A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE LGBT
MOVEMENT
(LGBT = Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender Movement)
When
Christians engage people committed to the LGBT beliefs, in meaningful debate, five
Christian beliefs must held intact: 1. A belief in the absolute authority of
the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16,17), 2. A mindfulness that winning souls to Jesus
constitutes the major work of the Church (Matthew 28:18-20), 3. A wise and
proper spirit must be maintained when engaged with non-Christians (Eph. 4:15;
Matt. 10:16), 4. A concern for cultural uprightness is secondary, not primary
in the ministry of the Church (Romans 13:1, 2, 8-14; 2 Timothy 3:1-9), and, 5.
An acceptance of the fact that polemical engagement with non-believers is
totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit, Who alone can give understanding to the
human mind.
MAJOR SCRIPTURES DEALING WITH LGBT
ISSUES:
MARK 10:2-9 – “And the Pharisees came
to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting
him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they
said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And
Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you
this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and
female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to
his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain,
but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.”
(This
passage makes the point of God’s intended order for engaging in His gift of
sexual activity. It is part of marriage, or in a union of one man and one woman
in the bounds of marriage - Mark 10:6-9; Hebrews 13:4).
ROMANS 1:24-28 - “Wherefore God also
gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even
their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient…”
(Homosexual activity is outside of God’s intended
arrangement for sexuality and a penalty is attached to such behavior.
Christians lovingly want their LGBT friends spared the pain of any such penalty.
Did Jesus know about homosexuality? Of course, He knew the condemnations of the
Old Testament and the terrifying history of Sodom and Gomorrah. If Jesus was
approving of gay marriage, this would have been a perfect opportunity to so
affirm it.)
LEVITICUS 20:13 – “If a man also lie
with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
(We must
remember that these laws in ancient Israel often added civil punishment for
various offences, because Israel was a nation, a political power, unlike
today’s Church. But if the Church cannot enact such penalties, it does not mean
the truths and their inherent principles can be summarily set aside. The truth
is, as Dan Calabrese so clearly states: “God intends sex to be enjoyed within
marriage between a man and a woman who are not closely related to each other
(read all of Leviticus 20:10-18), and He is very stern with those who engage in
immorality, as defined in great detail in this passage. That’s because God
establishes that when you unite with someone physically, you also unite with
them spiritually, and He only wants you to unite spiritually with one person,
your spouse, of the opposite sex.” Do note that in the New Testament, penalty
is attached to homosexuality, namely, “receiving in themselves the penalty of
their error which was due” (Romans 1:27). Sometimes believers who rail against
homosexuality are very soft toward other sexual sins, sometimes because they
are guilty of engaging in such, and forget that God hates those “other” sins
too. Read Ephesians 5:1-7. God’s “wrath” may also be directed toward other
sexual perversions.
I TIMOTHY 1:8-11 (NKJV) – “But we
know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law
is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for
the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of
fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites
(underlining mine), for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there
is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the
glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”
(Homosexuality
is part of a very sordid list of sins. But do note that “lying” is on the list
too. Just to be clear, “sodomites” are those who engage in sodomy -referenced
in other translations as those who practice homosexuality -and “fornicators”,
those who engage in an array of sexual sins outside or inside of marriage.)
JAMES 1:14-15 – “But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death.”
(Again, Dan
Calabrese, drives this important point home: “Every one of us is born into sin.
For the homosexual who says, “I was born this way,” I will not argue. We were
all born with sinful urges of our flesh.” Some struggle with anger, some with
heterosexual lust, with gluttony or addiction to alcohol. Others talk too much.
And, some struggle with homosexual urges. These are our weaknesses or depraved desires.
They come from the flesh (old sin nature) and they war against the spirit.
God’s desire for each person is that they will repent of these desires and
surrender to Jesus Christ so that He can deliver them from these urges by His
very own power.” Romans 13:14 informs us of that Christ reliance and action to
be taken whereby the strength of the Lord gives victory. “But put ye on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof.” The power of the Lord delivers from any sin, including homosexuality.
The victory may not necessarily be a once-for-all cure-all, but as with other
sins, the believer may well struggle with certain sins on a daily basis. God
allows this process in order to keep us close to Him. The challenge is to abide
in the Lord, stay in the Word, confess all known sin, prize the fullness of the
Holy Spirit, in order that the life and power of the Lord may flow through us
giving us daily victories. Hebrews 12:1-4 challenges us with these words: “Wherefore…let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let
us run with patience the race that is set before us Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet
resisted unto blood, striving against sin…..”. And this, “Forasmuch then as
Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same
mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin…”
Dick D.
Christen (07.29.15)
Here's an excellent piece by Russell Moore
THE CHURCH SHOULD
NEITHER CAVE NOR PANIC…
As I
write this, the Supreme Court has handed down what will be the “Roe v.
Wade” of marriage, redefining marriage in all 50 states. This is a
sober moment, and I am a conscientious dissenter from this ruling. The Court
now has disregarded thousands of years of definition of the most foundational
unit of society, and the cultural changes here will be broad and deep. So how
should the church respond?
First
of all, the church should not panic. The Supreme Court can do many things, but
the Supreme Court cannot get Jesus back in that tomb. Jesus of Nazareth is
still alive. He is still calling the universe toward his kingdom….The church
will need in the years ahead to articulate what we believe about marriage; we
cannot assume that people agree with us, or even understand us. Let’s not
simply talk about marriage in terms of values or culture or human flourishing.
Let’s talk about marriage the way Jesus and the apostles taught us to — as
bound up with the gospel itself, a picture of the union of Christ and his
church (Eph. 5:32). As we do so, we must not just articulate our views of
marriage, we must embody a gospel marriage culture. We have done a poor job of
that in the past. Too many of our marriages have been ravaged by divorce. Too
often we’ve neglected church discipline in the cases of those who have without repentance destroyed their marriages. We must repent of our failings and
picture to the world what marriage is meant to be, and keep the light lit to
the old paths. This gives the church an opportunity to do what Jesus called us
to do with our marriages in the first place: to serve as a light in a dark
place. Permanent, stable marriages with families with both a mother and a
father may well make us seem freakish in 21st-century culture. We should not fear
that. We believe stranger things than that. We believe a previously dead man is
alive, and will show up in the Eastern skies on a horse. We believe that the
gospel can forgive sinners like us and make us sons and daughters. Let’s
embrace the sort of freakishness that saves. Let’s also recognize that if we’re
right about marriage, and I believe we are, many people will be disappointed in
getting what they want. Many of our neighbors believe that a redefined concept
of marriage will simply expand the institution (and, let’s be honest, many will
want it to keep on expanding). This will not do so, because sexual
complementarity is not ancillary to marriage. The church must prepare for the
refugees from the sexual revolution. We must prepare for those, like the
sexually wayward Woman at the Well of Samaria, who will be thirsting for water
of which they don’t even know. There are two sorts of churches that will not be
able to reach the sexual revolution’s refugees. A church that has given up on
the truth of the Scriptures, including on marriage and sexuality, and has
nothing to say to a fallen world. And a church that screams with outrage at
those who disagree will have nothing to say to those who are looking for a new
birth. We must stand with conviction and with kindness, with truth and with
grace. We must hold to our views and love those who hate us for them. We must
not only speak Christian truths; we must speak with a Christian accent. We must
say what Jesus has revealed, and we must say those things the way Jesus does —
with mercy and with an invitation to new life. Some Christians will be tempted
to anger, lashing out at the world around us with a narrative of decline. That
temptation is wrong. God decided when we would be born, and when we would be
born again. We have the Spirit and the gospel. To think that we deserve to live
in different times is to tell God that we deserve a better mission field than
the one he has given us. Let’s joyfully march to Zion. The witness to marriage
will be, like the pro-life movement, a long-term strategy that is
multi-pronged. This is no time for fear or outrage or politicizing. We see that
we are strangers and exiles in American culture. We are on the wrong side of
history, just like we started. We should have been all along. Let’s seek the
kingdom. Let’s stand with the gospel. Let’s fear our God. But let’s not fear
our mission field.
-
Russell Moore
