Blogocentric Formulations

Take Up Your Cross x2

"Take up Your Cross"  | Write about the unforgivable sin. Do you believe there is one? Why? What's it about?

I'm going to start with a caveat and say that I don't know this answer for sure. I kind of wish more Christians would start responses to questions like this, because answering this definitively on behalf of God is, in itself a sin. The Bible is full of passages like Matthew 7 and Romans 2, which make it quite clear that it's not our job to judge the sin of others:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 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 7:1-2 (NIV)

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

-- Romans 2:1-4 (NIV)

In light of that, I suppose my answer to the question of "Is there an unforgivable sin?" is that I don't know; you'd probably have to take that up with God. That said, I have a hunch here, which is really just my own opinion based on my limited personal experience. My theory is that the only unforgivable sins are the ones that we refuse to repent for. In the words of Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And if that's a given, we're all in trouble unless what the Bible says about God's love and grace is true. But in order to receive that, we have to be willing to truly repent of those sins. If we can't do that, I don't see any forgiveness coming our way.

All of the rest of it? That's up to God. I can't tell you whether the very bad thing you've done is something you can be forgiven for; I'm not the one who's ultimately making that decision, and it would be hubris to assume that I can speak for the one who will. For myself, I find these kinds of questions interesting on an intellectual level because I like to ponder stuff ... but from a practical standpoint, I think our time on Earth is better spent focusing on repentance and amends for the sins we do commit. I have a feeling God is less concerned with keeping a list of absolutes, and more concerned about the state of our souls in the aftermath of the bad things that we do.


"Take up Your Cross"  | How should a Christian respond to someone who is in the LGBTQ community? Do you believe they can be Christian too?

As it happens, I attended a conference recently with some other staff members from our church on this subject. It was super interesting, and addressed this question specifically. My takeaway from the conference, which sought to apply biblical principles to these issues, was that the initial answer to the question of "Can someone be both Christian and LGBTQ+" is it depends. Can someone who is LGBTQ+ believe in Jesus and try to follow the teaching of the Bible to the best of their ability? Yes. Can someone who is a Christian show love and compassion and support for someone who identifies as LGBTQ+? Certainly. I'd argue that Christians are called to do that for everyone regardless of their sexuality or gender identity.

At the conference, they actually featured a number of guest speakers in different situations, including a couple of individuals who identified as gay, but also considered themselves strong Christians. The experience they shared was that they chose a life of celibacy and singleness, in order to uphold the Biblical standards of sexual activity being reserved for married couples, and marriages being between one man and one woman. And while the decision about whether that's an acceptable position is a question for pastors to answer, I thought it was an interesting interpretation because it does seem to reconcile two things at the same time... someone can identify as LGBTQ+ in one or more ways, and can also seek to live a traditional Christian life. For me personally, I'm not entirely sure that's the only option; I'm still trying to reconcile my understanding of what's required to lead a faithfully Christian life with many of the complex modern-day issues that simply were not contemplated at the time the Bible was written. I have a feeling it's not as black-and-white as some more traditional Christians make it out to be.

Incidentally, one of the things that I found most interesting about the conference is that one of the speakers encouraged Christians to generally be more accepting of both celibacy and singleness. To paraphrase one of his points, "You can't be a Christian if you don't love and care for people. And you can't fundamentally love and care for the LGBTQ+ community if you constantly uphold the ideal of marrying the person of your dreams and having a family as the pinnacle of humanity while also turning around and telling some people they can't have that." His point was that we should normalize people who choose celibacy and singleness as a life choice, whether that's because they're LGBTQ+, devoted to their faith (like a traditional nun or priest), or subject to life's circumstances (divorced, widowed, etc.). Christians need to value everyone's experience and life choices, and anyone can be a Christian if they put the pursuit of a life with Jesus ahead of whatever sin they struggle with.

The other thing I thought was interesting about the conference was that they challenged Christians to consider LGBTQ+ issues honestly by evaluating the same circumstances in the context of other "sin." For example, they asked the room of church pastors and staffers, "Would you allow an LGBTQ+ person to lead worship at your church?" And they got a whole bunch of, "Oh we could never do that. We're called to love LGBTQ+ people but putting one of them at the front of the worship band would imply we're okay with their lifestyle, blah blah blah..." But the organizers of the event would then follow up and say, "Okay, but how would you feel about a worship band leader who was sleeping with his girlfriend when they weren't married? Or a pastor who cheats on his taxes? Those are sins too, and if you're okay with them on your staff, why not someone who is struggling with LGBTQ+ issues?" That clearly made a lot of people in the room uncomfortable, and I think that was kind of the point. We shouldn't be in a position where we act like some sins are okay while others aren't.

Ultimately, the question of how a Christian should respond to someone in the LGBTQ+ community is an open question, because LGBTQ+ individuals are not a monolith. It depends on who they are, what they're saying, and what they're doing. Christians should always be loving, kind, and compassionate. But there's probably a different response called for depending on whether we're talking about someone in the LGBTQ+ community who is actively seeking Jesus, or someone in the LGBTQ+ community who is actively and unrepentantly pursing a life of sin. And, spoiler alert, that's not just a differentiation that needs to be made among people in the LGBTQ+ community; that's a differentiation that needs to be made for everyone. As far as being Christian, anyone can be a Christian as long as they're pursuing a life with Jesus... and you certainly don't have to only be straight or cisgender to do that.