What was Jesus loving and accepting regarding during His ministry? Greg clarifies a common misconception.
Transcript
Should we be gay affirming because Jesus was so affirming?
Depends on the answer to one question.
Jesus is well known for being very loving and, after fashion, really accepting. He loved the outcast. He loved the downtrodden. He loved those that were down and out, and He was willing to reach out to them.
Now, that of course is a virtue for Jesus, but it sometimes creates a problem for us because that virtue is, in a sense, isolated and I think a little distorted when people use it to demand that Christians following Jesus’ example be gay affirming. And this is the only thing that they focus in on Jesus is His love and acceptance, and we should be that way too towards gays.
Okay, I want you to think about that for a moment. What is it that Jesus was loving and affirming regarding? And the answer is that Jesus was loving and affirming of people regardless of their sin, regardless of their circumstances, but He was not loving and affirming of their sin. So nowhere do you find Jesus being adultery affirming, or bigotry affirming, or idolatry affirming. Jesus was willing to reach out to people who are willing to respond to Him regardless of their position in society, high or low, regardless of their wealth, rich or poor, regardless of their sinful condition because everybody has a sinful condition, but He never ever affirmed the sin.
So there is no place for us, following Jesus, to be gay affirming because Jesus would never affirm homosexuality. He would affirm the person by offering mercy and forgiveness to the repentant regardless of the sin, but He never affirmed the sin.