I wanted to recognise that whilst this blog is not directly Pride related, we are coming to the end of Pride month. During June, LGBTQ+ communities have been celebrating with Pride Parades, picnics, parties and workshops; and online you’ll find Pride themed podcasts and webpages. These events celebrate the Stonewall Riots, the anniversary of which is June 27th. As I talked about the origins of Pride Month last June in the Blog called Pride (In the Name of Love), I don’t need to go back over that today. However, locally, the Pride parade won’t happen until next month, so celebrations are somewhat flexible!
In the last seven or eight years I have read, and listened to, the stories of many from within the LGBTQ+ community. Something I come across on an all too frequent basis, is that folk struggle from within the heart, to believe that God truly loves them. They kind of say, “I would love to believe, but how can God love me? I’m told by the church that the Bible says I’m a sinner who can’t be forgiven unless I change. Since it is impossible for me to change unless God does a miracle, and so far, God keeps deathly silent, what hope is there? In fact, is God even there?”
There are untold thousands of gay Christians (and I’m making that word “gay” do a lot of heavy lifting for which it wasn’t intended, because I’m including the whole spectrum of LGBTQ+) in this country, and across the world, who should have been transformed to straight cisgendered people if God truly wanted and required it to happen in response to their prayers and passionate pleading. But God simply doesn’t change people in that way and seems utterly at peace with the creation as it is. There is no evidence that God changes anyone’s gender or sexuality — and given the number of LGBTQ+ people who have undergone “prayer” and “talking ministries”* since the ‘60’s, there should be millions of examples, not just a questionable poster-person here or there. [* “talking ministries” is the currently favoured expression non-affirming faith groups use, which were previously referred to as “Conversion therapy”.]
So, I conclude that Evangelicalism is wrong to insist that God requires change, and, as I understand the Bible, God doesn’t. However, we have seen that when Evangelicalism realises that people can’t change, they move the goalposts and insist people change how they “behave” so that they look and behave as if straight, ostensibly to please God, but more accurately, to validate Evangelicalism’s broken theology. They make God’s love conditional on a pretence – pretending to be straight. Very dodgy theology.
That is not the grace of God being applied, instead it is a man-made, human response designed to fit a misunderstood theology, based on a specific right-wing American Christian world view, which has been swallowed unquestioningly by a large section of the Christian population across much of the world. It is a nonsense because it is predicated on sexuality and gender being a clear-cut binary that flies in the face of observable science. I say “observable science” because it is science that doesn’t require a degree to understand, but simply a willingness to look around and notice what is right there around you, regardless of any academic ability.
I have used some of these examples before, but for any new readers, I will go through some of the things that I have become aware of over the last few years.
We are familiar with the idea that we frequently hear people talk about each of us being unique, but those who are non-affirming only apply that expression when it suits. This idea of uniqueness is a problem if sexuality and gender can only be binary. Let’s dig into this.
In the past I have mentioned that we are all different sizes: height, weight, hat/shoe/glove/waist/chest sizes. We’ve only just begun (as one duo used to sing!). We can look at ourselves both externally and internally: Some people’s eyes are closer together than others. Generally, eyes work very well, but they can trick our brains as I mentioned in the blog (Now how does that work? – go back and read it) when viewing optical illusions. Different people see certain optical Illusions differently, because of the way their brains interpret the data they receive – for example the Magic Eye pictures mentioned in that Blog. Some vision problems can be corrected using lenses, but not all. Our eyes can also be of different colours, and occasionally a person will have eyes of two different colours. Some will experience colour-blindness, which cannot be corrected but the condition is deemed perfectly natural.
Our ears are different shapes and sizes and continue growing throughout our lives – some more than others, and we will hear sounds across different ranges; our noses and nasal passages are different shapes and sizes, with different sensitivities; our lungs differ in size — so some can run while holding a sensible conversation, whilst others quickly get short of breath when trying to walk faster than usual; peoples stomachs are different sizes; some people have allergies to certain foods that others can shovel down by the bucket-load. Our bodies process our food and drink at different rates. One person’s gut microbiome might be very different to another, probably unique again, because of the trillions of bacteria involved. Some people have bladder’s that seem to be as tough as old boots, whilst others need to empty them almost before their drink has been swallowed! Some seem predisposed to have poor blood circulation — which create their own problems. And so on.
Hair follicles come in different shapes and produce hair that is straight or curly, and we grow grey, and later, white, at different stages of our lives. Some people have more hair/body hair than others, and others lose all their hair as a result of the condition called alopecia. Teeth/bite marks have been used to convict people of crimes, because they can differ so widely, but usually they are not reliable enough, and cases have been won at appeal because it isn’t wholly conclusive. Nevertheless, our dental records are frequently used to identify us in the event of an early death, when our body may have been badly damaged. Clearly our dentistry shows there is a huge variance between each of us and we are not all the same!
We all know our DNA is unique, and so are my fingerprints. Earlier I mentioned ears, and ear-prints have also been used on several occasions to convict, because they too are unique – so don’t go pressing your ear to a door to eavesdrop, and definitely not against a window, as that will give a lovely print!
And we all seem to be susceptible to a different array of myriad diseases, thanks to our genetics. Some go through life with relatively good health and others make sure they make use of every area of the Health Service’s resources. Then, since this is not a children’s publication, we can mention that our sex organs whether male or female come in all sorts of shapes, shades and sizes — and yes, the Bible confirms this: Ezekiel 16: 25-26 and Ezekiel 23: 19-21. That is a bit graphic but I’m making a point. The way right-wing Evangelicals talk, one would think that there was a standard-sized penis and a standard sized vagina – “Simples” as a certain meercat commercial might say. Not so.
Moving swiftly onwards, I will never find a person who likes every music album I own. Most will find something they like, but no-one looks at my music collection and loves them all – exccept me! The same is true for Art and Culture – paintings, sculpture, crafts, etc. When I visit an art gallery with a friend, there is stuff they like or love, and I’m happy to pass by and look at the next one, and vice versa. Why is this? Why are our tastes so very different? What makes us like different stuff?
What about books? The same is true here as well. We all have very different styles of books we enjoy reading. I’m clearly talking here about books we read for pleasure, not those we need to read for work, or writing Blogs! Some people never read, and others seem to read a book every week, whilst still others like me snatch a few minutes here and there. I enjoy science fiction, mythic fiction and fantasy, but have no time for biographies and autobiographies, whereas others will love them! TV? Probably similar criteria are at play.
We could talk about our love or hate of particular sports, those that we enjoy playing or watching, and whether we prefer to play rather than watch —or the other way around! We can explore the fact that most of us have different favourite colours, and whether they change depending on the context. We could also look at those foods or drinks that we love or hate.
Do you have any interests? How do you fill your day if you have time to do whatever you like? Are you a political activist or is politics something you fear and try to avoid? Do you enjoy doing some form of voluntary work like helping in a charity shop or foodbank? Do you get involved with church activities? Do you enjoy meeting people or prefer your own company. Do you like techy stuff like computers and mobile phones, or is sewing and knitting more up your alley? Maybe you are someone who enjoys shopping or going out for meals. Maybe you enjoy taking and editing photographs because you appreciate the beauty around you.
In my February Blog “Holed below the waterline?” I mentioned the condition called aphantasia, where it was recognised that people have different levels of imagination. In this instance we were talking about how some people just can’t/don’t see mental images at all. Once again you can read more on that blog page – link above. The example used was to picture in your mind a local shop you visit regularly and see how good that mental image is. How many panes of glass are there across the front? Are there posters in the windows? Is there a sloped entrance or slight step? How wide? Is the door in the middle or off centred? Aphantasics are unable to create any mental image, and a comment I read by one, said that they were amazed that people actually had a real mental image, because they assumed that mental images were just a figure of speech.
Much of those last few paragraphs are determined by how our minds process information, and I hope you see with that small sample, how very different we are to each other. We also talked about how all our body-parts can be of different sizes and shapes, and noticed the fact they can work well, or not so well. Every part of our body can be very different to the group of people we might be standing with, even if they share our sex or gender.
I believe I have proved that there is a spectrum of shape, size, and function within every body part, and that our brains operate in very different ways and all are considered perfectly normal and rational, so why do some people find it so hard to believe that being LGBTQ+ isn’t a completely logical and expected experience for a percentile of our population? With all the variants in every aspect of life does it really stack up to argue that sexuality can only and unequivocally be realised in a binary form? It is totally illogical. To my mind that is simplistic, unthinking, twaddle that ignores what we see in front of us.
From that we must conclude that LGBTQ+ conditions are absolutely normal, and to be expected, and that the Bible therefore cannot be addressing this in any of its texts, and so must be addressing other issues. I would argue that these would be exploitative, abusive and/or coercive behaviour – behaviour that can be anticipated to hurt and harm others. In this regard, I would also place conversion or “talking” therapies in this category of abusive and/or coercive behaviour. Some talking therapies have a great benefit, but I’m primarily referring to those used to try to change a person’s orientation or sexual identity, which we know don’t and can’t work. I don’t believe that they deliberately set out to hurt or harm, but that they have a wilful blindness to the real harm they cause – because of rigid theological expedience.
In the past I have quoted John 3: 16 ( “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”). It does not say “whoever — providing they…” — it is unconditional. My focus has normally been from an LGBTQ+ perspective, but I ought to add that this is just as true from anyone else’s perspective as well. It is very common for anyone who has led, what they perceive, to have been a bad life, to question whether, or how, God could really, possibly, be interested in them — given what they have done. God is very generous with His grace, and salvation is offered unconditionally, “to all who believe”.
Is that the only passage or are there others? Here are some with a similar message. This is not intended to be exhaustive, and you might think of some others. Use the Contact page and let me know what you find. I have included the fuller quote from John 3 but have discarded a few others because I didn’t want to have to write an exposition piece alongside each passage!
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfils the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
[wicked – those who determine they don’t want to have anything to do with God – PJ]
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
28‘And afterwards,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls.
17 ‘“In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
I hope you find that useful. As I have been sent a Jury Service Citation for the end of next month, I will not be writing a blog, even if they cancel at the last minute! Also, I will be away for a few days at the end of August, so the next blog won’t be until 30th September 2023.
If you think this blog, or website, might help someone, please send them a link to it. (A big shout‑out to Hannah, who I know has been very good at this! Thanks too to Don for a little nudge in the writing.)
Changing Minds 