“Gay Unrepentant Christians”: An Oxymoron?

Can we say that “Gay Christians” are truly Christian at all? Randy Thomas of Exodus International – a Christian ministry that helps gays to leave the gay life – claims that we can’t say this:

• I have been involved in and among the so-called “ex-gay” movement for almost 21 years. While rare, there is an argument I have encountered saying that a person’s response to homosexuality is the litmus test of whether someone is truly applying The Gospel or not. Every time I hear this it gives me chills. The truth is that if there actually is a litmus test, that test is Jesus Himself. To put anything else in place of Him as being the singular evidence of salvation, The Good News (Gospel), is simply idolatry by a different route.

According to Thomas, trusting in Jesus alone is enough to guarantee salvation. Although this is true, it raises the question, “What does trusting in Jesus mean?” Does it mean that we can continue to live the old life or does turning to Jesus also mean turning away from the old life? Can you follow Jesus and still follow the old life, a life that requires church discipline proceedings?

In other words, does trusting also entail repenting or can we trust Jesus while refusing to repent of our sins, claiming that we need not repent, since repentance is not necessary for salvation?

Faith and repentance are used interchangeably in the Bible. This suggests that they are opposite sides of the same coin and that you can’t have one without the other. Furthermore, they both represent a change of mind and heart, and not a meritorious work. Therefore, by insisting on the necessity of repentance, no extra requirement is added to Salvation. It remains a free gift along with faith and repentance (2 Tim. 2:24-25; Acts 5:31; 11:18).

Here are some verses that indicate that repentance is necessary for salvation:

• But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3:7-8; Luke 3:8)

• “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:20)

• When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." (Acts 11:18)

• He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47)

• Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Cor. 7:10)

• Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (Acts 3:19; also Acts 2:38; 8:22; 17:30; 20:21) 

• "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.” (1 Kings 8:33-34; also see Jer. 24:7; Ezek. 18:30-32; Mal 3:7; Isaiah 1:27; 59:20) 

In light of these and many other verses, it is ill-advised and dangerous to tell people who refuse to repent that they will be saved if they trust in Jesus without repentance. Instead, a real trust in Jesus is a willingness to do what He says. If we refuse to do this, then we don’t trust in Him. It’s like claiming to trust in your doctor, while you refuse to do what he tells you to do. This isn’t trust!

Jesus requires repentance:

• “But unless you repent, you too will all perish…But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luke 13:3-5)

Jesus also says this in so many other ways:

• “You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14)

• “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” (John 15:6)

Although such works do not save, they reflect whether or not we trust Jesus or not. A good saved tree produces good fruit!

Thomas probably means well. He tries to justify his stance in terms of building bridges with the “Gay Christians”:

• Do I think they are going to hell? Not if they truly believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If they do claim Him as such, then we are probably going to have a healthy discussion on various topics concerning sexuality, relationships, and identity.

Although this is a noble ideal, we are first called to faithfulness to God and His Word before any consideration of what might produce desirable results. However, if it’s not according to Scripture, in the long run, it will not produce desirable results.

The Closing of the Western Mind and Mouth

According to LifeSiteNews.com, Lesley Pilkington, apsychotherapist in the UK has stated that:

• “Our churches have become extremely worldly. It is supposed to be that the churches influence the nation, but now the nation is influencing the church.”

• Churches “very rarely talk about sin and refuse ever to say that homosexual behaviour is a sin.” Only a minority of people in the churches in Britain, “speak out the word of God. And they get a lot of aggression for it. The church is doing a disservice to homosexuals by denying sinners their liberty in the lord Jesus Christ. They are blind guides leading others into a ditch of destruction.”

• “The established churches don’t accept the way I’ve spoken today, which is a biblical way. The word of God is being marginalised, as is the medical truth of homosexuality.”

• “Statistics for self-harm, self-hatred, psychological illness are horrendous and are getting more and more momentum as this acceptance grows,” she said. Homosexual behaviour is “incredibly bad for the individual, it is destructive to the person and to our nation.”

• “There is no way being gay-affirmative is helpful to individuals or to our nation,” she said. She admitted that in the UK, it is becoming “very close to illegal to say this.”

How could Pilkington get away with saying such inflammatory things? Well, she didn’t:

• The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy found her guilty of professional misconduct and ordered her to undergo re-training and “professional development.” These are to be completed in six to 12 months, or her membership will be revoked and she will be “struck off.”

• The BACP ruled that Pilkington’s approach was “reckless,” “dogmatic,” “disrespectful” and “unprofessional.” She was judged to have let her “personal preconceived views about gay lifestyle and sexual orientation … affect her professional relationship in a way that was prejudicial.”

This transpired because,

• Lesley Pilkington was the object of a sting operation by undercover journalist Patrick Strudwick, who approached her to ask her for help with his sexuality. He had told Pilkington that he wanted to leave the homosexual lifestyle and she informed him that she only worked within a Christian counseling framework.

• Strudwick, who went to two counseling sessions with Pilkington and published the transcript of the meetings in The Independent newspaper, was awarded journalist of the year by the homosexualist organization Stonewall for the sting. After the sessions, he lodged a complaint to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy alleging that Pilkington had failed to respect the “fixed nature” of his homosexuality.

 Pilkington had explained,

• “He told me he was looking for a treatment for being gay. He said he was depressed and unhappy and would I give him some therapy. I told him I only work using a Christian biblical framework and he said that was exactly what he wanted.”

Had Strudwick only complained that he was depressed, Pilkington would have been held in contempt by her profession had she sent him away telling him to “learn to live with it!” Why the double standard? Certainly, the BACP would never stoop to political correctness by compromising truth and professionalism. Certainly, the BACP wouldn’t compromise the welfare of the public that they serve!

Commenting on the case, Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said,

• “Why is it OK for a surgeon to perform a sex-change operation, but not OK for a psychiatrist to try to ‘turn’ a consenting homosexual? If, for whatever reasons – moral, religious, personal – a homosexual man wants to have help to cure this, he should be allowed to seek treatment. I’m not being critical about homosexuality at all, but if we have people who want to change, why should they be prevented from that happening?”

Good question, but who cares about truth and logical consistency if the cost is criticism!

• During her discussions with the BACP she asked for a clear answer on their policy on clients seeking help to overcome same-sex attraction, but received no answer. But a document released by the UK Council for Psychotherapy, Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct, says that even when a client specifically asks for help to eliminate homosexual tendencies, psychotherapists are obliged to refuse. The guidelines say that even in a case of a father with a family, who loves and wants to stay with his wife and children and wants to be rid of same-sex feelings, the counsellor is obliged to refuse to “pathologise” them and instead must “affirm” him in being a homosexual.

• “Agreeing to the client’s request for therapy for the reduction of same sex attraction is not in a client’s best interests,” the guidance says. Therapists who feel they do not have “sufficient competence” to adhere to this policy are obliged to refer clients to therapists who will only help them to accept homosexual inclinations.

In such a case, the BACP is convinced that the client doesn’t know what he is talking about. The BACP clearly knows what’s best for him, even if he is married and has children! After all, what’s the matter with having a dad or a husband if he wants a little extra sex on the side!

Pilkington insinuates the use of Nazi-like tactics:

• “It is extraordinary to me. People have lost the ability to genuinely look at what’s best for people. Political correctness and gay activists have generated a fear. People say, ‘I’m going to agree with this or I’m going to have a lot of aggression towards me’.”

It is even more extraordinary that the Western institutions that are supposed to safe-guard against aggression and coercion have capitulated!

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