GAY TRUTH

Not long ago, I watched my daughter, a college freshman, play a dual match on her college tennis team. Every time I watched her serve an ace, I thought about how much effort, time, and commitment it took for her to earn a college tennis scholarship. I remembered the 5 a.m. trips to the tennis club before school because she decided she needed extra work on her to serve. Some competitive junior tennis players humorously wear T-shirts that read, “I Can’t, I Have Tennis” because that’s what they have to say so often to their friends. The men’s team at my daughter’s college was also competing in the same location on that day. From a glance down to the men’s courts, it was evident that the women’s tennis team would stand no chance competing against the men’s team. No one could honestly make a case to the contrary. The observation is rooted in visible biological reality. Simply put, males are (in general) taller, heavier, stronger, and faster than their female counterparts. These male athleti...

I often speak on controversial subjects: homosexuality and transgenderism. These aren’t topics that are casually brought up over Christmas dinner and calmly discussed with out-of-town family. That’s why believers often ask me how they can stand for truth on controversial topics without being offensive. Here are three quick things I tell them. Grace First, I’m grateful for their concern to avoid being crass and offensive. I see too many believers who don’t care at all — or at least appear to not care. They use the truth like a club to beat people over the head. Grace? What grace? That’s for Christ to extend to non-believers, they say. But believers should do whatever they can to communicate the truth in a winsome and gracious way. Scripture identifies them as ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). That means they represent Jesus with their life. How they come across to other people will be a reflection upon the good name of Jesus. Believers, therefore, should strive to speak in a warm, f...

God isn’t perfect. According to a tweet by a “transgender ally,” sometimes He makes mistakes we can fix. Listen to what she wrote: God made you a brunette, yet you are now a blonde. God gave you bad vision, yet you fixed it with glasses. God gave you crooked teeth, yet you straightened them with braces. Trans people change the outside to match the inside just like you do. Sit down. Jesus said to. Allegedly, God could have given you the wrong body, and fixing that mistake is just like getting glasses or braces. This thinking, however, is misguided for at least four reasons. God Doesn’t Make Mistakes First, it presumes God makes mistakes . Not everything that exists was intentionally made that way by our Creator. Genesis explains that God made all things good. What Scripture also teaches, though, is that creation became tainted by sin, and God’s perfect design was broken. Babies are born with missing limbs, impaired immune systems, or Down syndrome. That’s not God’s intent, however. Huma...

I’m told I’ve got this wrong. I’m told that when it comes to people who identify as LGBT, God doesn’t expect them to change who they are or change who they love. I’m also told this is too hard a pill for evangelicals to swallow. I presume that what they mean is that people with same-sex attraction, a transgender identity, or who claim to be non-binary are free to embrace those impulses and satisfy those desires. God doesn’t expect them to change their identities or the objects of their affection. They can be faithful followers of Jesus while fully embracing their LGBT identity. Every person who follows Jesus experiences a change in who they are and what desires they will satisfy. The claim that becoming a follower of Jesus doesn’t entail change, however, is totally foreign to what it means to be a Christian.  Every believer who is transformed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit experiences a change of identity and lifestyle.  It’s unreasonable to expect that the same p...