It’s been over a year since I attended Andy Stanley’s Unconditional Conference. The event was intended to train believers in how to minister to youth who identify as LGBT but was a theological disaster. The organization that created Stanley’s conference, Embracing the Journey (ETJ), claimed it was a theologically neutral event (when it wasn’t), presumed you can divorce theology from how you minister (when you can’t), and presented a false dichotomy of how you can respond to someone who identifies as LGBT (when there’s a third option).
My goal in attending the conference was to understand precisely their teaching so I could prepare believers to spot and respond to the errors. Last month provided a perfect opportunity to apply the lessons taught in my response to Stanley’s event. CNN published an article chronicling the journey that led Greg and Lynn McDonald (ETJ founders) to adopt pro-gay and pro-trans theology. After initially rejecting their son’s homosexuality, they affirmed it and found a way to justify it using the Bible. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice the article repeats the theological falsehoods of Stanley’s conference. These falsehoods threaten the integrity of church doctrine and jeopardize the destiny of children who adopt an LGBT identity.
The first falsehood CNN repeats is that homosexuality and transgenderism are theologically neutral. The CNN article repeats a tagline from the conference: “In a world that makes us choose sides, experience a conference from the quieter middle.” This claim purports to suggest that there is a theologically neutral position on the morality of homosexual sex and satisfying transgender ideation. Greg McDonald emphasized this claim when he said at the conference, “We have no desire to change your theology.”
But is there a middle ground on this topic? No. A basic law of logic is the law of excluded middle. It states that, for any proposition, either the proposition or its negation is true. In other words, a claim is only either true or false. Homosexual sex is sin or it’s not. I’ve argued that Scripture teaches that homosexual sex is sin. It’s possible I’m mistaken (though that would need to be argued and not just asserted), which would mean it’s not a sin. But there’s no middle ground. Someone is mistaken.
This does not mean that people who disagree on the topic shouldn’t be gracious towards each other. I wholeheartedly support a kinder tone towards people who are on opposite sides of this issue. That’s very different, though, from claiming theological neutrality.
The second falsehood CNN repeats is that you can divorce your theology from ministry. CNN cites Christian ethicist David Gushee to make this point: “They chose love over dogma…. The whole premise of their [ETJ] ministry is, ‘We’re not trying to tell you how to interpret scripture. But the bottom line is, love your child, stay in a relationship with them and go on the journey with them.’”
That sounds fair and reasonable, but it’s naive. You can’t ignore theology when doing ministry. Orthodoxy (right theology) leads to orthopraxy (right practice). Your theological convictions will determine how you minister. If your theology holds that homosexual sex is sin, then you will call people who engage in that behavior to repentance. If your theology holds that homosexual sex is not sin, then you won’t call them to repentance. Instead, you’ll just, as the article suggests, “go on the journey with them.” According to Stanley’s conference, that means parents should permit their child’s same-sex sexuality or transgenderism while encouraging a pseudo-relationship with Jesus. It’s not a genuine relationship with Jesus because he said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Living a life of same-sex sexuality entails ongoing, unrepentant sin in direct disobedience to Jesus. It puts such a person in spiritual peril.
The third falsehood CNN repeats is a false dichotomy of how to respond to someone who identifies as LGBT. Notice what Lynn McDonald says: “I felt I had to choose between loving God and loving my child.” Those aren’t the only options. You can choose a third option: love God and love your child. In other words, maintain your biblical convictions (that homosexual sex is sin) and love your child by telling them the truth about God, sin, and repentance. That’s a large part of what faithful parents do for their children. They teach them God’s standard and hold them accountable to it. The opposite of loving your child would be to compromise God’s standard to accommodate a child’s sinful behavior. But that’s what CNN, ETJ, and Andy Stanley are encouraging parents to do.
Articles like this are an example of the challenge Christians face. Not only are wolves within the church working to lead believers astray, but prominent media sources are repeating the falsehoods of false teachers.
Fortunately, the McDonalds’ journey does not represent every parent’s journey. I meet countless parents who are guiding their same-sex-attracted children according to Scripture’s (and Jesus’) guidelines. You won’t hear their stories because they don’t make headlines. But I know they exist. Of course there are many more whom I never meet. That gives me hope.