Christians cannot hope to bring about conviction over sin and repentance for it by the gospel message if the reality of God’s sovereign rule over all is so quickly abandoned. And one by one, Christians are surrendering foundational truths to LGBTQ demands, from God’s definition of marriage and the biblical family model, to even God’s own role as Creator when it comes to gender.
This is Part 3 in our series “The Leftist “Confession of Faith.” Click below to view the others:
Love Is Love?
Love is exceedingly important for Christians. The two greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love has preeminence over faith and hope (1 Cor. 13:13), and Jesus said that His followers would be marked by their imitation of His radical love (Jn. 13:34-35). So how can Christians stand in opposition to the all-encompassing, inclusive leftist affirmation that Love is Love? As with all leftist dogmas explored in this series, this statement aims to impact uncritical thinkers on an emotional level; the reality is that this affirmation, behind its thin veil, is wholly unbiblical and must be rejected by any Christian who takes the word of God seriously.
The statement “Love is Love” fails logically from the outset by assuming that love is something self-defining and self-evident. The secular leftist perspective contends that love is entirely dependent upon the individual; individual feelings define love for that particular person. There is no universal, consistent definition of love, but rather it is fluid, variant, even chaotic. The result of this worldview is that everyone may do what is right in their own eyes. Whatever natural attractions and lusts occur in a person must be love for that person, and therefore their expression of that love is justified, and nobody has the authority to tell them that their “love” is wrong.
This argument has been used to defend the entire spectrum of LGBTQ behavior, most notably the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. People of biblical conviction over these matters are shamed, instructed to mind their own business and not to try to force their morality on others. They are told to simply affirm every individual’s right to express love their way; just be okay with it.
The Bible simply does not allow people to do this. Christians must be a principled people, not ruled by impulse, emotion, or societal whims, but by the unchanging standards of God’s written word. And that word speaks with clarity regarding love, its definition, its aim, and its appropriate expression.
Loves Is An Attribute of God
Love is an attribute of God. He is “abounding in steadfast love…” (Ex. 34:6), and John’s first epistle famously says that love not only comes from God, but that God is Himself love (1 Jn. 4:7-8). Love flows from God’s own nature, it is defined by Him, and because this world is His own creation, man has no right to redefine the standard God has set down. Love, as seen in Scripture, involves several angles, and there are even various types of love described; however, there are several definitional elements of love that must be present in order for it to be genuine.
For instance, love must be active, it must work itself in things done (Jas. 2:15-16). Love also is sacrificial, as is taught by the words of Jesus Himself, that there is no greater demonstration of love than His laying down His life for His friends (Jn. 15:13). It is humble, counting the needs of others as more important than one’s own (Ph. 2:1-4). But also, the Bible says that love must be righteous, that it “does not rejoice in wrongdoing” (1 Cor. 13:6). This is precisely where Christians must staunchly reject the leftist perspective that embraces all LGBTQ behavior under the simple proposition that “Love is Love.”
The Bible Speaks Plainly
The Bible speaks plainly regarding not only same-sex behavior but also same-sex attraction. Romans 1:26-27 clearly asserts that the broad embrace of same-sex attraction and behavior are sins that mark deep-seated unbelief, rebellion against God, God, and suppression of His truth. Sex and sexuality are essential elements of human nature, gifts from God, and the perversion of these gifts into something so antithetical to God’s design and nature must not be supported by Christians. And using this self-defining conception of love to justify such behaviors and lusts is contrary to the God who is love. If God, as the only Sovereign, defines what love is by His very nature, then man has no right to define as love something that God calls abominable.
The argument will be that individuals cannot help what sexual desires they do or do not have, that they are “born that way”, and therefore must be embraced for who they are. While there is some validity to the claim of a natural attraction to the same sex in some people, that in no way makes it morally acceptable. The error made here must be avoided by Christians; the argument is in the intrinsic assumption that man is not fundamentally and hopelessly born into brokenness in sin. Natural desires for sinful things do not make the thing unsinful.
Furthermore, Christians who would turn a blind eye to the LGBTQ revolution, justifying themselves with the sentiment of not telling others how to love, perpetuate a notion that man is not truly accountable to God, at least when it comes to sex and love. This assumes man’s autonomy and denies the absolute Lordship of Christ.
There Is No Other Standard
Christians cannot hope to bring about conviction over sin and repentance for it by the gospel message if the reality of God’s sovereign rule over all is so quickly abandoned. And one by one, Christians are surrendering foundational truths to LGBTQ demands, from God’s definition of marriage and the biblical family model, to even God’s own role as Creator when it comes to gender.
Sinful man demands autonomy, freedom from God’s rule, and Christians who would veer away from God’s authoritative definition of love are complicit in this rebellion. The God who is love is Love; there is no other standard.
