The Standard of Liberty Voice
For God,Religion,Family,Freedom
A publication of The Standard of Liberty Foundation
www.standardofliberty.org
March 18, 2006, #17

A Response to the Homosexual Movement within America’s Churches

Certain groups within Christian churches across America are now defending homosexuality. This defense is being carried out, both overtly and covertly, by influential members who, according to Albert Mohler, are evidently “committed to revisionist understandings of theology, sexuality, and church doctrine.”1 Due to the nature of the propaganda and the sources from which it springs, it must be concluded that this is a carefully planned and deliberate strategy coming from inside every major denomination. No church is immune. Pro-homosexual ideologies are quietly and steadily being disseminated to church members through every possible church-related outlet including the local pulpit, seminaries, institutes, universities, symposiums, radio, TV, movies, books, magazines, internet sites, and newspapers, all disguised as Christianity.

Incredibly, insidious homosexual propaganda now commonly co-exists alongside orthodox information. In some seemingly religious venues, when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, orthodoxy has disappeared altogether. An example from mainstream Christianity is a book called What God Has Joined Together? A Christian Case for Gay Marriage.2

Sad to say, because of this shrewd and relentless propaganda many churches are falling in step with our oversexualized society by reconsidering holy scripture as out-of-date in favor of popular psychology and allowing homosexuality to infiltrate their ranks. Others are just a few steps behind society as a whole but seem to be inching towards the full embrace of homosexuality by first accepting, perhaps under the umbrella of compassion, the relatively new tactic, “alternative sexual orientation.”

Such a policy suggests the acceptance of openly self-identified homosexuals into full church participation and service while requiring that they do not physically act on their proclivities. It’s true that we must all stifle any tendencies that fall outside God’s laws until the day we die. But it seems incongruent and unfair to compassionately defend such tendencies as natural and immutable and then impose discipline for acting on them. This would be like giving a child a lollipop but not allowing him to eat it, or acknowledging that a person is indeed a ballerina but forbidding her to dance. We can’t intelligently say that homosexuality is sinful in practice but not in theory. I can’t help but feel that the worst thing about such a policy is that it seems to overlook the suffering, worth, and redeemability of the homosexual’s soul, which soul would seem to be a religious organization’s first priority.

I am impressed with Pope Benedict who, as I understand it, recently stated that priests who identify themselves as homosexual must be rejected from the priesthood whether celibate or not, demonstrating the church’s clear position that homosexuality, in theory or practice, is in opposition to God and His laws. It seems the pope is willing to risk harsh criticism and financial and membership losses in order to maintain the integrity of the church.4 (I also understand a provision is made for former homosexuals who have repented, which provision would also be necessary to uphold the church’s doctrinal integrity.)

The issue of churches accepting homosexuality is of great importance because it denies holy scripture on which Christianity bases its doctrines concerning gender, family, and sexual purity. Albert Mohler says, “When a culture gives itself over to something this fundamentally in rejection of the created order, what results is an entirely new order which brings mass disorder.” He goes on to say that when a culture reinterprets and rejects scripture as completely unambiguous as God’s commandments on sexual purity, the transcendent authority of all scripture is also subject to reinterpretation and rejection.5 In other words churches who reject the word of God, especially on something as basic as His boundaries for human sexuality, are no longer built on a rock, but on sand.

How should believers respond to the invasion of homosexuality, however subtle, into their churches? Mohler says, “Our main concern must be the positive presentation of God’s perfect purpose in creating us male and female and as sexual beings. Nevertheless, we must also confront the confusions and distortions of our age, knowing that the rejection of God’s pattern and order for our sexuality leads inevitably to human misery and to God’s judgment.”6

I take this to mean that we must unflinchingly establish our own understanding of God-given human sexuality and teach the truth to our children and all within our stewardship. At the same time we must be very clear about what doctrine reveals concerning sexual sin in thought and deed and testify of that as well. We must be aware of the often repeated propaganda, what C. S. Lewis even in the mid-1900s called “good solid lies about sex,”7 now permeating even Christian society and counteract it with frequent discussions and prayers. Says Mohler, if we are true believers, we must remember that God’s law is superior in authority to everything including science and natural law. “Our own ideas and conceptions of homosexuality are not authoritative – our duty is to understand the mind and intention of God.”8 It is of utmost importance that we continually practice and teach repentance, that is, turning to the Lord and seeking his Spirit for guidance, correction, and truth. As Hugh Nibley said, “Nobody’s very wise, brave, or strong.”9 We cannot fight this juggernaut without divine assistance.

It may be comforting to note that, in one sense, the sexual revolution bombarding our culture, our churches, our families, and each of us as individuals can become a great blessing reminding us to turn to the Lord continually. The confusion and temptation to give in to modern sophistries coming particularly from within the fold may be the impetus for much spiritual growth and reliance on the Savior to a degree perhaps never before imagined. Personally, I believe this is the reason the Lord is allowing it to happen. Here in the last days perhaps he will finally get our undivided attention.

As a member of the LDS Church, I am profoundly grateful for the timely official document called “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” announced in 1995 which in effect states that there are only two genders, and respect for these two genders and their traditional roles is essential to our temporal and eternal well-being. In addition, I am infinitely grateful for the Standard Works of scripture we treasure including the Bible and The Book of Mormon which firmly and repeatedly proclaim God’s commandments concerning human sexuality and the possibility of repentance and redemption through the Atonement of Christ. Because the LDS Church is centrally headquartered, I make it a point to pray for our prophet, apostles, and other administrators that they will be enabled to resist the pressures now surely coming from members of the Church who are in positions of financial and political influence and power. I pray our leaders will be strengthened against subtleties, that they will never let their guard down on all issues concerning homosexuality, and that they will continue to uphold our Church’s doctrines and policies at all costs.

The growing number of casualties falling to homosexuality within good families within good churches is not surprising. The homosexual movement uses the most subtle and sophisticated propaganda men’s minds can devise, money can buy, and technology can produce. Lies are repeated so often and in so many ways that the individual loses his power to resist and then feels he must continue his behavior in order to justify the highly politicized cause he has joined. And, once again, we must acknowledge that acceptance of homosexuality is being pushed within every Christian church by those who are committed to revisionist understandings of theology, sexuality, and church doctrine. Pro-homosexual propaganda now runs in a steady stream through every religious denomination in America. Unfortunately, those who belong to strong groups and who adopt a group mentality are frightfully easy to indoctrinate.

It is as Joseph F. Smith warned. The three dangers that will threaten the Church from within are: the flattery of prominent men of the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity.10 It is up to each of us to seek the Spirit to help us discern truth and error from what we are now hearing even from some ostensibly within the fold. Said Harold B. Lee, “. . The time is coming and facing you right now . . . when . . . you will not be able to stand on borrowed light.”11 President Gordon B. Hinckley reminds us that “the tide of evil flows.”12 As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Put on the whole armor of God , that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”13

To quote Mohler one last time, “We must learn to address the issue of homosexuality – and other difficult sexual issues – with candor, directness, and unembarrassed honesty. This is not an hour for prudish denial. To fail at [this] task . . . is to fail to speak where God has spoken . . . We must neither cringe nor surrender in . . . the face of all the arguments given in defense of homosexuality14 (emphases mine) – no, not at home, not at school, not at work, not in our communities. And, heaven help us, not at church or in the name of Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is incomplete without both knowledge and charity, justice and mercy, judgment and grace. It remains our duty as Latter-day Saints to tell the plain gospel truth about the sinfulness of homosexuality, at the same time offering the message of Christ’s gift of redemption to the individual homosexual, whether obdurate or penitent, practicing or celibate, just as it is offered to us all.

-Stephen & Janice Graham

Note: For an in-depth discussion on biblical revisionist tactics attempting to excuse/embrace homosexuality within the church see Albert Mohler’s “Homosexuality in Theological Perspective” at http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-10-03 .

1. Albert Mohler, “A Christian Case for Gay Marriage?” http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-08-26 .
2. Ibid.
3. See reviews on our Get Informed page.
4. Peter J. Boyer, “A Hard Faith, How the New Pope and His Predecessor Redefined Vatican II,” The New Yorker Magazine, May 16, 2005.
5. Albert Mohler, “The Challenge of Homosexuality–How Important Is it?” http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2006-01-05.
6. Ibid.
7. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 97.
8. Albert Mohler, “Homosexuality in Theological Perspective, Part Four,” http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-10-06.
9. Hugh Nibley, DVD: “The Faith of An Observer,” Covenant Communications, 2004.
10. Jacques Ellul, Propaganda, the Forming of Men’s Minds, 1965
11. Gospel Doctrine, Sermons and Writings of President Joseph F. Smith, Deseret Book, 1978, p.312-313.
12. Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 140.
13. Gordon B. Hinckley, “In Opposition to Evil,” Ensign, Sept. 2004, 3.
15. Ephesians 6:11-12.
15. Albert Mohler, “The Cultural Momentum of the Homosexual Movement – And the Church’s Response, http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2006-01-06.


Copyright 2006 by Standard of Liberty Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

Return to VOICE page.