Why has the church made a

campaign of this issue?

The Church Did Not Start This

Please note: the church did not fire the first shots in this war. The church is merely responding to a major attack on its values. Recent decades have seen a huge, world-wide, concerted campaign for “gay rights”. In part that campaign is secular. There has been a desire to change society’s values. People are entitled to voice their views and to try to persuade others. In fact, the efforts have been remarkably successful. It is not long ago that the vast majority of people found the idea of two men having sex together disgusting. Now, most of western society seems quite comfortable with it. Those behind the campaign are to be congratulated on their success. However, if the campaign is fundamentally wrong, that is a concern for the church even if it only impacted society. The church has a concern that God is worshipped, that individuals find their salvation in Jesus and that society is healthy. On those ground alone Christians will feel compelled to speak up. Christians also have a right to voice their views and to try to persuade, and they will exercise that right out of concern for society and for individuals. However, the gay rights campaign has not restricted itself to the secular sphere. They have also campaigned strongly for the church to change its views; for the church to accept what the Bible calls sin; and for the church to accept practising homosexuals at every level including leadership. Clearly this is utterly alarming for Christians who hold to a biblical position. Most would probably rather not have to fight political battles over this issue but they have been forced to respond to an attack. The church is not the aggressor in this war but it must respond.

But why focus on this particular sin?

It certainly does seem that the church has reacted more strongly against this sin than many others. Indeed, it may be true that many churches are turning a blind eye to other sins in the lives of their members. If that is the case, the objection is absolutely reasonable. There is no reason for elevating homosexual sin above others and, where churches rail against homosexual sin while ignoring adultery or fornication or indeed sins listed alongside homosexuality such as greed, drunkenness, thieving, and slander (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) they are being hypocritical. Christians do need to take a consistent approach to sin, not focus on one as if it is more sinful than all others.

Is homosexuality worse than heterosexuality? Must there be winners and losers?