Among your number are the sincere, the confused, the indoctrinated, the intimidated, the immature, the ill, and the committed crusader. God loves each of you, so much that he sent Jesus to the cross to die for your—and all of our—sins. God wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Christians want everyone to go to heaven. But, let’s not be naive. When the Lord returns, he will be “inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8, ESV). Christians are told to “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). There’s a war on for the souls of men. Christians and the LGBTQ movement represent two very different sides in this conflict. Christians are obliged to “try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret” (Ephesians 5:10-12).
In view of irreconcilable differences, let us set the table for our disagreement. As Christians, we start with God. We believe what the Bible says. You think we’re mistaken, but that’s another discussion. There are plenty of sane, normal, rational people who firmly believe the evidence is conclusive that God exists and that God wrote the Bible and, therefore, what the Bible teaches is objectively true. In fact, that’s what all real Christians believe. If your worldview begins without God, we can never be on the same page with you, since we disagree on the nature of reality itself and the standard by which we all should live.
Humanity’s beginning is chronicled at the beginning of the Bible. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Every human is related to God in a way no animal is. Being in God’s image entails both privilege and obligation. For life on earth, God gave us physical bodies and sexual reproduction. Sex is not inherently evil, but it can only be rightly expressed as God has authorized it to be expressed. And, the only sexual relationship God authorizes is between a man and woman who are rightly married to each other (Matthew 19:4-6; Hebrews 13:4, etc.). There is no other arrangement in which any two (or more) people can engage in a sexual relationship with divine approval.
Nature did not create anyone. God created nature. And God created people with a particular human nature. Some behavior is natural, and some behavior is “contrary to nature” by disrespecting or perverting the way God made things to be. In a world where emotion often reigns supreme, not all passion is good. There are “dishonorable passions.” Scripture says that, when people left his truth, “God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:26-27).
Temptation does not justify sin. Any desire to do what God says not to do must be resisted. A man tempted to murder his neighbor for playing loud music should resist that temptation. If he gives in to that desire and commits murder, he sins. Likewise, if homosexual relationships are described in the Bible as “contrary to nature” and “dishonorable passions,” then, if you desire homosexual relationships, you must resist that temptation and not engage in that activity. If you go ahead and act on a homosexual urge, you sin. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). You can repent of sexual sin (and all other sins), obey the gospel of Christ, be forgiven, live a holy life and go to heaven. But, no practicing homosexual will ever inherit God’s kingdom, so says the Lord.
Reiterating the truth of Genesis, Jesus also taught that “he who created them from the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 19:4). You do not make yourself male or female. You are either male or female at conception, by God’s design, not by your desire. Men and women have different God-given natures, God-given duties, and God-given expectations. It is wrong to blur the line between the sexes. God drew the line. No man has a God-given right to live as a woman, and vice versa. A man cannot act like a woman, dress like a woman, or approve the same in others without incurring God’s condemnation. A male cannot become a female by surgery, declaration, or habit. You do not get to restructure the world around your wish. It is impossible.
The Bible teaches, “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” (Deuteronomy 22:5). In no uncertain language, God demands that men not dress like women, and that women not dress like men. To do so is to make yourself abominable in God’s eyes. Do it at your peril. Respect for God would be the death knell of everything pertaining to L, G, B, T, Q, and whatever other alphabetized perversions may be added to the rubric of rebellion against all that is holy.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). It is incredible that you—the LGBTQ coalition—have hitched your entire movement to “pride,” a sin God specifically says will eventuate in your own ruin. Is this the pinnacle of tone deafness? Or, is it an intentional, brazen rejection of anything you deem stands in your way, even if it be God himself?
Deep down, you know what you’re doing is not right. Like all of us, you’re made in God’s image, with a capacity to know right from wrong. We humans are meant to intuit certain truths about morality (cf. Romans 2:14-15), even if we never heard a sermon, read a Bible, or took an ethics class. It’s hard to escape the guilt of living in a way you know is not good. You can’t outrun your own shadow. It’s still there, whether you avert your eyes or clamp them closed. So, you pump the volume, march your “pride,” and demand everybody either join you, shut up, or else. Could it be that, the more proud you claim to be, the more it comes off as a sad effort to convince yourselves? After all, where is the movement of those who must talk up having “pride” in any other activity? Why is “pride” the touchstone of LGBTQ people, but none other? Your “pride” betrays that you understand something is unnatural in your behavior and the only way you can try to make it feel right is to insist that it’s worth being proud of. Even then, you’re not comfortable with yourselves, as shown by the fact that you insist everyone endorse you. What other group is so insecure it cannot tolerate the existence of a divergent view?
God says, “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). Call the Bible “hate speech” if you insist, but that won’t erase a single word of God’s truth. It still will face you on the Judgment Day. In fact, Jesus singled out unbelievers as those who will be judged by what he taught (John 12:48). You don’t have to believe it. But, to demand that Christians not believe it is to demand that we cease being Christians. That’s a bridge too far.
You can call Christians “homophobic,” as though our reaction to you is an irrational fear stemming from ignorance or prejudice. Such is not correct. Christians oppose homosexuality because we hate sin. Sin is that which helps souls go to hell for eternity. We love your souls enough to stand up for the gospel of Christ, for that gospel is your only hope of salvation. We love our Savior too much to endorse those who hate him. Therefore, we hold your “pride” flag in contempt because everything it represents is a slap in the face of a holy God. And vengeance belongs to him (Hebrews 10:30). He will repay. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
No denying, your successes are many. You beat into submission an increasingly Bible-illiterate population. You had the temerity to take a divine symbol—the rainbow (Genesis 9:13)—and co-opt it to represent Satan’s interest. You got the Supreme Court to make a mockery of marriage by insisting it include same-sex unions. Your clout is enough to redefine words in dictionaries. You throw millions of dollars at politics to serve your ends. You accrue public sympathy by feigning victimhood. Your friends are in high places. You build countless organizations for self-promotion and defense against insult or injury, giving your ideology the appearance of legitimacy. You intimidate a nation of sheepish people, cowed in fear of treading on your delicate sensibilities. You lay claim to an entire month of every year when the whole country is expected to fawn over you. Evidently, LGBTQ hubris knows no bounds (but, why expect a modicum of humility from a coalition founded on “pride”?). At your beck and call are media outlets and corporations without number, eager to sponsor you, publicize you, adore you, go to bat for you. You insert yourselves into movies, television, commercials, music, classrooms, libraries, greeting cards—basically, it’s impossible to avoid you. You insist on putting yourselves in everyone’s face, whether they want it or not. And it isn’t enough. It is never enough with you—not until you’ve silenced every sliver of opposition, demolished all sense of public decency, groomed the next generation to grovel for the cause, and herded a hopeless culture to the gates of hell. Somehow, it doesn’t sound like progress, but you insist.
Jesus said, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). You—the LGBTQ— are in a moment in America when those who hold levers of power can’t say enough in support of you. It will not last. Having denied the God who made you, you have made yourselves into gods. And society is bowing down in worship at your feet. Yet, Jesus also said, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). It never goes well when someone who isn’t God pretends that he is.
So, here we are, at odds with each other. You may disagree with every sentence above, but you should at least know where the other side is coming from. As Christians standing on Scripture, we are not moving. We plead with you to change. Repent for the sake of your own souls. Repent for the sake of our country. Repent for the sake of future generations. Repent for the sake of societal peace and harmony. But, if not, there is no agreement to be struck. It’s not a matter of who has money, political favors, polling numbers, volume, or social media sway. It’s a simple thing of good versus evil, and “nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). We invite all who claim affinity with LGBTQ people to repent, obey the gospel, switch sides while you can. “Save yourselves from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). God gives “the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). To rage against righteousness is to fight a war you cannot win.
-Weylan Deaver, TBC Online Instructor
