GAY TRUTH

I was 35 years old, called myself a lesbian, and worked as an activist and English professor in New York when I first encountered these words from Romans 1: God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. (Romans 1:24–28) Huh, I muttered. It seems like a dangerous hate speech or some other devastation designed to ruin my life. God’s word brought me to a line in the sand and a hole in my heart.

A Christian couple in Australia has launched legal action after they were banned from becoming foster carers due to their biblical views on LGBT issues. Byron and Keira Hordyk said they would love a child who identifies as LGBT as their own but would help them to overcome their sin. Despite an initially favorable report, their application was later refused on the grounds that their views would not ensure ‘a safe living environment’. Discrimination The Hordyks filed a discrimination case, saying that Wanslea Family Services would only appoint foster carers who agree with its LGBT ideology. The couple said their views are part of their Christian faith, which the organization did not attempt to reasonably accommodate. The Equality Opportunity Commission refused to hear their case, and it has now been referred to the State Administrative Tribunal. Forced out In the UK in 2003, two Christian social workers were forced out of their jobs for refusing to place children with

A Christian website published a column saying that 2020 presidential contender Pete Buttigieg is “deserving of death.” What does that mean?    This biblical statement is based on Romans 1 where Paul lists a range of sins of which one is homosexuality as a serious sin -deserving judgment (as do all sin)  WHICH BIBLE VERSE IS BEING REFERRED TO HERE? Romans 1: 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.   28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full

We can identify three components of sexual orientation—sexual attraction, emotional attraction, and identity (with the sexual attraction being the defining feature).  Insofar as same-sex orientation designates the experience of sexual desire for a person of the same sex, yes, it is sinful.  Insofar as same-sex orientation indicates emotional/romantic attractions that brim with erotic possibility, yes, those attractions, too, are sinful.  Insofar as sexual orientation designates an identity, yes, that identity, too, is a sinful fiction that contradicts God’s purposes for his creation.  We should not reduce human identity to fallen sexual desires. If these observations about sexual orientation are true, there are numerous pastoral implications. I want to mention three of them here. 1. To call same-sex attraction or orientation sinful does not make same-sex attracted people less like the rest of us. On the contrary, it makes them more like the rest of us. We are not si

Is “gender” a social construct? Should male or female be a matter of personal choice? Are there more than two “genders”? Ten years ago, these questions were unheard of apart from English and Women’s Studies departments at secular universities. But as peculiar and even sacrilegious as it may sound, many people today would say yes to all three. Maybe your kindergartener has a playmate being raised “gender neutral.” Or your coffee shop is starting to use name tags with “preferred pronouns.” Or a bit closer to home, you might have a family member who is “transitioning.” Although the modern West has lost its boundaries and celebrates a plethora of so-called gender options, how should Christians understand and critique today’s concepts of gender in light of Scripture? We begin with understanding, and not conflating, four categories: sex, gender, norms, and callings. Sex: Male and Female The term sex has a couple of definitions. It can refer to the act of sexual intercourse or the cate

I appreciate that Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker is not ashamed to speak of his faith. He is not ashamed to call himself a Christian, and he is not afraid to quote Scripture. The question is: Is he misusing the Bible? Is he misapplying God’s Word? Booker’s Misuse of the Bible Senator Booker was responding to a question asked by a Catholic school student who stated that her school “routinely rejected requests for an LGBTQ+ club.” Booker replied,  “It said in Micah, ‘What do you want from your Lord, but what is it you want from your people?’ Which is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly — walk humbly — and, so for me, I cannot allow, as a leader, that people are going to use religion as a justification for discrimination.” He added, “I can respect your religious views but also protect people from discrimination.” Did Booker apply this famous verse from the Old Testament accurately? Was the senator correct in explaining his opposition to “discrimin

The Drag Queen Story Time’s question-and-answer session didn’t go as planned. After this event at Westcliffe Community Centre in Ottawa on Saturday afternoon, Evangelical street preacher Dorre Love responded to an invitation for questions. “I have a question,” Love said. “What are you going to do when you stand before God and He judges every one of you here for your sins?”    A video published on Facebook shows the surprised, unhappy faces of a few parents and Russian-Canadian drag performer “Adrianna Exposée,” 20, as well as a small number of children. Moments before, parents and children had been dancing with the scantily-clad Adrianna or watching from their seats.  “What are you going to do?” a woman snapped back to Love.  “The Bible says this,” Love continued, “but if anyone causes one of my little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone be hung around their neck and they be drowned in the depths of the sea.”    

When Matthew Vines’ book God and the Gay Christian came out in 2014, I could hardly have imagined how much of an impact it would have among evangelicals. Nevertheless, it has had an impact. Some of the high-profile evangelicals (e.g. Jen Hatmaker) who have come out affirming gay marriage have done so on the basis of arguments found in Vines’ book. Among the ideas from Vines’ book that I still see gaining purchase among evangelicals is a particular hermeneutical oddity that Vines draws from Jesus’ teaching about “trees” and “fruit” in Matthew 7:15-20, where Jesus says, Every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Whereas Jesus applies this to false teachers, Vines applies the principle in a way that goes against the way Jesus intended it. Vines writes,

LGBTQ want to rid society of the Bible because it condemns them and they want to feel safe from discrimination, hate, and prejudice. They claim every time the Bible is quoted in love regarding sexual sin young kids will suicide. That is a false threat.  They question the veracity and legitimacy of only the verses in the Bible that condemn them. They demand to have churches that are gay-friendly like CofE which has folded to the pressure of LGBTQ activist. So who else wants no condemnation, safe places to practice their behavior? All those Bible verses about sexual sin and immorality must be expunged to not offend. Just think how many people feel bad when they see those verses! We need to create safe spaces for adulterers, liars, cheats, greedy, drunkards, swindlers, slanderers and fornicators and those into polyamory and incest and even bestiality. It is time to stop offending people and give them equality and respect. Really? 

“Hate speech” needs to be defined with respect to the Israel Folau saga.  It can be defined as “abusive or threatening speech or writing against a particular group”, but as with many other terms that have been hijacked by LGBT ideology, this is also equated to hating the person or group to whom the speech or writing is addressed – even if not to a specific person or group but simply expressed as a point of view or belief in something. Best illustrated (still) by the lawyer in the 2002 “two Dannys case” who said in effect “it doesn’t matter that what you said is true – not even when you have quoted from the Koran – it is how you made my client feel.” Hate was not an issue in that instance and is not an issue now with Israel Folau. Nor is abuse, nor personal threat.  A term that would better reflect what the LGBT lobby accuses him of would be “speech that may result in a listener feeling offended or hurt”. It can be shortened to “speech that may result in hurt” or “speech tha

On April 10, Israel Folau posted on his Instagram account the following message: “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You. Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” Next to this big, bold statement was the message: “Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.” This eye-catching text was from the Bible, a loose paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” If someone else had posted this it would almost certainly have slipped under the radar. But Folau was being watched. Partly this is because of his brilliance as a footballer. He holds the record