Recently Pete Buttigieg former mayor of South Bend, Indiana threw his hat in the ring as a candidate for the Democratic nomination to be president of the United States. His candidacy created a stir because Pete is an openly gay man, married to another man and claims to be a Christian. All of this garnered quite a bit of media attention good for anyone running for political office.
Pete was also quite vocal in expressing his opinion of religious conservatives and their support of Donald Trump. Trump was an admitted adulterer but I fail to see how that point gives an admitted homosexual the moral high ground biblically speaking. For one who claims to be a Christian Buttigieg is either scripturally illiterate or completely ignorant of what the Bible says about the subject of homosexuality in multiple passages in both the Old and New Testaments.
In an article titled “Conservative Christians should respond to Buttigieg the way they are commanded: with love,” Henry Olsen writing for the Washington Post wrote Christians should “recall that from the earliest of times, Christian teaching emphasized love—even of one’s enemies—above all else.
Olsen should read a Bible. The supreme theme of the Scriptures is man’s sinful plight, his need to have his sin atoned for, and God’s provision in the sacrifice of His Son to redeem us from sin’s consequences, something the Scriptures call the Gospel. Homosexuality is but one sin that blinds us to the truth in God’s Word.
Olsen makes the assumption that for Christians to preach the Gospel is unloving but the Scriptures teach us, even command us, to preach the Gospel and in so doing it is the most loving thing we can do. It is an act of love to warn unbelievers of the consequences of sin, whether that sin be homosexuality, adultery, stealing or lying.
Further, genuine Christians do not consider those who continue in same-sex practices to be our enemies. By their continued disobedience to their Creator they make themselves the enemy of God. Warning them of the eternal jeopardy they place themselves in is the loving thing to do, even when that message is unpleasant and unwanted.
Paul, the apostle of Christ Jesus, wrote, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God,” First Corinthians 6:9-10.
If Olsen is correct then Paul was being hateful in what he wrote, but that is not the case. God’s concern for those lost in their sin is seen in the clear and direct language He inspired Paul to pen. Because God loves us He does not equivocate on the practices that offend Him and are detrimental to our wellbeing. It is Olsen and Buttigieg and those like them who are unloving, and corrupt the Scriptures to deceive others.
Excellent commentaries equipped with and backed up by God’s Holy Word.