Loving ≠ Accepting: The Christian's response to LGBTQ+

Photo by Phil Coffman on Unsplash

Over the past decade homosexuality has increasingly become normalized in American society. With the rise of this cultural acceptance comes the question of how do Biblically minded Christians engage with individuals that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community?

The answer is simple: with love and grace. Though, this is in word is simple the reality is that this causes many Christians anxiety and stress. Due to the fact that it may cause them to think that, if they demonstrate love, grace, and general kindness to someone of the LGBTQ+ community, they are somehow telling that individual, subliminally, that their sexual orientation/identification is acceptable to God. This thinking, however, is a fallacy. To demonstrate the love of Christ, that He has first shown us, to others, especially those of differing views on life and culture, is not unbiblical in fact it IS biblical. It's what Jesus did throughout His Earthly ministry, whether engaging with the Pharisees-who denied His divinity- or the woman at the well; Jesus demonstrated love to them despite their differing views on life (though, His demonstration of love differed between these two examples: one was of constant discipline and the other of correction and illumination).

What does this look like, then? How does one treat someone with a differing view of life and culture/society?

Again, the answer is simple: treat them like someone that bears the image of God and thus is valuable as an image bearer. Practically this looks like treating them with respect and dignity, which all humanity deserves as image bearers of God. This does not mean holding them accountable to the commands of God-God will do that- because they are not of God, but if they become a follower then we must hold them accountable as such.

As believers we cannot expect or require unbelievers to behave as believers. This type of logic is similar to asking a Ph.D doctor to perform the duties of an M.D. doctor; though the Ph.D. may know of the generalities of an M.D., i.e. sick people need medications, they don't have the knowledge or understanding to perform the day-to-day operations of an M.D., and vice versa. The same is true of an unbeliever and the commands of God. They may know the generalities, i.e. sin is bad and God is good, but they don't know or understand the complexities, thus we cannot demand or expect them to act like they do.

But what we can do, is hold ourselves, and other believers around us, accountable to His commands, especially those pertaining to loving others-even those that despise us. Christ came to set a captive world- a world that openly denied and ultimately crucified Him-free. He did so out of love, even when He wasn't shown love in return. This is the example we should be following.

As Christ's chosen children it is our responsibility to carry on His example of love. But, in doing so we are not and cannot fall into acceptance of sin no matter how normalized it becomes in our society. Like porn, premarital sex, and all other forms of sexual immorality and sin, homosexuality should be treated as sin. But it is not greater or lesser than any other sexual sin and should be addressed like any other sexual sin - with the exception of sexual sin which violates the law of the country and God, e.g. pedophilia.

Loving others does not mean accepting their sin. Despite what society may say, it is possible to love someone and hate their sin. Jesus' death on the cross is the ultimate example of this. We as believers, followers of Christ, are commanded to Love our LGBTQ+ neighbors (fellow image bearers), but we need to be clear that our love for them is in spite of their sexual identity- which is one that is sinful.

We should not seek to isolate them, scream at them that they're going to Hell (though, without repentance, they will, like any other unrepentant sinner), call for their imprisonment, or any other heinous action. Rather, we should seek to demonstrate the love of Christ to them, showing them that there is joy, love, strength, and freedom in following Christ, and denying their sin from overtaking their life. Beyond demonstrating the love of Christ to them in these ways, we should pray for (and when possible with) them-and not always about their sexual identity, assist them when they need help, become their friend, and above all treat them with the dignity and love that they deserve as image bearers of God despite our differing views of the world.