Chapter 12 of Kevin DeYoung’s book What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality deals with the “feeling” element of the discussion of homosexuality’s role in the Christian church.  He admits that this issue is not going away.  I agree. The United Methodist Church has already lost twenty-three percent of its congregations over this issue [GBH Website accessed on 9/18/2024].  “The issues are too massive, the stakes too high, the feelings too intense for all of this to slip silently into the night” [125].  The GBH website describes the debate as “ongoing.”  Last night I attended a meeting at my church and I heard about a church [rumor?*] that faced this issue long after the spring 2024 deadline to disaffiliate set by the United Methodist Church.  They did not openly discuss this issue in time to disaffiliate but when eventually confronting it, a church of one-hundred and seventy members suddenly became a church of seventy as one-hundred walked out the door.  Yes, I would say that this is a sign of an ongoing debate. 

DeYoung entitles Chapter 12 “The God I Worship is a God of Love.”  That seems to be the feeling that is expressed most often when affirming** Christians express their support of same-sex marriage in the church and LGBTQ people in church leadership.  In my church, we had a very open discussion of this issue and [as I have said before] people who affirm like to say things like my gay friends are the best people in the world and I hate it that they will not be able to worship here if we disaffiliate or I love my family member(s) and he/she/they are gay and I hate it that they will not be able to worship here if we disaffiliate.  I don’t know that any person has ever said that anyone who is homosexual cannot attend church, but that is the “feeling” expressed.

DeYoung knows these feelings exist and they drive some people away from the church but when someone says “the God I worship is a God of love” what does that really mean?  He refers to the doctrine of divine simplicity.  This doctrine makes it sound like God is simple, slow or dim-witted.   No, this doctrine refers to the idea that God is not made up of His attributes, He His attributes.  God is good, merciful, just, and powerful.  Yes, also God is love.  But the fact that God is love does not make Him more love than any other thing.  Often in expressing dissatisfaction over the lack of affirmation for homosexuals in the church, people will say “my God is a God of love.”

DeYoung would counter with the statement that this is true.  God is love but God also is a standard bearer for correct interpretation of Scripture. The Bible has many examples of culture’s impact on Israel [Old Testament] and Christianity [New Testament].  DeYoung turns to Revelation and the letters to the seven churches.  John the Elder is wrote his evaluation of the Christians in these churches and he found serious fault with the church at Thyatira.   The church at Thyatira was a “caring church, a sacrificial church, a loving church” but it also tolerated a church leader named Jezebel.  The problem with this woman was that she was as false prophet, leading church members into adultery and idolatry.  Jesus speaks of this woman as someone who is too attuned to cultural popularity.  To support her is the easy thing because she advocated the “easy way” to be a Christian.  Her followers believed they could participate in pagan rituals and still consider themselves faithful.  DeYoung states that her view was positive not only toward idolatry but also toward “sexual revelry,” a normal part of the Greco-Roman world.  To stand against such practices would endanger a person’s social and economic status within the community.  Make no mistake, this is “compromised Christianity.”

DeYoung states “Show Me The [Biblical] Text” that supports this type of Christianity.    He admits that feelings are important and people have serious feelings about what we should tolerate and what we should not.  “But …a rant is not an idea, and feeling hurt is not an argument.  To be sure, how we make each other feel is not unimportant, but in our age of perpetual outrage, we must make clear that offendedness is not proof of the coherence or plausibility of any argument.  Now is not the time for fuzzy thinking…. Now is not the time to let moods substitute for logic….We cannot chart our ethical course by what feels better”[126].

We cannot keep our Bibles closed. 

When my church was confronting these issues head-on and affirming people were standing up and signaling their future exit from the church with statements about their God being a God of love, I wish we had flashed the pertinent Scripture onto the big screens at the front of the church.  We did not do that.  It was emotional to hear them postulate that their friends and family members would be denied worship if their church disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church.  I wish we had confronted the Scriptures and asked what do these words say?  How do we respond to God’s admonition to avoid homosexual practice?  I wish we had opened our Bibles.

DeYoung writes that the God he worships is the God of love, but that does not mean that today’s culture defines what love means.  God’s love is not a sexual compromise for DeYoung.  God’s love is much more than that.

God’s love is the love that He expressed when He sent His Son to be the “propitiation” for our sins, our substitute on the cross.  Love is what we do when we keep God’s commands.  Love is sharing with our brothers and sisters in need. Love is also disciplining the wayward sinner and chastising the rebellious saint, but also love is throwing your arms around the prodigal son when he comes home.

After all this, DeYoung is not willing to go further by accepting the cultural definition of love.  “The God we worship is indeed a God of love.  Which does not, according to any verse in the Bible make sexual sin acceptable”[127].

Sexual sin is a problem and DeYoung will not turn a blind-eye to it. Of course when he uses the terms “sexual sin” he refers to many forms of sexual sin [including homosexuality].

Like all sin, the person who commits sexual sin is not condemned.  Our God of love believes that the sinner can change, the sinner can be redeemed and the sinner can be forgiven.  But tolerance is not the way to bring this about.  Giving into the popularity of the cultural worldview is not the way to bring this about.  Throughout the Bible there are thousands of verses stating that our God of love can take care of this situation. 

All one needs to do is repent.

*I was not able to confirm this event.

**An “affirming” Christian is in support of LGBTQ+ participation in the church.