Answering the Homosexual
Agenda with Love
Errol Hale
One of the hottest topics in our culture today is homosexuality. Why? Because it is a new topic? Hardly. It is a hot topic today because there is a small but vocal segment of the population that has as a very aggressive agenda regarding homosexual behavior.
The agenda is not merely to promote and protect the right of people to practice homosexual behavior. The agenda is not merely that those who practice homosexual behavior be tolerated. The agenda is that the entire population must celebrate homosexual behavior, making heroes out of those who advocate and practice this behavior.
Before proceeding, please allow me to define three key terms.
1. We are talking about homosexual behavior, not homosexuality, or homosexual people. Discussing homosexual behavior from a biblical perspective, including stating that homosexual behavior is a sin, is not an attack on homosexual people. Biblical Christians are to love all people (brothers, neighbors, and enemies) with the hope of leading them to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
2. We are talking about an agenda, not about particular people. While agendas are championed by people, we are able to disagree with a person’s position or agenda, while not disliking, much less hating the person.
3. Toleration is not the same as endorsement. The word toleration has been redefined in our day. A literal definition of toleration includes: “to allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference.” Tolerance now means that if you disagree with another person’s position, you are intolerant. In other words, to be tolerant you must agree with everyone else. Of course the fallacy of this thinking is that those who advocate the “new tolerance” vehemently disagree with people who do not share their position—but that is somehow okay. The advocates of the new tolerance demand that they be the ones who decide which positions everyone must agree with—while ironically insisting that those who do not, are haters and must not be—tolerated!
Why this topic cannot be ignored
Why must Christians address this topic? We cannot ignore this topic for at least three reasons. First, because many born after around 1974, and most born after around 1984, have been indoctrinated by the proponents of this agenda via public education and the entertainment industry. This indoctrination has been so potent that many, if not most millennials [1] are sympathetic to the homosexual agenda, even if they are not personally attracted to it.
A growing number in our culture embrace the notion that those who practice homosexual behavior are a minority that deserves special protection in the same way that a racial minority deserves protection. To say, for example, that being homosexual is the same as being African American is an illogical and unscientific comparison. Here are five reasons why:
1. There is no true comparison between skin color and behavior.
2. Skin color is innate and immutable; sexual orientation is not.
3. You have never seen–nor will you see “heterosexual only” and “gay only” water fountains, diners, buses, schools, etc., the way African Americans have been wrongly treated in the past.
4. You have not–nor will you see homosexuals snatched away from their families to be sold as non-human property the way Africans were in the slave trade of the past. (Slavery is one of the greatest national sins in US history.)
5. Homosexuals have never been–nor will they be considered sub-human, non-citizens by laws of the United States that rob them of inalienable rights.
Authority of Scripture and Free Speech
A second reason Christians must address this issue is because this is an authority of Scripture issue more than a sexual behavior issue. Christians cannot ignore the clear teaching of the Bible. To do so is to abandon the inspiration, inerrancy, and absolute authority of the Bible.
Third, if left unchecked, this issue will become a free speech issue. If this tide is not stemmed, the day will come when those who read the Bible aloud will be guilty of so-called “hate speech.” Christians must not sit idly by while some attempt to make the clear teaching of the Bible grounds for so-called “hate crimes.” Even when Christians speak out regarding what the Bible calls sin, we must do so in a loving manner. Christians must be tolerant (in the true sense of the word, not in the manner the word is now being misused) of those with whom we disagree. Again, the issue is not homosexual behavior as much as it is the aggressive agenda to attack and destroy anyone and everyone who believes, as the Bible clearly teaches, that homosexual behavior is a sin.
Homosexuality is a sin?
Whether anyone agrees or not, according to the Bible, homosexual behavior is sinful. It is not the only behavior that is sinful. It is not even the only sexual behavior that is sinful. The Bible clearly denounces fornication and adultery as sins that will exclude people from Heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9, Revelation 21:8). Fornication is sexual activity outside of marriage between unmarried people. Adultery is sexual behavior outside of marriage when one or both of the people are married to someone else.
That heterosexual sin is routinely glorified on TV and in movies is no less sinful than the fact that homosexual behavior is now being glorified on TV and in movies as well. Christians make a grand mistake if we think that homosexual behavior is sinful and heterosexual behavior is somehow less sinful. According to Old Testament law, fornication and adultery, like homosexuality, are sinful enough to be punishable by death.[2]
Leviticus 20:10 The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
Homosexuality does not merely call for God’s judgment, it is God’s judgment
Romans 1:18-20 says that sinful people unrighteously suppress the truth regarding God by rejecting the revelation God has given all people (primarily through nature) of His existence. Romans 1 continues, stating that when people persist in suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness, a moral slide takes place.
The first step in that slide is worshiping the creation instead of the Creator (v.21-25). As a result, God gives people who persevere in their rejection of His revelation of Himself over to their sin as judgment (v.24).
The first evidence that people are being given over to sin (according to Romans 1:26-27) is homosexual behavior that is defined as “against nature.” The final step of the downward moral slide (according to v.32) is that people not only engage in this kind of sin, but celebrate the sin, and those who engage in it. Are not the so-called gay pride parades in America’s streets celebrations of this sin? And might this not be evidence of God’s judgment, not on homosexuals or homosexuality, but on a nation that persists in rejecting God and His revelation of Himself—first in creation, and finally and much more clearly in His Word the Bible?
No matter how people try to change the meaning of words to deny that the Bible calls homosexual behavior a sin, that is exactly what God calls it. Not only is it a sin, when it becomes rampant, it is evidence of the judgment of God. We should not fear that God will judge our culture because of this sin. Rather, we should understand that the fact that it is so rampant IS the judgment of God!
When some in the Church adopt the ways of the world
That the world does not agree with the clear teaching of God’s Word should surprise no one. But when unbiblical thinking seeps into the church, we must, as Jude 1:3-4 bids us, “contend earnestly for the faith.” Sadly, the homosexual agenda is not merely gaining traction in the world; it is also gaining traction in some quarters of the church! The arguments posed by those promoting this agenda in the church are demonstrating that they do not know how to read and understand the clear teaching of the Bible. It is essential, therefore, that Christians know how this agenda is being championed by some in the church (a small but growing minority), and how to lovingly answer the attack on the Word of God.
A young man named Matthew Vines who claims to be a “practicing homosexual Christian” has written a book entitled “God and the Gay Christian.” He not only argues that it is perfectly consistent with scripture to be a Christian and a practicing homosexual, he defends his position calling for a “New Reformation.” His ministry is even called “The Reformation Project.” Students of Church History must immediately take exception with the notion of likening a movement to legitimize sinful behavior to the Protestant Reformation which was about Christ and recovery of the Gospel. According to 1 John 3, a person who claims to be a Christian and lives openly and unrepentantly in any sinful lifestyle, is not a Christian.[3]
Matthew Vines’ arguments are based on a misreading and a complete reinterpretation of the Bible to suit the agenda. Todd Friel, apologist and host of “Wretched Radio,” looking at the big picture, has observed that Vines will have accomplished much and done great harm even if he convinces no one to adopt homosexual behavior if he gets the church to question the clear authority of the Bible.
Vines’ three best arguments, defused
Matthew Vines presents the following arguments to promote the agenda. A brief discussion of the error of his position follows each in italics.
1. The Bible does not say homosexual behavior is a sin—it says that homosexual behavior must be between consenting adults and is not to be forced violently.
Problem: The Bible never says or even hints at this position. This position is based, not on reading the Bible, but on reading into the Bible.
2. When the Bible was written, the people didn’t understand “sexual orientation.” Vines argues (and it is not a new argument) that homosexual behavior would be wrong if a person was not “oriented” that way. But if a person is “oriented” that way, it is not wrong.
Problem: This argument is based on the notion that the Bible was written by men (who admittedly do not know everything), instead of by God who has always known everything. If the Bible wanted to say that homosexual behavior is not a sin if you are “oriented” that way, why didn’t God (the Author of the Bible) say so—since God has always known everything? Clearly this is an authority of scripture issue before it is a sexuality issue.
The “orientation” argument fails to understand that all human beings are born with an orientation to all kinds of sin and that one’s “orientation” does not make a sin any less sinful. For example, that we are all born liars (Psalm 58:3) does not make lying any less sinful.
No one denies that some people have an “orientation” toward certain sins (including homosexual behavior) but that does not legitimize those sins any more than kleptomania (a penchant for stealing) makes stealing any less of a sin.
3. Heterosexuals engage in sexual sin.
Problem: True, but how does pointing out one sin excuse another sin? It does not. For example, that Billy is a thief doesn’t excuse Tommy from being a liar. Rather, it merely points out that both Billy and Tommy need forgiveness of sin—which is found in and exclusively through faith in Christ and repentance from their respective sins.
Heterosexual sin among Christians is sin. It must be confessed and repented of, by those whose faith is in Christ. God forgives sin. This is true of all sin, all sexual sin, whether heterosexual or homosexual sin.
It is worth noting that there are no movements in the church to call heterosexual sin anything other than sin. Why is there such a movement regarding homosexual sin? Answer: It is an agenda. Why is it that heterosexuals do not define themselves by their sexual orientation whereas homosexuals generally do? Answer: It is an all-consuming agenda. And since homosexual behavior is defined as sin in the Bible, how can a Christian define himself by his sin? Answer: He can’t—unless he reinterprets the Bible based on his sin. Christians are defined by Christ, and by our relationship with Him, not by our sin.
How Christians should relate to homosexuals
Christians must relate to homosexuals the way we do with any and every other fellow human being. Our objective with drug abusers and alcoholics is not for them to become sober and remain lost, but to be saved. In the same way, our objective when dealing with non-Christian homosexuals is not to make them heterosexual non-Christians. Our objective is to prayerfully and lovingly lead them to faith in Jesus Christ, who forgives sin and makes people brand new creatures in Him.
Our objective with those who profess faith in Christ who champion the homosexual agenda is to prayerfully and lovingly reason from the scriptures to show them the error of their position and point them to Christ and the Bible.
Our objective with Christians who wrestle with sexual sin of any kind is to love them and point them to Jesus, who not only forgives sin, but also gives His people the gift of repentance.
Heterosexuals are not morally superior beings. There is no small amount of heterosexual sin that believers need to repent of. The issue at stake is the clarity and authority of the Bible—and reaching sinners with the gospel!
There is nothing about this approach that is anything but loving, and it is the antithesis of hate.
[1] Millennials are those who reached adulthood after the year 2000, or after.
[2] While the moral aspect of God’s Old Testament law is as binding today as then, the civil aspect is not. So, we would certainly not advocate punishment, much less capital punishment, for breaking the moral laws regarding sexuality.
[3] We are not saying that a person becomes a Christian by not sinning, but those who are Christians do not live in habitual lifestyles of sin—much less argue that sin is not sin.
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