Dear Dr. E: I was at a church camp today in upstate New York recently, and I had someone criticize me for suggesting that an active homosexual or transgender person cannot be a Christian. How do you think I should respond? — Faithful Believer Who’s Trying to Hold the Line
Dear Faithful Believer: The most important thing I need to make clear right up front is that it doesn’t matter what I think when answering this question. What matters is what the Bible says. Those identifying with Christ know God’s inerrant revelation is the final word on this issue and all others.
Augustine made it clear that the entirety of the Bible is “holy, truthful, and blameless.” St. Paul taught that “all Scripture is inspired by God.” And Jesus himself declared, “Not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all heaven and earth shall pass away.”
The bottom line is that the Bible is the bottom line. What we think is irrelevant. As C.S. Lewis said, “Unless the measuring rod is independent of the things being measured, we can do no measuring.” Without the Bible, all “progress and decadence alike are meaningless words” (Lewis).
Our opinions are “foolishness” to God, but his Word endures forever.
So, with that as context, what does the Bible say in answer to the question, “Can an active and homosexual or trans person be a Christian?” Here are just a few examples (and I could cite dozens more):
St. Paul told the first Christians in Rome that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” He went on to say that all men and women who “exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural ones” are “futile in their thinking” and that God “gives them up in the lusts of their hearts … and a debased mind.”
He added, “Because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God … they are filled with … deceit and malice … and are proud, boastful, and inventors of evil.” Lest we miss the point, Paul concluded, “The judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.”
Now I ask the obvious question: How is it possible for anyone that the Bible describes above to be a Christian who, by definition, is a “new creation in Christ” where “the old is gone, and new has come”?
But some will say, “That’s just Paul, but the other apostles and even Jesus himself never even spoke to the issue of homosexuality.”
Is that true?
Well, no.
St. Peter said: “I urge you to abstain from the passions of the flesh. … Jesus bore our sins that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. … Many will follow their sensuality. They will exploit you with false words. But these [are] like irrational creatures of instinct … [who] blaspheme about matters of which they are ignorant [and] will be destroyed. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. … Take care that you are not carried away with the error of [these] lawless people and lose your stability.”
St. Jude added: “For certain people have crept in … who pervert the grace of God into sensuality. … These people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, [do] instinctively … It is also about these that it is prophesied: Behold, the Lord comes … to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness.”
If you’re still not convinced, let’s consider Jesus himself. He does speak to this issue. It’s simply false to claim he is silent about all this. Here’s just a sampling:
“I have a few things against you … that you practice sexual immorality … [and that] you that tolerate … the seducing of my servants to practice sexual immorality. … Outside are the dogs … those who practice sexual immorality and deception.” — Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the Bright and Morning Star
Harsh though they may be, these are the words of Peter, Paul, Jude and, yes, Jesus. These are God’s words, not mine.
So, the answer is no. No one who celebrates his sin rather than confessing it is a Christian. No one who defines herself by her desires rather than by Christ is a Christian. No one who claims their identity is in their libido rather than in our Lord is a Christian. No one who claims to be transgender rather than transformed is a Christian. No one who argues that they were “born that way” rather than they must be born again is a Christian.
This isn’t my opinion. It is God’s Word.
We don’t get to make up our own Christianity. The Bible defines it. We don’t.
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