Faith.In.Life

An Evangelical Is Not: Just Defined By Their Vote

And yet, so many have encountered some type of what has been dubbed "Evangelical Hate.”  Just recently I read a post that read over a well known rainbow background:

Dear Evangelicals,

Please Leave the LGBTQ

Community alone.

They are trying to live, work, raise

Families, worship, and love in peace

Start emulating Jesus, start treating 

These people as you’d like to be treated

And stop being horrible in the name of God.

My first thought was “what does it mean to “leave them alone?”  I am very aware of militant (what I will call) cults like Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS whose website very clearly details what they think about the LGBTQ community.  I once saw a person from that church standing on a corner in Topeka holding a sign that said “God hates you.”  And the first thought that went through my mind was “what does that say about what God thinks about you?”  

I also spent time in a denomination that has moved towards complete approval of any type of sexuality.  I was shocked at the emphasis on sexuality in order to fight for and defend it.  When I found myself in the midst of that debate I often have said that I paradropped into that movement, and it really wasn’t my fight to fight.  And yet, the topic seemed to be brought up over and over again not by those who opposed alternate forms of sexuality, but those that were fighting for it.  In other words, anyone who wanted to keep a traditional understanding of sexuality as (what I believe to be) taught in Scripture were the ones that would not be left alone.  

I have also heard then that the reason for Pride events is because of anyone who might initially question why there is any need of them in the first place.  If that is the case, then why in so many of these events do they specifically invite children to come?  Whenever any group has some special interest in kids, I as a parent am going to start asking the question “why.”

Now, maybe, just maybe, there is a hope that we would cultivate a culture of love and acceptance.  I hope that I am able to do at least this.  To give you an example of how to do this, let me recount a recent funeral that happened at the church I serve.  The family of the deceased attended a different church, and many from this other church showed up.  I pray that each one of them felt accepted, welcomed here, and loved by us in order that they would know God’s love through we who are His “hands and feet.”  I gave a very Evangelical, Gospel oriented sermon.  As is usually the case, afterwards people will approach me to at least say “thank you.”  Sometimes you receive informal or even uncomfortable compliments.  But, there are some that will really go out of their way to let me know how much they appreciated our service.  In this case, a woman that I did not know that I later found out came from another church came up to me and complimented me up and down.  If it was uncomfortable it was only because she was showering me with praise in being so appreciative of the service we conducted.  Then, at the end, completely out of the blue, she said “I am here with my wife,” as she pointed to where her spouse was in line.  While I was surprised by her comment, I simply thanked her for coming.  I did not pursue a conversation to try to convince her of something that was not my place to convince her of.  The true Evangelical community should be challenged by the call to love and I am not sure when the LGBTQ+ community became our enemies.  I understand that we hate what we do not understand, so I have taken quite a bit of time to sit with the outcasts to try to let them know that there is a seat at the table of mercy and grace for them.

Recently, Alistair Begg, the pastor of Parkside Church and well known pastor in the US and Europe came under fire for counseling a grandmother to go ahead and attend her granddaughter’s lesbian wedding.  Somehow, this advice became public knowledge and Begg has been just short of crucified for his remarks.  Right away other well known Evangelicals grouped together to ask Begg to not speak at an upcoming Christian Conference he was supposed to be a part and then he lost support from many large Christian platforms.  Begg spoke to the fall out in a recent sermon.  In that sermon he referenced the parable of the prodigal son where he challenged everyone to love more like the Father, create bridges between “us” and “them”, and to ultimately love like Jesus loved.  In the same sermon, he equally made his stance very clear on marriage.  A group of pastors that I am part of were talking about this sermon over texting asking what everyone thought.  After listening to the sermon I believe Begg offered a Gospel centered sermon that was biblically accurate, very honoring of being a follower of Jesus, and driven by grace and mercy.  He equally made it very clear his traditional stance on sexuality.  

But, here is the problem: If I advised someone who attended a church I was serving to go, or if I myself went to this type of wedding, the person that we were celebrating would make a natural connection that any of us approve of what is going on.  Our culture has bought into a lie that in order to love someone you have to agree with all their opinions and approve of their actions.  This, my friends, is not love.  Yet, one of the key problems many Evangelicals and westerners face is we have accepted a watered down version of love.  English only has one word for love, while Greek has four.  Usually, when we westerners use the word love we are using in regards to eros (erotic love), philia (brotherly love), or storge (familia love).  God, though, shows us perfect agape eternal, unchanging love which is this:  God so loved the world that while we were still sinners, even enemies of God, He sent His son to die for us.  This is, as I have already pointed out, the center of the Gospel.  This challenges the Evangelical to not just treat those we disagree like we would like to be treated, but rather that we would lay our lives down for them.  I am truly embarrassed that at one point in my life I was one of the voices that took the posture and stance of saying “crucify them.”  We must repent to go from such a posture to have the same mind of Christ that rather than offering our lives up as living sacrifices, he offered up his own in our place.  In other words, rather than saying “crucify them,” we should be saying “crucify me.”

The final word I will say on this topic is this:  Many people will point the finger at someone else’s sin where in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus raises the bar to which we all should be like the rich man who was asked to give up all his possessions so that he could enter the kingdom of Heaven saying, “How can anyone possibly be saved?”  If looking upon another with lust is actually committing adultery and hating another is actually committing murder, then we need to pay far more attention to the four fingers pointing back at us rather than the one pointing at the one we are throwing stones at.  In the previous denomination that I did actually find myself fighting a battle in regards to sexuality, I realized that it was far easier to point at another’s (especially) sexual sin, while I myself have plenty of unclean thoughts as I grew up with an incredibly unhealthy sexuality.  As Evangelicals we must embrace a healthy biblical sexuality.  While this involves marriage being between a man and a woman, that is not all a healthy biblical framework entails  A healthy biblical framework is that we find our holiness in Jesus Christ.  We do not find our wholeness or holiness in any idol, of which sexuality has been one of the largest idols throughout human history.  In Israel’s time the foreign god Ba-al was worshipped in order that people would experience fertility in field and in home.  Ashera poles were (excuse my pun) erected with the hope that couples would conceive and fields would produce.  Meanwhile, time and time again YHWH, the Lord of lords and the King of kings makes it very clear that He alone is the one who gives blessings and equally takes them away.  He shows over and over that where we may want for many things, He is the only one who fulfills.  

Which, as people explore not only their sexuality, but even our gender and very humanity in regards to people identifying as “furries” or animals, we must equally take time to pause.  Within humanism the entire logic is centered upon this idea that we are in charge and that we are somehow gods.  In a pure Evangelical and Biblical framework, though, YHWH is God who is Creator and we are creation.  The challenge for the Evangelical in today’s culture is not to show the world what they are doing wrong, but rather show the world where we can be fulfilled.  Or, in other words, our identity is not defined by ourselves or the world; but rather by God.  While yes, this does include who we are and who we are to be attracted to, it also says that even though we are sinners and enemies of God, God loves us so much that he died for us.  God’s love is suppose to unite not divide.  God’s love is to draw people close to Himself, not yell hate at them to scare them away.  

When I return to my own story of the woman who was married to a woman, I realized that the very service she was complimenting me on had the very content that drives me to the convictions I have about what the Bible teaches about marriage.  Isn’t it interesting that even still, what I preached - the very Euanglion or Gospel of God - was what was attractive to her.  When we are so focused on preaching the grace and mercy found in what Christ did for us while we were sinners, we will not have to point the finger or raise the picket sign - but rather, our light will shine and attract those living in some form of darkness.  Of which I am one of the many living in darkness, once estranged from God, who was drawn towards Jesus as the light and life of the world, who is continually learning to be more Christ-like.