In my last blog, I explored God’s character and argued that condemning LGBTQ+ people is inconsistent with who He is. If, as Scripture teaches, all people bear the Imago Dei – the image of God*, it is logically theologically incoherent to believe that God would create someone with an innate identity, only to then condemn them for it.
In that piece, I examined around forty of God’s key qualities and found that a significant number of them sit in direct tension with the idea that God would reject people for something they did not choose. It raises a difficult but necessary question: would a good and loving God really create people simply to discard them?
In this blog, I want to go further. Because this isn’t just about God’s character, but about how we interpret the Bible, how we engage with science, and how we avoid turning faith into something rigid, harmful, and disconnected from truth.
When Scripture is Used, but Jesus is Forgotten
People often refer to the Bible as the “Word of God.” Yet in John’s Gospel, the “Word of God” is the title given to Jesus. And that matters.
In that context I would suggest that many people, perhaps unintentionally, and in ignorance, end up treating the Bible itself as the object of their devotion, rather than the person it points to. Scripture becomes something to defend, rather than a means of knowing Christ. This situation closely parallels the account in which Moses crafted a brass serpent and placed it on a pole, allowing individuals who had been bitten by snakes to look upon it and be healed. In subsequent years, however, the same bronze serpent was transformed into an object of worship and ultimately needed to be destroyed. An item that once served as a source of healing became an idol.
We see this in the way that some people approach difficult issues. A verse is located, lifted out of its context (if it has one), and used to support a pre-existing position. This isn’t new—it mirrors the behaviour of the Pharisees, who were deeply committed to the Law of Moses, yet were challenged by Jesus for missing its heart. He described them as whitewashed tombs: outwardly impressive, but inwardly rotting. Within human history we have seen a somewhat similar tone when the Church insisted the Earth was flat, or that the sun revolved around the Earth, and more recently in the US and South Africa, where the Bible was used to justify the crime of racial segregation. Or, to quote the very recent example from the last few weeks where JD Vance and Pete Hegseth have been quoting the Bible to justify the crushing, or annihilation, of a country.
Jesus consistently resisted any kind of rigid legalism. There’s a story, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, where His disciples pick grain on the Sabbath because they are hungry, and shortly afterwards, Jesus heals a man’s withered hand in a synagogue. Both actions technically broke the law as it was understood, because both actions were considered “work”. Yet both were good, necessary, and life-giving. Jesus was illustrating that if the Law prevented good things from being done, the Law should be set aside to allow the good to take precedence – and it doesn’t have to be a life-affecting situation either.
The point is not that the law is unimportant, but that it was never meant to override compassion, justice, and human need. When our reading and comprehension of Scripture leads us away from those things, we should pause and ask whether we have truly understood it
Jesus as the Lens
This leads to something foundational: Jesus must be the lens through which we interpret everything else.
When Philip asked Jesus to show them what God is like, Jesus responded that anyone who had seen Him had already seen the Father. (John 14:8-11) That’s an extraordinary claim. It means that the clearest picture we have of God is not a text, but a person.
So, it’s worth asking: what do we actually see in Jesus?
Do we see someone who condemns people for who they are?
Do we see someone who excludes, humiliates, or diminishes others?
Or do we see someone who consistently moves towards those on the margins, restoring dignity and challenging systems that burden people?
If our theology leads us to conclusions that don’t resemble the life and character of Jesus, then something has gone wrong in our interpretation. If our theology brings harm, hopelessness and fear to others instead of blessing and hope that encourages faith, we have utterly failed to understand the message of Jesus.
The Seriousness of Diminishing Others
To borrow an example from my original essay (written in 2016 onwards) and rewrite it, there’s a passage in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew, where Jesus warns against using the word “Raca” – an Aramaic term of contempt. For a long time, I assumed it was simply a mild insult. But in a May 2018 Premier Christian Radio interview, Tony Campolo (a Christian Sociologist, Pastor and public speaker), talked about this word and described how a deeper meaning emerges: “Raca” refers to anything that diminishes the dignity of another person.
That shifts the emphasis significantly.
It’s not just about avoiding certain words, but it’s about avoiding attitudes of contempt. Any posture that reduces someone’s worth – whether that be based on race, gender, sexuality, or social status – falls into this category.
Jesus treats this as spiritually serious. That is not a minor issue, but something that cuts to the heart of how we relate to others.
So, when Christians or churches display hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community, it’s worth asking: does this reflect the spirit of Christ, or does it risk falling into the very pattern Jesus warned against?
Faith, Science, and False Divides
Another tension that often arises in these discussions is the relationship between faith and science.
Within mainstream scientific understanding, there is broad agreement that sexual orientation is not a simple choice, just as being left-handed is not a choice, since it is innate. Sexual orientation is shaped by complex biological (including genetic, epigenetic, hormonal and psychological) factors, much of which we don’t understand! That doesn’t sit comfortably with some theological frameworks, and so the response is sometimes to dismiss the science altogether.
But this creates a false divide.
Science, at its best, is a search for truth—through observation, testing, and repeatable results. It is not MY truth or YOUR truth; it is THE truth. It is not the enemy of faith. In fact, if God is the author of truth, then honest scientific inquiry should never be something to fear or dismiss.
For example, physics has long sought to understand gravity. Consider our solar system: it’s straightforward to see why Mercury stays in its orbit—its own gravity, combined with the Sun’s, keeps it in place. But when we look at Earth, where sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach us traveling at over 180,000 miles per second, questions arise: how do we stay in orbit without being flung into space? Gravity doesn’t feel particularly strong in our daily experience. A paperclip rests on my desk due to Earth’s gravity, yet I can lift it effortlessly with a magnet no larger than a pinhead. Similarly, I don’t notice the Sun’s gravitational pull. If I did, my weight would vary throughout the day: during daylight, the Sun’s gravity would slightly counteract Earth’s, making me weigh less, and at night, with Earth between me and the Sun, I should weigh more due to the combined pull.
Extending that further, how does the asteroid belt, made up of relatively “small” bits of rock not just wang away into the ether, along with the dwarf planet, Pluto. Don’t ask me – I haven’t got a clue! I resort to thinking this situation is an echo of Colossians 1:17 which reads: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Maybe it is the substance of God that holds it all together using dark matter and dark energy?
Dr Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has been exploring the strength of gravity across the universe, and for him facts are vitally important. He says: “Every measurement is important, because the truth matters”. He continues, “For me, making an accurate measurement is a way of bringing order to the universe, whether or not the number agrees with the expected value”.
Problems arise not from science itself, but from the misuse of it, as we saw from the kerfuffle over a doctor’s claims that the MMR vaccine allegedly caused Autism and colitis , which was later proven to be disgracefully fraudulent. In the same way that Scripture can be misused, science can be skewed. The issue is not whether we trust science or the Bible, but whether we are committed to seeking the truth in both.
Sexuality is not purely a theological concept; it involves biology, psychology, and lived experience. One Podcast that talks about what that lived experience was like from the mid-seventies onwards is “The Log Books” – also quoted on my Resources page. If you have little contact with the LGBTQ+ community, these podcasts really help you to understand what some folks have had to endure. I love it because the Log Books are a unique set of documents tracking Britain’s queer history through the voices of people who have called to ask for help. Any theologically meaningful discussion must be holistic. We need, as the saying goes, the Bible in one hand and a test tube in the other. They are not in opposition, but in conversation.
Reading the Bible Well
Much of the difficulty comes down to how we read Scripture. Some approach the Bible as though every verse can be taken at face value, in isolation, and applied directly to modern contexts. But this is an oversimplified way of reading a complex and ancient text and usually leads to bad theology. It’s illustrated in the parable of the Sower, where some seed fell where the soil was shallow, and “when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root”.
Context matters. Language matters. Cultural background matters – what was the writer trying to express and what would the reader understand? Sometimes the writer will use words we have no modern parallel for, so when the Bible translators face this situation, they use their best estimation given the context and usually add a footnote at the foot of the page. It is always a good idea to read those footnotes, as they frequently give other ways to read the verse(s).
If you enjoy studying the Bible, can I recommend you have a look at the New English Translation (the NET Bible) as they have a huge resource of footnotes. You can find it on Bible Gateway, You Version, the Bible Hub, and a resource I discovered this morning, ‘Scripture Tools for Every Person’ (STEP) which has more information than I have time to use! My only grumble is that it doesn’t have the New Living Translation and RSV Updated Edition on it’s large list of Bible translations, but it’s clearly a site I will be using more in the future. (You’ll notice I always use the New International Version when I quote verses from the Bible.)
Within Scripture itself, we find passages that require discernment rather than literalism. Take for example: Proverbs 26:4–5:
“Do not answer a fool according to his folly…
Answer a fool according to his folly…”
At first glance, this looks contradictory. But it isn’t. It’s an invitation to wisdom. There are times when engaging is right, and times when walking away is better. The text assumes discernment.
This is echoed elsewhere, where we are encouraged to “work out” your salvation with fear and trembling. That implies process, growth, and the recognition that we do not have all the answers neatly packaged.
Good interpretation is not about certainty at all costs—it’s about faithfulness, honesty, and a willingness to engage deeply with the text. You do that with all texts, not just your favourites which bolster your own worldview, but ignore the rest.
Scripture and the Modern World
The Bible does not function as a science textbook, nor does it provide technical answers to modern questions. It doesn’t explain the mechanics of the universe, or the biological basis of sexuality, or the complexities of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
But it does offer something just as important: an ethical framework.
It calls us to treat others with dignity, to act with justice and compassion, and to be mindful of how power is used. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8. Those principles remain deeply relevant, whether we are discussing ancient societies or modern innovations.
The challenge is not that the Bible is silent, but that applying its principles requires thought, care, and responsibility.
Drawing it Together
At its heart, this conversation is not simply about doctrine or debate. It is about how we understand God, how we read Scripture, and how we treat one another.
If we take Jesus seriously: His compassion, His challenge to legalism, His insistence on human dignity—then our theology must reflect those things.
Scripture is not weakened by careful interpretation, and faith is not threatened by truth. But when either is used to diminish others, we have moved away from the very heart of what we claim to believe.
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* “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” Genesis 1:26-27
Changing Minds 