Navigating Sexual Ethics: Faith in a Changing Culture

We live in a post-Obergefell world, and that has had the most profound change in biblical sexual ethics, and it has had a trickle-down experience. So, the Obergefell decision was the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage in all fifty states. It also included the Dignitary Harm Clause, which redefined the legal definition of harm from a material definition, which is what it had always been in our, in our past to now being one where you are harming people if you fail to, quote, unquote affirm their LGBTQ+ identity. [00:02:47]

One of those was the idea that same-sex attraction is a morally neutral temptation and not a morally culpable sin. And this came out of the gay Christian movement. Along with that was a heretical reading of James 1, especially 13 to 15. The other heresy that came directly from within the church is the idea that all sin is equal, and all ways of living are equal, failing to understand that homosexuality as a sin is more harmful because it is a sin, not only against practice, but against the pattern of the creation ordinance. [00:04:00]

We need to make sure that our indwelling sin is something that we are mortifying, putting to death, that we aren’t then coddling it and saying, "Well, it’s, it’s really neutral." And we can then identify, "I’m not a gay Christian." I am, when none of you should identify as a prideful Christian or a lustful Christian or whatever it is. That’s my dead man, and no one is ever going to resuscitate him. [00:09:58]

You know, sometimes people take a little offense to the fact that I name names, but here’s why I name names. Ideas have consequences. Worldviews have consequences, and bad ones have casualties. And if your son or daughter is one of those casualties, or your sister or brother is one of those casualties, you need to know which Christian heretic has been stirring the pot. You deserve that. [00:10:58]

We need to realize that cutting off is the new coming out. When Christopher and I lived, when I lived as a lesbian woman, and Christopher lived as a gay man, coming out to your parents was a rite of passage. Well, the new rite of passage is cutting you off. And then on the transgender side, the rite of passage is cutting off body parts. So, we need to realize that it’s almost like our young people are on a conveyor belt. [00:13:09]

The job to teach sex education does not belong in the hands of public schools. It also doesn’t belong in the hands of where are we? Orlando? Disney? It doesn’t belong in the hands of the world, TikTok, social media. It belongs in the hands of parents and grandparents. But you’re scared. You don’t know where to start. It’s a different language. Even the language that Rosaria and I spoke twenty years ago. [00:15:11]

The first thing we want to tell that parent is that Jesus has risen. And with that, the victory over sin is secure. So, if you have a child, there are many reasons why a person might start to experience either homosexual desires or transgender desires. Transgenderism is the sin of envy. Okay, you are not to covet your neighbor’s wife or your neighbor’s sexual anatomy. Homosexuality is a desire for that which God hates. [00:23:39]

Homosexuality and transgenderism are sins, but they’re not new sins, and they’re not impossible sins. What people have to learn how to do with their sins is kill it dead, and then go to breakfast, and then kill it dead again. And then go to lunch. And then it’s a thousand times a day. And you know what? Can you imagine going to something like a rescue mission situation, and you’re trying to minister to people who have been addicts and you say, "Well, you should really love Jesus, but He can’t change that." [00:25:24]

I think the important thing is we have to have a proper theology of sin. Our hamartiology needs to be biblical and accurate and tight, as Scripture speaks about it. We, we need to make sure that our indwelling sin is something that we are mortifying, putting to death, that we aren’t then coddling it and saying, "Well, it’s, it’s really neutral." [00:09:54]

I think it’s great that this young lady recognizes the problem, because oftentimes we’re kind of, think we’re fine and we’re good. We need to recognize that there is an onslaught. Our kids are drowning in a tsunami of misinformation. And so, for us as, as adults, parents and grandparents, to think that we can just have that one talk when they’re sixteen or thirteen, when they’re getting it daily, is, is a little naive. [00:33:45]

I think the conversation that Rosaria and myself and others are speaking into, a lot of times we’re just called "meanies." And sometimes, and here is often how the conversation is completely misunderstood, that they will say, "We’re just quibbling over words." That minimizes, so, "You say tomato; I say tomato. Someone might say gay; someone else would say same-sex attracted." That completely misunderstands the whole issue. [00:41:43]

I think that’s really important. So, you know, so my book, the video that you mentioned was actually based on my book Holy Sexuality and the Gospel. And that kind of just lays out, so, if you’re interested, you know, this concept of holy sexuality, was does that mean? I think if we have that proper understanding of how we’re calling all people, you know, people who happen to find themselves single, as myself, I’m a single man. [00:47:10]