Today almost everyone knows someone who is LGBTQ+ — a coworker, a family member, a friend. So how do you respond as a Christian? Sadly, the Body of Christ has not done a good job in responding in love, so we need to examine Scripture for the godly and authoritative response to the issues that arise in families and in the broader society.
Following the command in Rom. 13:8, “Owe no debt to anyone except the continuing debt to love one another,” we need to view the issues through the lens of what debt we owe to those who identify themselves as LGBTQ+. Whatever else comes from our words and actions, we need to love everyone, no matter their “sexual orientation.”
Here is a short list on how we might live this out.
1. We must love them.
Remember this is the debt owed to the LGBTQ+ community. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Love must be, as Rom. 12:9 says, “…without hypocrisy.” Our private conversations about the LGBTQ+ community must match our public, genuine love shown for them.
2. We must live out the “grace and truth” of Jesus.
Jesus had amazing love and sensitivity for the outcasts of society and harsh critique for the self-righteous religious leaders. Grace is “undeserved favor.” We all need it; the LGBTQ+ world is no different. Truth, surprisingly, is scarce in the rhetoric surrounding how the Church should respond. But much research has been done about how the biblical world and writers understood and spoke of sexuality/homosexuality. Most Christians are ignorant about this, and it is to their shame, so they resort to “proof texting” verses without true understanding.
3. We must be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry” (Jas. 1:19).
Too often, Christians respond to the LGBTQ+ with such anger that it is no wonder that some call it “hate speech.” We must listen and enter into relationships that will build trust and demonstrate that we value people, period. God so loved the world – the whole of sinful humanity of which we are part.
4. We must follow Jesus’ way of relating to our world.
Jesus entered into the places of brokenness and pain. He cared deeply for those scarred both by the sin of humanity and the mistreatment of others. We build relationships with people in the “LGBTQ+” and “straight” community for the sake of introducing them to Jesus.
~ By David P. Seemuth, Ph.D.