As the gay pride flag misappropriates the rainbow, the sign of the covenant God made (Gen 9.12-17), this question misappropriate the message of the gospel. So let’s clear it up. The question is:
Question 4 – Christ says he came for all, so why do Christians want to exclude LGBTQ+ people?
There are indeed a number of biblical texts that indicate God’s desire to save all people. You find them in both the Old and New Testaments:
Salvation is offered to all
Old Testament:
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
(Ezek 18:32)
This theme is repeated in Ezekiel
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
(Ezek 33:11)
New Testament:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
(2 Pet 3:9)
And from the Gospel of John, perhaps the most famous statement of the Gospel in the Bible:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16)
But not all will be saved
Yet in spite of the fact that the gospel, the good news of salvation, is available to anyone and that God does not want anyone to perish, Jesus makes clear that not all will be saved. He makes the point time and time again:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(Mat 7:13 -14)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
(Mat 7:21)
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
(Mat 25:41)
The gospel is conditional
So if God wants all people to saved, why are not all saved? There are two factors:
Factor 1: God has made humans agents with a free will. We are not automatons. We can choose to do, or not do, as we please.
Factor 2: Each person must choose to believe with a belief sufficient to cause repentance from old beliefs and sins. God will not force a person to believe. Each person must choose to believe. Thus people are free to choose life or to choose death. This parallels the statement of Moses which he gave to the children of Israel when they were east of the Jordan River and about to enter the promised land, which has now become the cry and plea of the pro-life movement: Choose life!
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
(Deut 30:19)
So God has always required people to choose. As an aside, I understand that saying “God doesn’t send people to hell, unbelievers send themselves to hell” is not comforting. This statement doesn’t accurately portray who has the power to send people to hell, but it accurately portrays who the responsibility lies with. God is not responsible for you choosing not to believe. You are responsible for choosing not to believe.
To return to the question at hand, the problem the person who asks this question misses is that the condition God requires is belief in the good news. Such belief causes a new birth from the Spirit of God that begins a process of driving one away from sinful beliefs and actions in a process called sanctification in Christian circles.
You cannot be like Thomas Jefferson and pick and choose the portions of the Bible that you like and reject the portions that you don’t. You must adhere to the whole counsel of God. You must understand what God is saying in context. You won’t understand the will of God if you don’t take scripture in the context of the scripture surrounding it. This is probably one of the biggest and most common errors made when trying to understand the Bible. This error occurred even in Jesus’ day.
Understanding the scriptures in context
Jesus calls Nicodemus “Israel’s teacher” (John 3.10) and is surprised that Nicodemus is clueless about the new birth Jesus had just taught him about. (John 3.3, 5) Where in the Old Testament would Nicodemus have learned about the new birth which gives people a new spirit? If he had read the Ezekiel passages in context, he would have read Ezekiel 18.31 which says:
Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?
(Ezek 18:31)
God says here in no uncertain terms to repent, which leads to a new heart and spirit. If you don’t, you will die. I could make a similar case for Jer 31:33 where God promises the new covenant, but I think the point has been made so I won’t spend more time on it.
The same is true of the context of the New Testament scriptures. For example, if you keep reading after the “For God so loved the world” verse, you read in no uncertain terms that those who refuse to believe stand condemned because of that refusal.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
(John 3:18-19 NIV)
The gospel calls for repentance
From the time Jesus began preaching the gospel he said you need to repent and believe:
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
(Mark 1:15)
What are you repenting of? Both from context and by logic it is clear the first thing you must repent of when you come to God is your unbelief. Scripture tells us the first thing you need to do to please God is believe that he exists.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(Heb 11:6)
You can’t please God if you don’t believe he exists, and you cannot accept the gospel if you don’t repent of your disbelief of all that the gospel entails:
- God exists
- Jesus is the Son of God, (meaning he is the second person of the trinity)
- Jesus, the second person of the trinity, took on flesh and came to earth
- He took on the sins of all humanity and died for the sins of humans
- He was dead and buried
- He rose on the third day
- By trusting in him as your Lord and savior, he will forgive you of your sins
That is the gospel in a nutshell. So to “repent and believe” you must repent of all the beliefs that are contrary to any of those points in the gospel above. If you claim to be a Christian but don’t believe God exists, you haven’t repented from your unbelief have you? If you claim to be a Christian, how can you not believe Jesus, who being in very nature God (Php 2.6) took on flesh (John 1.14) and died for your sins (1 Pe 3.18)? If you don’t believe those fundamentals of the gospel, then you haven’t repented from your unbelief, have you?
Final Questions – Do you really believe?
When you do repent and believe and become a Christian, Jesus becomes your Lord and Savior, which is why he asks those who have not fully believed:
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
(Luke 6:46)
So when you become a Christian, you must repent from your old beliefs, which leads to repentance from sins that lead to death. (Heb 6.1) One of those sins that lead to death is homosexuality. That is not original with me, I’m just repeating what God says:
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
(1 Cor 6:9-10)
So it is not the followers of Christ who have excluded LGBTQ+ people from the kingdom, it is the Lord himself, whom we follow, who is king of heaven and earth, who has excluded them.
If call yourself a Christian, and don’t want to accept that teaching, Jesus has a question for you: Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I recommend that you consider the third commandment against misusing the name of the Lord. Are you misusing God’s name by saying God approves of something he does not or by applying to yourself God’s name when it doesn’t really fit? God says he will not hold guiltless those who misuse his name. (Ex 20.7)
For those who are not Christians, I ask what right have you to question whom God allows or forbids in his house? Is not the owner and master of a house free to choose whom he allows in his house? Should not the King of all creation be free to choose whom he allows in his house?
I will conclude with two questions:
To those calling themselves Christians and yet are asking this question: Have you really repented and made Jesus Lord? As Christians we recognize and believe what Jesus says is truth and follow what he says. It’s not the other way around. We don’t tell Jesus who to allow into the kingdom.
To those not claiming to be Christians but asking this question: Perhaps you didn’t realize it before, but it should be clear now. The gospel is conditional. You must repent and believe. Therefore, it isn’t Christians who have excluded the unrepentant. It is God himself. God created heaven and earth and is King over all creation. God does not need to allow any sinner to live with him, yet he allows those who are humble enough to repent and believe to live with him.
For this is what the high and lofty One says– he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
(Isa 57:15)
God allows the contrite and humble in spirit to live with him. Will the LGBTQ+ people, who revel and take pride in what they should be ashamed of (Php 3.19), allow that pride to keep them from true belief, thereby excluding themselves from heaven and condemning themselves to an eternity of destruction?
Duane Caldwell | August 12, 2024 | Printer Friendly Version
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Excellent job as usual. I agree 100%.
It is refreshing that there is no hint of Calvinism.
Thanks. There’s no need of a systematic theological system when you’re referring directly to the scriptures.