The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
1 Timothy 1:15
A dangerous hatred has crept into the narrative of American conservatism that betrays the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Far from the progressive deceptions that turn us away from God’s word to embrace our unrepentant sins, this fresh uprising of genuine hatred must be overcome by returning to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ and the full counsel of his holy word.
Monument Ministries exists to share the full counsel of God with those who experience same-sex-attractions (SSA), minor attractions (MA), and transsexual issues (TX). That means that I, a sinner, tell other sinners the same thing that Jesus has been saying since the very beginning of his ministry on Earth:
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:7 ESV
This message is lacking among the poltical conservatives in my increasingly-divided country. As of the time of this writing, during the past calendar month I have heard politicians, political commentators, comedians, and even people speaking to an elder of my own church openly call for or joke about the idea of murdering minor-attracted people. They cheer, celebrate, and laugh at the idea of MA people being killed, or dying. The more political or the more painful the death, the more they cheer.
God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit absolutely and unequivocally condemn this behavior and this attitude. It will send its practitioners to hell apart from Christ, and through God’s holy word, he makes it clear that those who embrace this opinion have no part in him (1 John 4:19-21, but we’ll absolutely get there).
This is the fourth or fifth time that I have made this argument, and rather than retype it yet again when this Satanic line of reasoning rears its murderous head, I am publishing it to save time tomorrow, or the day after, when I must make these points all over again.
Let us start with today’s example from my church elder’s Facebook feed and move on from there.
What about what God thinks? He died for their sins the same that he died for yours.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:8-9 NI V
And you might want to fear what else Jesus thinks.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:2
I would not wish to see you account for desiring the death of others when God applies it to you.
Stephen Crowder, a comedian and political commentator who regularly calls for painful deaths for MA people, is deadly wrong in this regard:
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
1 John 4:19-21
Furthermore, while God spares you for your sexual immorality even though you call for the death of others for their sexual immorality (Romans 2:1-5), the Stephen Crowder culture is further wrong in drawing a distinction between the sinful temptations of those you cannot sympathise with and the temptations of those for whom Christ whom you call your lord sympathizes. You should not ignore these two critical verses which I must quote routinely in my ministry work:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16
So I cannot separate one particular sin and wish for the death of those whom Christ died to save because, unless Jesus the Word of God lies in his scripture, their tempation is not uncommon to man and, unless Jesus the Word of God lies in his scripture, the fact that Jesus can be approached by all for he has been tempted in the same way without sin means that Jesus himself experienced temptations to same-sex-attractions, minor-attractions, and transsexual ideas during his human life.
Think about that for a moment. Really think about that. If you are the sort of person who calls for those with minor-attracted feelings to be raped/burned/mutilated/whatever-vents-your-spleen, Hebrews 4:14-16 states that you have called for that wrath to fall upon Christ. How do you think that is going to work out for you?
God doesn’t have your gag reflex, or more precisely, his gag reflex at sin doesn’t skip you to land on those you wish you had permission to hate. It applies to all equally, and equally God has died for all.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:23-24
Moreover, I would not desire to let my personal hatreds be the reason some sinner, witnessing the words of my mouth or what I type on Facebook, believe the lie of Satan that they could not approach the visible body of Christ to hear about the salvation and deliverance available to all sinners, them included, through Jesus Christ.
I know of one MA individual whose LCMS pastor, speaking from the pulpit in his sermon at a Minnesota church announced, “At one church we had a child molester who expected forgiveness. I still want to punch him right in the face.” That pastor had no way of knowing that he had a minor-attracted person in his congregation. Upon learning that the church would hate him for seeking help or mercy, the at-risk individual kept his silence. Within a year, that individual had gone on to commit a crime against a high school student and been incarcerated.
If the church is ever going to get serious about fighting childhood sexual abuse, it is going to need a plan to deal with both the perpetrators and victims of that abuse. The best plan is one that provides a path for at-risk minor-attracted persons to seek help before they can act out criminal and harmful behaviors. The second-best plan is one that addresses those who have committed crimes and present them with the tools of the Gospel and the message of salvation.
But, when confronted with human sinfulness and evil, and minor attraction is definitely a symptom of human sinfulness, how does God tell us to confront evil?
Fear and hurt are very common responses when we encounter those with minor attractions. Anger is never the first emotion. It is always the product of fear or pain. With an estimated one in three females and one in four males experiencing some form of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) before adulthood, anger springs from hurt for many people. Either we have been hurt by CSA or we know and love someone who has been. Even if we have not, empathy for children and awareness of the immense impact of CSA, along with fear for the young people in our own lives, serves just as well to fuel outrage at the very thought.
The pain and suffering society experiences from childhood sexual abuse is great, and the anger about it is (justly) very great.
But rage does not work.
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls… If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
James 1:19-21, 26
But not everyone with MA issues has or will commit a crime. I have heard many victims of CSA speak about how they have unwanted thoughts and associations forced upon them by their abuse, and they have lived their life in fear that these issues may turn them into their abusers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that the vast majority of CSA victims do not go on to act out those effects of what was done to them.
It is also true that, hearing the openly murderous hatred of society at large, those with MA issues frequently believe that they cannot find help, much less compassion, in the world. Sociologist Dr. Niel Whitehead, in his book My Genes Made Me Do It, points out that his survey of the ex-gay movement showed him that about 60% of the men who came for SOCE (sexual orientation change efforts) were themselves victims of childhood sexual abuse. Many of those victims whose CSA has resulted in issues involving minor attractions only reach out once they hit rock bottom, having entered the criminal justice system.
I would love to see a world where people with MA (and about half of CSA in the USA is committed by other minors, not merely adults) are not hounded into silence, but can find pathways to help and freedom from MA issues before they act out to hurt others, or hurt themselves in despair because they world has never told them that there is any hope for them, much less where to find that hope. How can I say that? That scenario is the world in which there are the least possible number of victims.
Am I advocating a world in which perpetrators of crimes against children go unpunished? By no means! God established governments here on Earth for the express purpose of punishing evildoers (Romans 13:1-7), and those who act out on MA desires gratify themselves at horrific cost to those without the physical or mental power to resist them. Jesus himself warned in the Sermon on the Mount that those who cannot reconcile with those they have wronged (and it is incredibly rare, though not impossible) for this to happen with MA and CSA cases, those offenders will face the full punishment of the law. As a matter of fact, Jesus mentions this truth of God’s justice in the very passage where he warns his followers against anger and wrath:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Matthew 5:21-26
All the anger in the world, and as a victim of childhood sexual assault myself, I am well-acquianted with anger on the topic, has no power to bring about the righteousness that God desires. My justifiable fury does not make me righteous. Typically, my rage at someone who has wronged me makes me a murderer at heart. It is a barrier to my own forgiveness, when I pray for God to forgive me as I forgive those who sin against me.
The truth is that rage defined my inner life from my first victimization at age eleven until my late twenties. It never offered me any peace or healing. That only came when I began to bring my rage to Christ, and then bring Christ’s mercy to my offenders through forgiveness and grace.
I understand that, for many, this seems like an impossible step. I think that if I tried to accomplish all of that in one step I would burst into a thousand pieces. But what I could no do at once, or lightly, Christ has taught me to do in his word.
First, before I consider my right to rage at any other person, no matter what their tempations or behavior, I must have a correct understanding of my own standing before the Lord. There is no better passage than my opening quote:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
1 Timothy 1:15
The cross upon which my savior died belongs to me. That is where I earned death and hell. That is where my own sins merit nothing but God forsaking me and the world hating me. Before I can deal with anyone else who absolutely and clearly deserves death and hell, I must be kneeling at the foot of the cross where my own execution was scheduled by a just and righteous God. Only at the foot of my cross that Jesus took for me, and fully owning the reality that Jesus TOOK it for me, can I have any footing to deal with another person’s sins.
Then I can have the peace to deal with the rage born of my pain at what has been done to me as a CSA survivor and the anger of my fear for other children, and fear for my society. Those emotions are strong, and they are real, but as James has shown us, they are not the solution.
Does that mean that going to the cross means that I give up without any solution? By no means!
Having gone to the cross, I have some work to do on myself:
Be angry, and do not sin;
Psalm 4:4-5
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
What does it look like to correctly ponder a source of hurt and anger like MA and CSA issues? Consider these two excellent instructions for trouble hearts in the New Testament. Though the world never offers a promise of peace in wrath, both of these directions promise God’s faithfulness when we feel distressed.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
God has very, very broad shoulders. He loves us so much that, even though he knows our every thought before we do, he still commands and invites us to bring our cares to him. In his love through Jesus Christ, he promises us his compassion and his peace. He also promises that all of our sufferings are temporary and at the right time he will make even the worst of tribulations seem like dust in the wind (Romans 8:18). The hardships of MA and CSA issues are not bigger than God’s power or more lasting than his faithful promises for our future.
That reality brings us enough peace to start thinking about God’s plan for the topic. Remember that Psalm 4 commanded us to ponder the source of our anger on our beds instead of lashing out in our feelings.
God brings us a steadfast assurance, and even more peace, with his faithful promise that he has not just dropped the issue. He simply hasn’t given the task of vengeance to us. That belongs to government (Romans 13:1-5). We have a different mission in his kingdom.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Romans 12:18-20
When I first started to apply this teaching to MA and CSA issues in my life, I found myself starting to get angry all over again. It felt terrible to think that God was telling me to live at peace with those with MA issues. Didn’t he know what I had gone through? What about the others in my life who survived CSA? People who did such things, or were likely to do such things ought to be viewed as the enemy!
Well, that’s fair. After all, Jesus Christ gave us specific instructions on how to deal with our enemies! He even went so far as to set the standard with his own life!
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:9-11
And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:34-36
The idea that God commanded me to let it go, let him take care of the vengeance and justice, and to love... Now he really was asking me to take up my cross and follow him. The very idea of doing nothing about some of society’s greatest sins and crimes, and then loving the people who were tempted to cause those tragedies or who had caused them already… That was beyond the pale.
Of course, God is both wiser than I am and more faithful than I have ever been. In his goodness he pointed out to me that he wasn’t asking me to do nothing. He was making me more like him, and showing me how to imitate him in the face of actual evil. Is it evil to act on MA desires? Absolutely. CSA is devastating. But God is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. So he calls us to be the same.
Then he started teaching me that this kindness and patience was the exact opposite of doing nothing. The early church in Rome experienced the same problem. Rome was a huge city full of every imaginable vice and evil. Without going into gory details, from the poet Virgil to the laws of the Empire, sexual exploitation of children and adolescents was commonplace among all of Rome’s other sins. Romans 1 contains a broad list of those sins, but then St. Paul’s epistle pivots from the grand tour of human depravity to a condemnation of the church for hating the wicked around them.
That’s correct. In a society of ever-more-visible wickedness and temptations to sin in ever-wilder ways, the American church is falling into the same trap as the Roman church. Paul’s rebuke to the Roman church at the start of Romans 2 also contains even more encouraging insight into God’s master plan for dealing with sinners.
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Romans 2:1-5
The master plan of God’s great mercy in Christ is revealed in Paul’s warning to the Roman church. Minor-attracted adults (and youth) are the source of great fear, hurt, and anger because of the great damage done should they act on those temptations. But when God tells us to show the patience and mercy that God showed to us, and leave the vengeance and justice to the left hand kingdom of this fallen world’s governments, he is not telling us to ignore or poo-poo these severe sins away. He has faithfully given us the precise formula that God himself has used to effect our own salvation.
God is rich in kindness, forbearance, and patience towards us. God’s kindness, which found its ultimate expression in Christ dying for his enemies and then rising from the dead to conquer death, is precisely the mechanism by which we are saved. THIS is the means by which we have been changed from who we used to be through our baptism into Christ and the the ongoing support of word and sacrament. In Christ, our sinful old man has caught a terminal case of Holy Spirit cancer, and that wicked old sinner is surely doomed.
In the same way God calls us out of the rage that hurt and fear produce in our hearts, and equips us with his commands and the loving example of Christ himself with the very tools needed to create real change for those struggling with same-sex-attractions, minor-attractions, and transsexual issues. Every MA person we can lead to Christ and then help in dealing with their temptations is at least one, if not many more than one, less victim in our society.
Additionally, we must not ignore the clear warning for the ever-more-vocal wrath and judgment coming from the American political right in response to the ever-more-open evil on the American political left. If we continue to indulge in our hatred and judgment instead of pursuing peace, mercy, and love as God has shown us, we are storing up wrath for ourselves (Romans 2:5), proving ourselves to be outside of salvation (1 John 4:19-21), and failing to be part of the very pattern that God commanded to actualy address evil in our world.
It is not an impossible task. When we abandon our sinful and counter-productive wrath, find our humility at the foot of the cross of Christ, and cast our cares upon our ever-faithful Lord, we will receive the peace and help to respond to God’s mercy by loving our enemies and showing them kindness, since this is the very mechanism that lets us share the Gospel which is the power to save and transform the most wicked of hearts.
Then, God willing, we will be able to stand together and confess law and Gospel like the church in Corinth, yet another city besieged with open sexual temptation and sin.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (emphasis added)
Monument Ministries 