even if some are unwilling to receive the Old Testament commands, there are also New Testament examples of God’s morality when it comes to gender and sexuality. Romans 1:21–32 clearly condemns homosexuality as well as 1 Corinthians 6:9. In an effort to discredit Scripture, appeals have been made to both ancient cultural errors as well as translation errors. Both arguments fall short. Even if one were to concede the translation of homosexuality in 1 Corinthians 6:9, the very act of homosexuality is described in Romans 1. Also, we must note Scripture’s argument for condemnation is never rooted in culture, but creation. One man should marry one woman not because culture approves it, but because creation mandates it (Gen. 1:27, Gen. 2:24, Matt. 19:4–6, Eph. 5:31).
How should Christians respond to LGBT+ pride culturally?
In regard to transgenderism, much of the secular argument is based on how an individual feels. They argue, regardless of anatomy, that if a person feels a certain gender, they should pursue identity as that gender—sometimes going as far as surgical and irreversible changes to their bodies. Scripture is clear in its condemnation of these sorts of feelings. Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” Scripture commands and implies that even acting like the opposite gender, or adopting the lifestyle of such, is sinful, let alone going so far as to physically change genders (1 Cor. 11:14–15, 1 Cor. 6:19–20).
But prominent culture in America disagrees with Scripture. Even the moniker of “Pride Month” has cloaked itself in something God has condemned—pride. The culture of pride is one in which there is not only a reversal of gender, but a reversal of right and wrong. LGBT+ culture is at odds with biblical Christianity. It’s not hate-filled or bigoted to say that. The demand upon Christians to affirm lifestyles in direct contradiction with our Holy Bible is a heavy cultural weight that we can’t afford to buckle under. The church ought to help Christians understand that affirmation of LGBT+ lifestyles as well as belief that Scripture is infallible are two things that can’t coexist. They are diametrically different and opposed. Our current culture says, “Identity comes from however you feel.” God’s Word says that your identity comes from an external source, not an internal one. While the world calls people to find themselves, Christians call people to find God…and discover the good news that he is not far from us (Acts 17:27).
How should Christians respond to LGBT+ pride pragmatically?
This isn’t to say that we are not called to love LGBT+ individuals. Our social-media-saturated world has seemingly lost a category that allows for disagreement without hate. I promise, it’s possible. As a matter of fact, if Christians are convinced that a lifestyle is offensive to God and God’s wrath awaits those who refuse to repent and trust the Jesus of the Bible, then one of the most unloving things you can do remain silent. But as we break silence, we must do so having our speech seasoned with salt (Col. 4:6) and be wise in regard to how we communicate with non-Christians (Col. 4:5).
I had a conversation with a gay man one time about following Jesus and he acknowledged that to truly follow the teachings of the Bible he would have to leave his long-time partner. This was the closest and most trustworthy relationship in his life. I can see how excruciating this revelation was for him. Christians, we have to understand what LGBT+ people lay down to follow Jesus—the cost is truly great to follow the King. The same sex attracted members of our churches have abstained from intimate relationships and chosen to honor God with their lifestyles and bodies.
Much of the pragmatic response to LGBT+ pride is a question of standing for truth or fighting for truth. Many will choose a louder and more active action against this culture than I do. I respect that, but I want to be careful about what I’m known to fight for. Amid a cultural identity crisis, we must refuse to lose our gospel identity. The fight for right gender morality cannot override our fight for lost souls. I want to fight to be known as a gospel person—not a traditional gender views person.
But this doesn’t negate the biblical call to stand for truth. The Bible leaves no room for retreat or compromise when it comes to issues such as these. The silent or vocal affirmation of LGBT+ pride is a disagreement with God’s Word, and it should violate the conscience of every Bible believer. So, stand with me and love along with me. Let’s love like Jesus did. John 1:14 tells us that Jesus, “Became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
If Jesus’s glory and the way that he loves is full of grace and truth, we should strive to emulate that. It’s easy to fall too far to either the truth side or the grace side. If all of our biblical stances are absent of grace, we’re absent of love. On the other hand, if all of our biblical stances are absent of truth, we are still absent of love. Falling too far to either side produces a lack of love. Affirming churches erroneously believe that by compromising truth, they increase love. This is not true love—it is a shallow façade that silently allows people to continue in an offense to God that is a danger to their souls.