As Christians, we have a sincere desire for the lost to be saved. We also understand, “the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16 NKJV), including homosexuals. Yet today, the church is being sold a bill of goods that claims our disciple-making efforts have been unloving, harsh, and even oppressive. We are told this is especially true when it comes to homosexuality.
In light of these claims, ministries such as, “The Center for Faith, Sexuality, & Gender,” “Revoice”, and “Posture Shift” have all emerged to help the church shift its unloving posture and revoice its “harsh voice” to embrace a more compassionate way of ministering to the LBGTQ+ community. These ministries claim to do all this without ever deviating from the tried-and-true stream of biblical orthodoxy, but this could not be further from the truth.
READ THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT FROM THE REVOICE HOMEPAGE:
Revoice exists to support and encourage sexual minority Christians who uphold the traditional sexual ethic—and those who love them—so that the whole Church might flourish.
A close inspection of their mission statement already reveals where they have deviated from the traditional sexual ethic found in Scripture. Revoice clearly embraces the world’s notion of a “sexual minority” as a legitimate identity the church ought to accept. Worse yet, they have attached this worldly identity with a believer’s new identity in Christ as a sinful modifier to being a Christian.
While this statement seems to ring with compassion, it fundamentally reveals where this ministry has abandoned the authority of Scripture. Rather than building their understanding of desires, personhood, and identity upon the solid rock of God’s Word, they exchange it for one that is made of sand. Revoice builds their concepts of “missional compassion” upon purely humanistic ideologies. The help they offer the church is framed upon the imaginations of social psychologists concerning human sexuality and sexual identities which are all presented to the church within an assumed matrix of oppression (i.e. Critical Theory).
Failing the Test of Orthodoxy
These ministries all claim to adhere to a biblical view of marriage, sex, and gender. They also claim the Bible is the inspired Word of God and ought to have the final authority for all matters of faith and practice. Yet, when you begin to pull back the surface layers of these ministries, you’ll discover these claims are unsubstantiated and heresy is lurking in their midst.
The heresy reveals itself even as one starts to pull apart their statements of faith. Let’s examine the following example together.
THE CENTER FOR FAITH, SEXUALITY & GENDER’S | STATEMENT OF MARRIAGE, SEXUALITY & GENDER:
*Please Note: The following numbered points contain their statements; bullet points contain mine.
1. According to God’s design and intent, sex difference (male and female) is an intrinsic part of what marriage is. While same-sex marriage is legal in some countries, it does not represent a historical, Christian view of marriage.
Amen. I would agree (as on the surface these ministries seem to appear orthodox).
2. All sex outside of marriage is sin, as are lustful thoughts and the use of pornography.
I agree, but further clarification is needed when it comes to same-sex attractions.
These ministries do not define same-sex attraction as lust. Most proponents within these ministries view same-sex attraction as something that is morally neutral. Some proponents will concede that same-sex attraction is the result of the Fall, but only in as much as physical disabilities are a result of the Fall and exist today as morally neutral things we deal with in our everyday lives.
This false equivalence between the physical effects of the Fall upon the earth (i.e. thorns, sickness, & deformities) and the spiritual effects of the Fall upon human nature (i.e. moral depravity which has corrupted our attractions, desires, and will) enables them to justify their claim of “moral neutrality” when it comes to same-sex attraction. This is the position of Preston Sprinkle, the president of The Center for Fath, Sexuality & Gender (Sprinkle, 2024). This position is nothing short of heresy!
Worse still, some proponents inside these ministries attempt to promote same-sex attraction as something that could be a part of God’s original good design before the Fall. Read the following statement from Greg Coles, who is a self-identified Gay Christian, and the Senior Research Fellow at The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender.
“Is it too dangerous, too unorthodox, to believe that I am uniquely designed to reflect the glory of God? That my orientation, before the fall, was meant to be a gift in appreciating the beauty of my own sex as I celebrated the friendship of the opposite sex? That perhaps even within God’s flawless original design there might have been eunuchs, people called to live lives of holy singleness?
We in the church recoil from the word gay, from the very notion of same-sex orientation, because we know what it looks like only outside of Eden, where everything has gone wrong. But what if there is goodness hiding within the ruins? What if the calling to gay Christian celibacy is more than just a failure of straightness? What if God dreamed it for me, wove it into the fabric of my being as he knit me together and sang life into me?” – Greg Coles; “Single, Gay, Christian” chapter 4: “What God Called Good,” pp. 46-47
Greg’s questions are reminiscent of how the serpent introduced humanity to sin back in the Garden when he questioned God’s Word that outlined His good boundaries for human holiness. “Has God indeed said,” …?
3. The Fall has corrupted God’s original intent for human sexuality in all persons; therefore, all people—straight or non-straight—experience corruption in their sexuality.
At this point, a red flag should be raised when you read, “straight or non-straight” people. Brothers and sisters, there is not a legitimate category of non-straight people in God’s created order. From the beginning, the Scriptures teach us that God created man with natural desires towards a woman and He created a woman with natural desires towards a man. This is why Romans chapter 1, when speaking of God’s revealed wrath from heaven, mentions God handing people over to vile passions against one’s own nature as a form of judgment. The Greek word for passion is “pathos” which means: affection or emotion.
“Therefore 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 worshiped 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, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with 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 (NKJV)
4. Simply experiencing attraction to the same sex (or being gay) is not in itself a morally culpable sin.
While this statement sounds “compassionate,” this too is heresy. Additionally, it legitimizes the homosexual agenda by ceding the concept of “gay persons” as a valid form of human ontology. When the church buys into this faulty position it robs the church of genuine compassion by lending itself to a belief that people are born gay and unable to experience genuine transformation in this area of their life. This false assumption leaves a person forever defined by sin and therefore forever stuck in their sin. Since believers in Jesus have been given an entirely new nature, they are no longer be regarded according to their sinful desires. Instead, believers in Jesus are to be defined by their new union in Christ.
“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NKJV)
The shift from orthodoxy to heresy promoted by these ministries is subtle but significant. The shift basically boils down to making a distinction between same-sex actions vs. same-sex attractions. While I agree there is a difference, the Bible clearly condemns both as sin. Yet, these ministries claim the Bible only condemns same-sex actions (i.e. homosexual behavior), and never really condemns same-sex attractions (i.e. homosexual orientation). This subtle distinction reveals where these ministries begin to depart from the clear teaching of Scripture. It reveals where they veer away from orthodoxy regarding the nature of sin the church has held for nearly 2,000 years.
At the end of the day, these ministries fail to apprehend what the Bible teaches concerning evil desires arising from within our fallen nature and these ministries attempt to leave same-sex attractions intact by calling evil desires, “morally neutral” and therefore completely acceptable to identify with as Christian.
“And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, “thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. “All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” – Mark 7:20-23 (NKJV)
“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” – Colossians 3:5-7 (NKJV)
This unorthodox position promoted by these ministries is commonly referred to as “Side B” or “Gay Celibate Theology”. The reason this view is called, “Side B” is because it attempts to present itself as the most compassionate and “conservative” alternative to those on the left who claim to be Christian and affirm gay marriage as a viable option for those dealing with same-sex attractions. This affirming view is known as “Side A”, because they affirm gay marriage as a legitimate biblical option.
Most believers can see that “Side A” is unbiblical from a mile away, but a lot of believers fail to see how “Side B” is also unbiblical. As a result, Christian leaders who ought to know better have started inviting these ministries into the church. Sadly, the infiltration of “Side B” ministries into the church have become the heretical stepping stone the enemy is using to encourage the people towards a full embrace of “Side A.”
“Side B” claims to be the flipside answer the church needs in order to be relevant, compassionate, and orthodox in today’s world, but I would assert that “Side B” is neither relevant, compassionate, or orthodox. “Side B” is just the flip side of the same heretical album. Sure, the lyrics sound a little more appealing, but the church would be better served by tossing the entire album in the dumpster.
The Crux of the Problem
When it comes to “Side B,” the crux of the problem is its unbiblical view that same-sex attractions are morally neural and intrinsically tied to an individual’s makeup as a person. This misguided understanding leads “Side B” proponents to believe there is some sort of “holy and good” way to channel same-sex attractions towards honoring God through singleness and celibacy without ever having to abandon one’s identity with sin or engaging in spiritual battle with their “morally neutral” attractions. “Side B” is a recipe for disaster, because it never gets to the heart of embracing our new nature and identity in Christ. This means a person never gets to the heart of Christian sanctification and God’s sincere desire to help His people root out sinful desires and walk in real freedom.
“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” – Romans 6:5-13 (NKJV)
The Bible refers to our sinful desires as “desires of the flesh” and the Bible only has one prescription for the flesh and all its desires, including same-sex attraction, and that is the cross! As Christians who have been given a new spiritual nature, we are commanded to walk in the Spirit and take up our cross every day so that we might die to self and every corrupted desire that arises from our flesh.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” – Galatians 5:16-25 (NKJV)
Born-again believers are commanded to walk in this new way of life as we yield ourselves each and every moment to the new desires of the Spirit who now dwells inside of us. When we embrace our new identity in Christ and this new way of life, the Bible promises we will begin to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Those who have been made alive in Christ are to reckon themselves dead to sin by crucifying the desires of the flesh by taking every thought captive and bringing it to the obedience of Christ.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NKJV)
Since “Side B” never addresses the real crux of the problem, it will always fail to provide a real solution. “Side B” can never offer a person struggling with same-sex attraction genuine hope, because it undermines the transformative power of the gospel and confines a person to a life of celibacy with no hope of same-sex attraction ever loosening its grip upon their life. This is not compassion. This is misery and bondage.
Rather than helping the church extend genuine compassion through genuine discipleship, ministries like these encourage the Church to keep a person in bondage to their sin by legitimizing sinful attractions and a sinful identity. At the end of the day, these efforts deter the church from providing people with the real freedom and genuine transformation that God offers in His Son. While genuine discipleship compassionately enables the church to offer both freedom and transformation.
Today the church is tempted to embrace “Side B” ministries because the world constantly tells us homosexuality is a fixed reality in a person’s life. In addition, we hear of lawsuits being filed against anyone who would encourage anything that appears to be “reparative therapy”. This fear of man must never sway the church away from the straight and narrow path of genuine discipleship. This is what the church is called to embrace, and genuine discipleship really renews and transforms a person’s mind as they offer themselves up as a living sacrifice to God in light of His infinite mercies towards us in Christ.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
Obviously, this promised transformation is progressive. It will not happen overnight but over a lifetime lived in faithfulness to Jesus. Certainly, the Lord has set some former homosexuals free of their sinful attractions and desires more immediately, but for most, this transformation and victory over same-sex attractions will be a gradual and life-long metamorphosis that is altogether real.
Brothers and sisters, may we never exchange the good news of the gospel for a cheap substitute in the name of compassion. The gospel is not just the power of God to save us from the penalty of sin, it is also the power of God to save us from the power of sin that we wrestle with presently in our lives, and one day we will experience the power of the gospel to save us from the presence of sin altogether when we go to be with Jesus in glory. This is the good news of the gospel that the Bible teaches to everyone who believes.
“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” – Hebrews 10:14 (NKJV)
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:12-13 (NKJV)
Where Do We Go From Here?
“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NKJV)
I believe the church’s willingness to embrace “Side B” is directly proportion to its willingness to walk away from the Authority of Scripture. When push comes to shove, many churches cling to the latest insights from humanistic sociology rather than the pure and undefiled wisdom found in God’s Word. When modern social sciences conflict with Scripture, churches are quick to embrace the world’s wisdom over God’s revealed Word, so they can appear less foolish and more compassionate in the world’s eyes. Sadly, this desire to be compassionate and wise in the world’s eyes only leaves the church with the same empty answers the world has to offer.
The church needs to stand strong and shun the fear of man’s opinion. Large sectors of the church have allowed the world to gaslight them into believing the church is a bunch of bullies who have been systemically unloving, harsh, and oppressive. I refuse to buy the bag of goods the world has been selling. I do not believe the church is an oppressor simply because we believe God’s Word and God’s call for sinners to repent and believe the gospel which has the power to completely transform our lives, including our attractions, desires, attitudes, and actions.
While I think there have been a few bad actors within the church who have misrepresented God’s gracious call of repentance (for example, Westboro Baptist Church), I believe most Christians, and thus most of the church, have been aiming to reach homosexuals out of a sincere desire to see save the lost.
Biblical transformation in all areas of life is not an oppressive aspect of discipleship. It is the most wonderful and liberating reality that is offered to those who are in Christ. The church is not unloving, harsh, or oppressive for calling homosexuals to repentance and a radical new way of life in Christ. On the contrary, the church is the most compassionate and the most loving when it offers God’s radical call to repent and believe the liberating good news of God’s grace in Christ.
Let’s face it, the widespread emergence of “Side B” parachurch ministries and the church’s willingness to embrace “Gay Celibate Theology” as a means of “missional compassion” is rooted in the church’s desire to appear more loving to the world. The church needs to regain a proper view of the Sufficiency of Scripture and the Authority of Scripture in our disciple-making efforts. This can only be accomplished when the church is infused with a healthy fear of the Lord. Only then will the church begin to embrace the real wisdom from above and extend real compassion to the lost.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” – Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV)
“Remove from me the way of lying, And grant me Your law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.” – Psalm 119:29-32 (NKJV)
