Dear friends,
I recently heard Linda Seiler discuss culture’s view on LGBTQ+ matters. Her observation is that culture sees LGBTQ+ as a civil rights issue. What once was seen as a strictly moral issue has now become a matter of identity politics and inalienable rights for individuals to express and pursue. What once was a disagreement of beliefs has shifted to labels like “hate speech” and “discrimination.” The subject of LGBTQ+ has become more charged and more difficult for Christians to navigate because of these shifts. We cannot avoid these questions: is LGBTQ+ a civil rights issue, and how do we as Christians navigate the conversations about LGBTQ+ matters? We’ll discuss the first question this month, and focus on the second question in next month’s letter.
Before we can answer the question about civil rights, we have to understand identity, both from culture’s view and from the Bible’s view. Identity is a tricky subject because we live in a world saturated with a focus on identity. But what’s the difference between culture and the Bible when it comes to identity? I think the difference, in many ways, boils down to the concept of authority.
Authority is an ugly word in our society. After all, no one is allowed to say what is true or right in general. Only the individual has the authority to determine what is right or wrong for him/herself. Feelings and desires are considered the ultimate authority in a person’s life. What a person feels and wants ultimately determines who he/she is. And since within our culture, expressing our feelings and meeting our desires in our chosen way is seen as true human flourishing, feelings and desires become identity. To disagree with someone’s feelings or how he/she wants to meet his/her desires is no longer a disagreement of beliefs. Rather, it is seen as a direct attack on one’s core being.
On top of this, culture–and sadly people in the Church–believe the “born-that-way-can’t-change” narrative about sexuality and identity. To even propose that God transforms and heals is seen as akin to telling someone of one ethnicity that he/she can become another ethnicity. How can the Church condemn people and tell them to stop certain behaviors and change their feelings when, in culture’s view, people are born LGBTQ+? Because of these experiences in church and culture, identity politics has become a main way of fighting back against those who have wounded LGBTQ+-identified individuals.
Contrast culture’s view of reality with the Bible. According to Scripture, God is the Creator of all, and He alone has the right to define us. Not only are we image-bearers, we are also made uniquely. God has something to say to each person about his/her identity and how He has made them. We also see in Scripture that there are created aspects to our identity. Each of us has an identity gifted to us in our embodiment, as man or woman. We also read in Revelation that in the new heavens and new earth, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will be worshipping God (Rev. 7:9). This means all sorts of ethnic groups will be in the Kingdom of God, and it will be glorious! In the areas of sexuality and identity, however, Scripture does not subscribe to the “born-that-way-can’t-change” narrative. Paul writes in1 Corinthians 6:9-11 of his readers’ former sinful behaviors, including homosexual behavior: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). The Holy Spirit was not ignorant about what we as modern people supposedly “now know” when the Old and New Testaments were being written 2000+ years ago.
Putting all of this together, we see that God alone has the right to tell us who we are, and that while there are dimensions to our identity, the modern understanding of identity completely contradicts Scripture. Does this mean that culture is wrong about LGTBQ+ being a civil rights issue, and that LGBTQ+ is, in fact, a strictly moral issue as previously thought? Not quite.
Something that the Church has often failed to understand is that people respond out of the very real pain they have experienced. When it comes to LGBTQ+ matters, we hear from plenty of participants how they have been rejected, bullied, or mistreated. I’m not even just talking about when they were kids. No, I’m referring to participants who were kicked out of churches as adults for sharing their struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction or identity confusion. Through religious pride, fear, and an unwillingness to deal with one’s own sin, the Church has a terrible track record when it comes to responding to people’s trauma, shame, and sin. While I could not find an exact statistic for this article, I am aware that a significant percentage of LGBTQ+-identified individuals come from church backgrounds where they were either mistreated, abused, or simply unable to be honest with their confusion and pain.
This is not okay. We as a ministry want nothing to do with that response. We want the people of God to deal with their own sin and brokenness in churches and communities where people can be open and honest with their struggles and pain. Whether a person’s pain and struggles are related to sexuality and identity or not, we all need Jesus and His healing presence. And we as the Body of Christ need to repent of how we have, in fact, deeply hurt people, even as we demonstrate biblical compassion without compromise.
So, is LGBTQ+ a civil rights issue? No, but it is not strictly a moral issue. It is a holistic issue, impacting body, soul, and spirit. LGBTQ+ is an identity issue, forcing us to understand who has the right to speak into our identity and why. And it is an issue about what defines true human flourishing. Instead of human flourishing being rooted in our definition and desires, it is rooted in God Himself.
Have you thought about this before? What are some of your thoughts and questions? Send us a note or email us. We want to hear from you! Next month, we will answer the question of how to navigate the conversation about LGBTQ+ in a biblical, yet culturally competent, way. May God bless you and keep you as you wrestle with this topic, and I pray you would grow and be blessed as you seek to honor God and love people in the truth. Amen.
