JOHN PAVLOVITZ, SEX, AND SHAMING

Sex has shoe-horned its way into the church, and John Pavlovitz is a master of shaming techniques to silence any opposition. Let me give you a sample from his letter entitled “Dear Christians.” It starts this way:

·       I don’t know how you ended up deciding that anyone else’s body, their gender identity, or their sexual orientation were any of your business. I don’t know who told you that you had any right to tell another human being who they could be attracted to or find contentment with, or what pronouns they should use for themselves or how they should dress, or who they could marry or what restroom they had to use or if they deserved to adopt children or not. It certainly wasn’t Jesus. I know you like to pass the buck to Jesus in your treatment of LGBTQ people, but I also know that he never asked you to do any of it. You weren’t given the authority to judge their moral worth, you weren’t given permission to trespass into their bedrooms, and you weren’t authorized to police their physicality. On matters of sexuality, Jesus was largely silent, and so how you found yourself being so loud about it, is probably something you should pray on. That may be a you problem. What I do know about Jesus, is that he told you to love… https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/12/01/dear-evangelicals-leave-lgbtq-people-alone/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=fac

Dear John, of first importance, Jesus not only concerned Himself with the bedroom but even our thought life:

·       “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:28-29 ESV)

Jesus’ understanding of love didn’t include encouraging sinful sexual behavior. If Jesus is our exemplar of what it means to love, then we should also be warning about the consequences of even entertaining adulterous thoughts. Therefore, Jesus even taught against divorce, which often has horrific consequences upon the children:

·       “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” (Matthew 5:32)

John, it seems that Jesus was concerned, not only about the bedroom, but also the family, as He should be, setting forth a model for our own concerns. Even when it came to the matter of divorce, Jesus never contradicted the Mosaic Law and its permission to divorce:

·       He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” (Matthew 19:8)

John, because Jesus never contradicted the Mosaic Laws, we can also assume that Jesus endorsed the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures against the various forms of aberrant sex, like these:

·       “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.” (Leviticus 20:10-15)

Although Jesus didn’t explicitly mention homosexuality or bestiality, Paul certainly did:

·       For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Romans 1:26-27)

John, did you notice the fact that this behavior will damage those who engage in it, as many Scriptures point out (1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Peter 2:9-10). Therefore, how can it be loving to encourage such self-destructive lifestyles? How can it be loving to shame into silence those who would lovingly warn about the consequences? You are already aware of the attenuated lives, suicides, mental health problems, domestic violence, and substance abuse of those who practice such lifestyles. How then can you vilify us for warning against them?

John, you also claim that we do not have the “authority to judge.” Nevertheless, you seem to have no problem in judging us. Instead, we must judge against the destructive behavior of our students, our children, and even against those who victimize others. In fact, when we fail to judge, we are accountable before our Lord:

·       Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Proverbs 24:11-12)

We are also required to judge what is being taught in our churches (Revelation 2:14, 20). John, you accuse us of not welcoming LGBTQs into our churches. However, in my 43 years as an evangelical, I have never seen this happen, even once. Nevertheless, it is true that we cannot allow them to teach or occupy positions of leadership as long as they continue to embrace a sinful lifestyle without incurring the displeasure of our God. It is also true that we must preach against all forms of sin, even if this will make people uncomfortable.

John, I find it odd that you criticize us for failing to show respect to LGBTQ’s, while your entire letter has lacked the slightest degree of respect for us and our commitment to our Lord. You wrongly accuse us of denying LGBTQs’ “worth.” Instead, the Bible teaches us that we must not look down on anyone, remembering the moral filth from which the Lord has rescued us. Therefore, we look for opportunities to share Christ’s love with LGBTQs, as we are required to do.