On 19 January 2016, Dr James Dobson interviewed Franklin Graham on his Family Talk Radio Show. You can listen to the show here – and you really only need to listen to first two minutes to hear my complaint.
I know that many of my friends and family don’t agree with my view on homosexuality. Here’s something you should hear at church, though, that you probably won’t: even if you believe that homosexuality is a sin, you cannot support Dr Dobson and Dr Graham’s views. And you should definitely speak out against their views. You cannot remain silent in the face of homophobia and fear-mongering. I am being serious about this statement – the church cannot be seen to either hate or fear gays, nor can it be seen to exclude homosexuals from churches.
Here is what Franklin Graham said:
- “We have allowed the Enemy to come into our churches. I was talking to some Christians and they were talking about how they invited these gay children to come into their home and to come into the church and that they were wanting to influence them. And I thought to myself, they’re not going to influence those kids; those kids are going to influence those parent’s children.
“What happens is we think we can fight by smiling and being real nice and loving. We have to understand who the Enemy is and what he wants to do. He wants to devour our homes. He wants to devour this nation and we have to be so careful who we let our kids hang out with. We have to be so careful who we let into the churches. You have immoral people who get into the churches and it begins to affect the others in the church and it is dangerous. So, I am going to encourage the church to take a stand for Christ, and for righteousness. … “
Is he serious?
Does Franklin Graham think his Gospel is so weak that having gay children attend his church would undermine the faith of the Christians who are already there? Did he really mean to say that church is a club for saved saints, and that sinners should not be allowed to attend? Is he genuinely concerned that homosexuals and their “lifestyle” are more powerful than his gospel and his God?
I can’t believe what he said, and I can’t believe that even my conservative Christian friends can agree with this.
I beg my friends, especially those who are Christian leaders and pastors, to at least stand up against this type of bigotry that is being put out in the name of our religion and our God. You might believe that homosexuality is a sin, but that should not silence your voice in the face of two Christian leaders advising you to keep a certain class of sinners out of your churches and lives.
Is this what Jesus would do? Absolutely not!
By the way, Dr Dobson showed immense ignorance himself, saying: “LGBT. L. G. B. and T. You know what the B stands for? That’s bisexual. That means orgies. That is lots of sex with lots of people.” I don’t even know where to start in responding to this ignorant statement.
The church cannot, and must not, descend to ignorance, to bigotry and to fear mongering. That’s a horrible and sick version of our religion.
There are a couple of Bible verses that they are apparently unfamiliar with:
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1Tim 1:15) .
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matt 9:13).
Jesus came to save us from our sins. If we don’t acknowledge or agree with his definition of sin then we will struggle to be saved. Its very difficult these days to talk about righteousness or the fear of God.
I agree and disagree, Benjamin. I don’t find it hard at all to talk about righteousness or the fear of God, and I think many, many people are keen to hear this message and align their lives with our understanding of God’s will. I do agree that Jesus is where we should look to find out what this means. And I find it very interesting, in that regard, that Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality.
The Bible is clear on the need for man to come right with the Lord and receivethe forgiveness of sins through genuine repentance. “Go, sin NO MORE” is what should follow. I believe Graham and Dobson are true stalwarts of the truth.
There are two responses:
1. Even if you believe homosexuality to be a sin that people should repent of and “do no more”, surely you cannot support how Graham and Dobson are going about treating the people they believe to be sinners? Did you even read my blog?
2. I agree that the Bible calls for repentance of sins. I do not believe that the Bible calls loving, committed gay marriages sin. I also believe that the Bible says, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15) And “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.” (Romans 14:13-14).
My word! Myself and a number if others left mainstream church 7 years ago because of this type of thinking which pervades more than just the issue of homosexuality.
We have never been happier worshipping feeding the poor, fellowshipping, disagreeing, arguing and agreeing to disagree. It stocks me to hear mainstream leaders still talking like this. No wonder the rise of Trump