Thanks for joining us today on the line of fire. Michael Brown, my profound joy to be with you five days a week and it's our prayer that every single day that you tune in that you will be infused with faith and truth and courage. That you will look forward to the broadcast every day because you know you're going to hear the truth, you're going to get built up, you're going to get strengthened. That's our goal. Healthy Church starts with a healthy you. And we know that the greatest problem in America today is not the presence of darkness, it's the absence of light.
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What does the Bible really say about transgenderism? What's our righteous response? What's our loving response? How can we really reach out to those that don't know the Lord while holding to our standards? What do you do when the personal situations come up and a family member comes out as gay or trans and you get the invitation to the gay wedding?
What are the right ways to respond? This has happened. This has gone all the way to the Supreme Court. You have a cake shop. You make cakes for all occasions, birthday cakes and cookies and things, and you sell your products to anybody that walks in, doesn't matter who they are.
But now they say, hey, we would like a cake for our wedding for Bob and Bill. Oh, I can't do that in good conscience. Are you a bigot? Are you transphobe?
Are you unchristian? So we're going to address all of those subjects as the Bible has been mistranslated, misunderstood, and so far this week we've covered some principles. One, the principle of reach out and resist. Reach out to the people with compassion. Resist the agenda with courage.
Reach out and resist. Reach out to the people with compassion. Resist the agenda with courage. The next principle we've laid out is that we need hearts of compassion and backbones of steel.
Hearts of compassion and backbones of steel. We've also laid out the principle that we want to humanize, not demonize those we differ with. Humanize, not demonize those that we differ with. And we've talked about how important it is not to interpret the Bible through the lens of our own sexuality or through the lens of our own gender confusion, but rather to interpret our sexuality, to interpret our gender questions through the lens of the Bible. Now, we're going to start today in the book of Genesis and go through what the Bible really says about same-sex relations and transgender issues.
We'll do it carefully, but in a way that everyone is able to understand. I want to introduce one last principle, though, and there are some keys for effective apologetics. If you really want to answer people's questions, apologetics does not mean apologizing.
It's from the Greek word apologia, which means having a defense or an answer. Most classically, in 1 Peter 3.15, always be ready to have an answer for those who ask. So when we want to do effective apologetics, there are two basic premises that I've come up with or foundational principles that, to me, are essential for doing good apologetics.
So the first one is so simple, I can say it very briefly. Before you respond to someone's objection, you want to be sure you rightly understand it. To say it again, before you respond to someone's objection, you want to be able to rightly understand it. How do you know that you're rightly understanding it?
Well, the principle I heard many years ago is a very sound one. Repeat it to the person in your own words. Don't just repeat what they said. Say, so if I understand you correctly, what you're saying is this, repeat it in your own words. And they can say, yes, exactly, okay, now you've got it. By the way, that's really helpful.
An interpersonal conflict, husband-wife, family conflict, worker conflict. Someone's upset, say, right, do I understand that you're upset because of this? No, no, that's not it at all. Oh, okay, explain. Okay, now I get it. Many times I've seen people debating and doing apologetics, and they're like ships passing in the night.
They never even touch each other. But this is an easy one, right? Understand it and they'll be able to regurgitate it. So, if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is this. Is that correct?
Yes, all right, great, great, we got that. The second one is the more difficult one. The second one is the more costly one, and it ties in with these points that we've been making thus far this week. In order to really effectively answer someone, you need to feel the weight of the objection. You need to feel the weight of the objection.
Now, let me give you an extreme example. And not the weight of the objection, but the reality of someone's pain. You get a panic phone call in the middle of the day. You realize it's your best friend.
You see the number come up. You pick up the phone, and he or she, they're screaming. They're screaming and wailing. They're like a wounded animal. Like, what's the matter? What's the matter?
It's like, we just got in the car wreck. I'm okay with it. Everybody's dead. What? What? Their family's dead.
What? Well, you don't say to them, praise the Lord, Romans 8.28, it's all going to work for good. Obviously. Even if ultimately God will bring good out of that situation for that person's own growth in the Lord, as agonizing and horrific as the law says, that God who's a redeemer can still conform us to the image of Jesus through that, and bring ultimate good out of this terrible event, this terrible tragedy. You don't say that then.
It's the height of insensitivity. What you do is just say, I'm on my way. I'm on my way. And you just hold them, and you cry in each other's arms. And then over the months, little by little by little, you try to bring help and minister grace, and some sanity to come out of what seems to be insanity. In the same way, when someone comes to you and they say, I've been struggling with this question for years, years.
I'm getting three seminary degrees to try to get an answer to this question in the Bible. I've talked to every leading scholar in the field. I've talked to everybody. I've fasted. I've prayed. I actually learned the biblical languages just to try to understand it.
I've looked at every translation, every commentary, and I can't get an answer. You say, well, what's the question? And they tell you, and you go, oh, that's easy. No, obviously you're missing something. You're not really feeling the weight of it.
And this is why it's so costly. You have to try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. You have to try to see the world through their eyes.
And often, that is, it feels risky. Because I don't want to have any sympathy for your viewpoint. I don't want to have any, you're a sinner. You're a pervert. You're doing evil.
I don't have any sympathy for your position. Well, maybe what they're doing is evil and sinful. Maybe what they're doing is wrong, but also expression of their own brokenness and pain.
Maybe there's more going on than you realize. Morality is morality. And right is right and wrong is wrong. And that doesn't change. And God's standards remain the same.
Let me say it as plainly as I can. There are no circumstances under which God will ever bless a same-sex relationship. He will never bless it in a romantic way. He will never bless it in a sexual way. Never under any circumstances. It is contrary to his will, contrary to his creation, contrary to his desire, contrary to what is best for human thriving.
Under no circumstances will he ever bless that. But unless you understand how that person may feel, unless you understand that for them this is absolutely as natural as a heterosexual relationship is to a heterosexual, unless you understand maybe what they went through in their own upbringing, maybe there's a young woman engaging in a same-sex relationship and she was abused by several different men growing up and is utterly repulsed by men and utterly repulsed by a man touching her body or coming anywhere near her or even being attracted to her. And she finds comfort in a relationship with a woman. Well, that's just perversion. Okay, it's wrong. It's wrong in God's sight. It's sinful in God's sight. He won't bless that lesbian relationship. But it's not that this person is this flaming pervert trying to throw off all authority and do evil and spitting in God's face.
Here's a broken person that needs salvation and healing and, yes, repentance as well. Sin is still sin. But you have to see things through different eyes.
It has nothing to do with softening our stance. I've said it as clearly as I can. The truth is the truth. Well, they're just in rebellion. Okay, here's someone, the child of alcoholics in an abusive home who grows up as an alcoholic. Well, it's just rebellion against God. Okay, all of us outside of Jesus were in rebellion against God, right? But that person is, and yes, alcoholics practicing unrepentant alcoholics do not inherit the kingdom of God. The scripture says that. But this person was raised in a certain way that was like three quarters of the children of alcoholics ended up being alcoholics themselves.
I mean, some frighteningly high number. You want to first come with a sense of empathy, of understanding, of realizing that this person's broken and doesn't know how to function rightly and this is the only expression they've known. And then from there, we can meet them where they are and lead them to Jesus and help them find wholeness and deliverance and freedom and healing and repentance. So when we raise points, when I talk about various arguments and things like that, that will come from gay theologians and allies and things, I've really done my best to do this. No, I'm not. I've never been self same-sex attracted. I can't truly imagine life growing up and you're in this tiny minority or you feel rejected, whatever.
I've never experienced a split second of gender confusion. I can't relate, but I do my best to listen to those who struggle. I do my best to hear the stories.
I do my best to weep with those who weep. And then from there, as best as I understand it, I could present it in such a way that you'd say, OK, you got it. Dr. Brown, you've got it. You're presenting it accurately. OK, now here's why I differ.
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So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. Thanks, friends, for tuning in to the broadcast or our textbook is the Bible this entire month and my book. Can you be gay and Christian?
Can you be gay and Christian? Responding with love and truth to questions about homosexuality. Every major point that I cover going through the word and practical questions that come up, they're all in the book here. We'll mention many of the resources that we have as well. We'll tell you at the end of the broadcast how you can get a copy of this book yourself.
You're going to want to read it and give it out to your friends. So let's now start to dig into the word, having laid out all these principles this week, which I hope you understand the importance of it. I hope you understand that we want to bring grace and truth together here. So let's go to the creation. Let's start in Genesis chapter one, verse 26. This is now the pinnacle of creation, the sixth day, the final actions of God. Genesis 1, 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Alright, so this is this foundation.
This is where we start. Before we even get to the second chapter of Genesis and Adam and Eve and all of that, Adam v'chava in Hebrew, before we get to any of that, let's just draw out the implications here. Number one, distinctly, the word speaks of male-female.
There is no other class. Now, in the Hebrew language, everything is male or female. A table is male or female. An automobile, in modern Hebrew, is male or female.
A book is male or female. So it's not just a king is malech, and a queen is malchah, a boy is yeled, and a girl is yaldah. It's not just male-female in that respect, where you obviously have sex-gender differences among a king and a queen, or a boy or a girl, or something like that, or an ish or an ishah, a man and a woman.
It's not just that. It's that everything in Hebrew is in either male or female category. In Greek, you have a third category, which is neuter. So, this can be male, this can be female, or this can be neuter, which is neither. In Hebrew, you only have male-female. But, in both languages in the Bible, the only options for a human being are male or female. There's no such thing as a neuter or a non-gendered or non-sexed human being. There's no such thing as non-binary or anything like that. Nor are there multiple other gender options. There's only male or female. You might say, no, no, no, but the Talmud says that there are six different genders.
Okay, hang on. Although I'm Jewish, and I respect the writings and the materials of the rabbis of past generations, those are not authoritative, those are not scripture. In many cases, I would categorically differ with them. But, they are not talking about multiple different classes. You have male, female, and all these different classes, so that I'm a man who identifies as a woman. I'm a woman who identifies as a man. No, it has nothing to do with mindset identification. It has to do with biological distinctions. For example, Judaism is all about law, tradition, commandments. We please God by honoring him and keeping his commandments. So, Jewish legal literature, and the Talmud is legal literature and commentary, etc.
It's filled with detailed legal disputes and specific cases. What about this? What about this? What about this?
What about this? So, what happens if you have a child born with dual genitalia or ambiguous genitalia? Or, what if you have someone who is biologically male, but then seems to have this female biological characteristic? When you're trying to decide legally, are they male or female, what category do they fit in? It's not that it has all these different categories, it's trying to say, when you have these biological or chromosomal abnormalities, then where does that person actually fit under the law? You know, if someone seems to be a biological male, but then has some ambiguous or dual genitalia, and then some type of discharge, like a woman in her monthly cycle, where does that person fit under the law?
That's all it's doing. It's not saying you have endless variations in whatever you feel you are. It's trying to find, okay, where does this person fit in the male or female category?
It's not coming up with all these additional categories. In any case, it's not the Bible. It's not the Bible. But even so, it's not deviating from the fact that ultimately we're male or female, and you have these cases that are exceptions, or intersex, as what we would refer to as today, where there's a biological or chromosomal abnormality.
The question is, how do you characterize that person? It has nothing to do with a biological male who deeply feels on the inside that he's a female, or a biological female who deeply feels on the inside that she's a male. It's completely unrelated to that. Rabbinic literature does not speak of that or address that at all, because those are not the legal cases they're dealing with. Now, let me emphasize something else here in Genesis 1. It is presupposing heterosexuality. Because mankind has made, which is ultimately within Adam, within man, the embodiment of Adam v'chava, of Adam and Eve.
What are they told? Be fruitful and multiply. So they have been designed to be fruitful and multiply. And the only sexual act that has the potential of resulting in procreation is male-female intercourse. Other sexual acts, or acts that a man would perform with a man that Scripture explicitly forbids, penetrating a man the way a man would penetrate a woman, explicitly forbids, is detestable in God's sight, that cannot, under any circumstances, result in procreation.
So, in other words, it now detaches the sexual act entirely from any possibility of procreation. So they're very joining together, and they're very commissioned that the first couple is given to be fruitful and multiply. And this is all succeeding generations, which is why the Earth keeps growing in population, because this is just in our genes to be fruitful and multiply.
It is exclusively heterosexual. Last point, and then next broadcast we get into Genesis 2 and keep building on this. If you take truth and multiply it endlessly, you get endless truth, glorious truth. If you take love and multiply it endlessly, you get glorious love forever and ever, right? Everything reproduces after its own kind, a principle of Genesis 1, right?
Apple trees reproduce apple trees, cats reproduce cats, everything reproduces after its own kind. If you have male, female, and other options and multiply that, you end up with cultural madness. You end up with Facebook saying that you can have 50 different gender identities for yourself to choose from in your bio, including 10 different ones simultaneously that can all be mutually exclusive. And when that wasn't enough, when activists said, good step in the right direction, but not enough, they added in one more fill in the blank, because there is no limit to it. Once you deviate from male, female, you have the cultural madness in which we live.
We're just getting started. You'll want to get the book, Can You Be Gay and Christian? But it's not just information, friends. It's heartfelt content. It's the kind of book as you read it that your love for those who identify as LGBTQ plus and around the spectrum, that your love for them will increase and deepen. Your compassion will grow. But you'll also get more conviction because you'll see, wow, the word really is clear.
And the arguments I hear that sounds so persuasive and that my kids see on TikTok. Now I've got the information to answer the questions. This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to TheLineOfFire.org and click Donate.
