Jesus and Queerness: The Cross and the Q of LGBTQ+
What does Jesus and his good news say about queerness and the experiences leading some to identify as such? He, the one and only unique Son of God? Jesus, God come to us in the flesh, the one beside whom there is no other? Jesus, our Lord, who alone has been exalted to a unique place and shares his glory with no one? This loving king, gentle friend—the truth incarnate—is the ultimate Other. It’s only in him that our otherness is redeemed and beautifully serves his unique purpose: to make us more like himself. I can assure you that Jesus does not say, “Get over it. I’m done with you till you drop the ‘Q.’” He’s the truth, the light, and the healer of broken hearts.
Early in my ministry with Harvest USA, a friend put words to angst I’d felt earlier in life. I wasn’t a “boy crazy” girl or young adult and the desire for marriage and kids wasn’t strong, as it was for many of my peers. Things I perceived as girly held no attraction for me. I had a happy, fun-filled childhood. Yet, as I grew up, I felt separated from others . . . different. My new friend’s words seemed autobiographical—for me! She said, “I felt ‘other.’”
At age thirteen, this friend’s experience of same-sex attraction triggered thoughts and emotions that led to her self-diagnosis: I’m different and weird and don’t fit in.
SSA hasn’t been my story. My sense of feeling negatively different from peers stemmed from desires and preferences regarding my experiences as a girl. I felt queer: odd, obviously different from what I perceived to be the societal norms around me.
What Does Queer Mean Today?
The word “queer” has an interesting history, though its origin isn’t precisely known. Initially used to describe something as strange, odd, or peculiar (how I felt), in the 1800s “queer” morphed into a slur used to describe men who had sex with men. Fast forward to the 2000s and it’d become an umbrella term in LGBTQ+ vocabulary to refer to someone who does not experience sexual or romantic attraction to the opposite sex (what society labels heteronormative) and/or does not identify with or accept the gender binary of male or female (I’ll call this gender binary “creation normativity”).
“Queer”[1] is now a mainstream term attached to experiences that are outside of God’s creation intent. Creation normativity, in contrast, is when male and female image-bearers flourish as relational, engendered, and sexual beings entrusted with the gift and capacity of loving and serving through satisfying community—friendship, family, brother-sister relationships, and marriage.
To be sure, sin’s corrupting power has devastated our ability to enjoy gender and sexuality in the ways God lovingly intended. And the body of Christ has a long way to go in bringing the balm and transformation of the gospel to those who identify with the Q of LGBTQ+. Remember: at the heart of Q is a sense of not fitting in with what is accepted as normal—and that can be painful.
Many who identify with LGBTQ+ have felt their otherness weaponized against them by Christians rather than having the gospel of Jesus offered and explained. Weaponizing sin and suffering against someone is also sin.
The truth is, most of us have felt at some point that we didn’t fit in due to the types of suffering we endure, the sins we pursue, or the preferences we have. And, in response to the pain of feeling on the outside and the confusion of why we perceived we were different from others, we gave way to the common-to-all temptation to interpret our experiences, and our very selves, from a personal grid of truth. We are meaning-makers. When unmoored from God’s Word and the life-giving, freedom-infusing promises of the gospel, we develop and live out false identities based on those false diagnoses. “Live your truth” is not a helpful mantra because our truth is not reliable!
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Apologetics for Christians
It is time for moral courage where Christian leaders are what they were commissioned by God to be—spiritual leaders. Leaders who are less worried about how the world views them and more concerned about how they view the world. Leaders who defend the congregation of the righteous by exposing the lies of the world and teaching the Truth of God.
Unfortunately, there is a neglected side of Christian apologetics which is leaving the Church exposed to the threat from the world. Generally, apologetics is thought of as defending the Faith against objections from the atheists. Of course, that is right. Sadly, even apologetics of this kind has fallen upon hard times among evangelical ranks, but that is not the point here. The concern here is the role of apologetics with a view to defending the Christian community against the lies of world. This is done by informing the Christian community not only of the truth of God but exposing the diabolical designs of Satan which so often come in the form of a lie. Unfortunately, too many present-day sermons reflect what Christian Smith calls moralistic therapeutic deism, leave Christian mercilessly exposed to the Faith-diluting strategies of the Enemy. While evangelicals rightly talk much about the winning lost to Christ, little is done to prevent Christians being lost to the world. This does not suggest necessarily that Christians are not going to church, but they are re-thinking the doctrines of the Faith. Evangelical leadership, for all they do that is right, are failing to prepare Christians to live in a world ruled by ideas subversive to the Christian mind and soul. These are ideas that twist the proper of ordering of proper Christian sentiments. Christians do not have some automatic immunity against such philosophical viruses. Rather immunity must be developed by serious biblical teaching that defines the Truth of God and exposes the lies of the world. This is the work of a true shepherd of the flock of God ( I Peter 5:1-4). A proper pastor not only feeds the sheep on Truth, but also identifies the noxious weeds toxic to the Christian mind and soul. Contentless moralizing sermons punctuated with culturally crafted language simply will not do the job. Christians cannot escape the poisonous lies of the world.
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Employee Vaccination Religious Exemption
Pastor Brant Bosserman provided members of his congregation with a letter to employers requesting a religious exemption to possible COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Knowing this may be a scenario many Christians face in coming months, Rev. Dr. Bosserman has made his pastoral letter available to others, to serve as a template on how and why such an exemption can be requested.
Today the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19. In the lead-up to that news, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said such an approval will likely increase vaccine requirements—especially in places of business and educational institutions. Not unexpectedly, the societal discussion around this topic has been extremely contentious, and there are sincerely held and well-informed opinions on both ends of the spectrum about whether or not to get the COVID-19 vaccination.
That discussion may take a new turn if policies begin rendering the vaccine mandatory. In arguing the Bill of Rights before the first session of Congress, James Madison asserted that the “rights of conscience” is something for which “the people in America are most alarmed.” What was civilly true of our founding has, for a long time, been religiously true too. The Protestant and Presbyterian tradition to which I belong has valued the liberty of conscience both in society and within the church. We value this because it is an important and distinct teaching of the Holy Scriptures (see Liberty of Conscience: The History of a Puritan Idea by L. John Van Til). As citizens of this nation, and more importantly as Christians many will need to determine in the days ahead whether they will get the vaccine if business or institutions make than mandatory. As we do, we must leave room for disagreement and in the spirit of Christian charity, we must be content to let others act according to their own conscience as we all seek to inform and be informed.
Recently, Pastor Brant Bosserman – a pastor in the PCA, adjunct professor of philosophy at Northwest University, and a guest contributor to Gentle Reformation—provided members of his congregation with a letter to employers requesting a religious exemption to possible COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Knowing this may be a scenario many Christians face in coming months, Rev. Dr. Bosserman has made his pastoral letter available to others, to serve as a template on how and why such an exemption can be requested. I offer it here acknowledging that not everyone will agree with the need for such a request, but also recognizing each Christian’s right to sincerely hold their religious convictions.
Dear Employer
In my capacity as a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), I am writing on behalf of ________________________ to ask that his/her religious exemption from receiving Covid-19 vaccination be honored by your organization.
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A Little Leaven: Confronting the Ideology of the Revoice Movement
Written by M. D. Perkins |
Thursday, December 16, 2021
“A Little Leaven: Confronting the Ideology of the Revoice Movement” was written in order to help Christians understand this new challenge to historic Christian teaching on sexuality. Despite the claims of Revoice proponents, AFA research fellow M.D. Perkins shows the contradictions, biblical compromises, and false teaching promoted by the primary representatives of the Revoice movement.The theological debate about homosexuality has changed and many Christians are beginning to ask questions:
What is same-sex attraction and is it sinful?
Are people born gay and is it possible to overcome homosexual desires?
Does it matter if a Christian chooses to identify with the LGBTQ+ acronym?These questions are the result of the influence of the Revoice movement—a group of “same-sex attracted Christians” who want to see the church adjust its approach to homosexuality in light of secular psychology, sociology, and LGBT experience. Because there is much confusion surrounding the exact beliefs and claims of the Revoice movement, the creation of A Little Leaven was necessary.
A Little Leaven: Confronting the Ideology of the Revoice Movement was written in order to help Christians understand this new challenge to historic Christian teaching on sexuality. Despite the claims of Revoice proponents, AFA research fellow M.D. Perkins shows the contradictions, biblical compromises, and false teaching promoted by the primary representatives of the Revoice movement.
Download A LITTLE LEAVEN: Confronting the Ideology of the Revoice Movement by M.D. Perkins
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