“For this reason 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
Perhaps the chief reason that Christians have been losing the so-called culture war is because we’ve failed to respond biblically to the LGBTQ critics. The last few decades have seen virtually non-stop advancement of the gay agenda as both individual Christians and the overall church have been put on the defensive. Presently it seems as though the people of Christ, insofar as the argument for sexual ethics are concerned, are left to a barren strip of land along the beach. The danger of being driven into the sea appears not to be an exaggeration.
Today we’ll consider how this has happened and what we should do about it.
Critics of Christian sexual ethics claim that it’s unloving to criticize homosexuality. They reason that people are made the way they are so, therefore, to criticize them is wrong. But then they double down! Watch for it. They don’t merely say that they disagree with the criticism of homosexuality, but that criticism is, in fact, an immoral act itself. Catch that? What an amazing thing! People who say that there’s no absolute moral code turn around and say it’s absolutely immoral to condemn homosexuality. Christians have been on the defensive against the LGBTQ movement for a generation now because, tragically, they’re ignorant of Scripture. Let’s consider how to respond.
If you’re asked what you think of homosexuality these days it’s invariably a “gotcha” question. What the critic of Christ intends to do is take our biblical stance and say it’s intolerant and hateful. This puts the Christian on the defensive. Trying to prove you aren’t a hateful person is impossible to do to someone whose standards prove that you are. It’s a fool’s errand. Don’t do it. Instead, let’s learn from our Lord.
Notice how infrequently Jesus directly answered critics. They kept trying to trap Him with questions set up, not to gain truth, but to destroy Him. Do you see the pattern? We are the body of Christ and they’re doing the same thing now. Like what Jesus did, we should call out the hypocrisy of the questioner. This is especially important if the person is genuinely naive (the simple as Proverbs would call them) and/or there are people listening nearby who are thus. Our reply should be:
“Before I answer that, let me ask by what standard you judge right and wrong? You’ve asked a question about right and wrong, about morality. To be fair, what’s your basis for morality?”You see, the critic of Christ is standing upon a moral foundation in order to ask the question. Make them account for it. The problem is that they no absolute standard according to their own worldview, which is almost always secular humanism. This is the point we must press home. We must not allow the critics of Christ to assume a moral stance upon grounds they can’t account for. This is what Greg Bahnsen called the “grand exemption” and we must not grant it. If Christians would patiently but firmly point out the lack of moral foundation beneath everything non-Christians say and calmly insist that the critic account for his moral proclamations, the land would be on fire for Christ.
During the Battle of New York in the Revolutionary War panic struck the Continental Army. They were a raw bunch…mainly farmers and ordinary citizens pressed into action by the events of the day. As the British attacked and their superior discipline brought down a barrage of artillery and musket fire from the combined land and sea assault, the Continentals started to fall apart. At one point, hundreds of Patriots literally ran from a dozen British soldiers – abandoning their weapons in the hysteria.
George Washington watched this in great dismay. He watched his army crumble, not because it had lost the battle but lost the discipline to fight the battle.
This is often what Christians looks like today. Attacked by an army firing blanks, Christians run for the hills. Why do I say blanks? Because the entire attack of the enemies of Christ is based upon a moral code they reject. Simply pointing this out and making them stand on their own premises will cause their entire line of argumentation to collapse. The only thing we need to do is to be bold enough to believe the Word of God, stand on it, not retreat, and lovingly but firmly press the obvious point home.
LGBTQ advocates reject God and refuse to acknowledge Him as preeminent in all things. Ideas, indeed, have consequences. As Psalm 14 points out, it’s foolish to say that there’s no God because to do so obliterates truth, meaning, and logic. Without God we have no basis for morality. In a purely materialistic universe where everything is just stuff we can’t account for, any claim for right and wrong is gibberish. For the atheist to insist that love and tolerance are good things, he/she must stand on the Christian philosophical system that they reject. The point is, it’s logically impossible for them, according to their stated premises, to believe in objective morality and, yet, here they are initiating a conversation over that very thing.
The question of what we think of homosexuality is, as we’ve said, the jab to set up the punch, which is the charge of intolerance/hate. The whole point of the debate is to clobber us over what they call the “clobber passages” of Scripture. Such verses clearly identify (as Romans 1 does here) homosexuality as sin. The line of attack is to charge the Bible with bigotry. This is the issue. Period.
When the Serpent tempted Eve he slithered in with what looked like a rather innocuous question. “Did God actually say that you can’t eat of any tree in the Garden (Genesis 3:1)?” It was an easy query to counter and Eve did when she replied that they could eat of any tree except the one in the midst of the garden. This was technically accurate but not the heart of the matter. The more obvious response should have been, “Why is the serpent talking?” Or, “Why is the serpent asking theology questions?” One could even imagine, if Eve was a little freaked out by the encounter that she could’ve deferred and said, “Go talk to Adam…or go ask God. After all, He’s walking around in the garden in the cool of the day.”
Satan, we’re told, was a liar from the beginning (John 8:44) and is quite brilliant in his deceptions (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). More than that, Jesus told Peter that Satan would sift him like wheat (Luke 22:31) unless He prayed for him. This is all to say that we should never, under any circumstances, attempt to battle the lies of Satan outside of the word of God. The attack will be subtle but we must be savvy to it. After seemingly innocuous questions, the real purpose is revealed. At the bottom of it is Satan saying all over again, “Surely you will not die” (Genesis 3:4). His lie echoes through the ages. It’s always there. Don’t trust the word of God…that’s the whole point of it and any Christian who accepts his premises is in mortal danger.
To be clear, the way to answer the question is to uncover the lie at the root of it, which is the attack on the trustworthiness and goodness of God. To see the utter insanity of it all simply ask the questioner what standard they’re using to determine right and wrong. Don’t back down. Be polite. But be firm. Don’t leave the high fortress of God’s holy word!
This will not only uncover the hypocrisy of the question, it will also open the door for you to share the gospel as well. You can say:
“See? Even though you reject God and His word, you can’t help but appeal to His moral order. We all must because we’re His creatures. He’s the creator and this is His world. Look at His goodness and mercy toward you today as you’ve walked and thought and reasoned in darkness, calling Him a liar, yet He gives you sunshine and health even still. This kindness is meant to lead you to repentance and blessed mercy. It will lead to eternal life and you know it because you can’t even begin to open your mouth without affirming that good and evil exist.”This is how we’re to stand against the world – on God’s word and its holy principles. And we’re to be gracious and bold and once, telling the world of its deception, and of God’s righteousness and grace. And this is how we’re to destroy the strongholds of the enemy – his fallacious arguments that impugn God’s honor (2 Corinthians 10:5). In this way and only in this way should we proceed.
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