Welcome friends to the Line of Fire. This is Michael Brown. We are going to have a great show today.
We are going to have a great show this week. This entire month we are dealing with some of the most difficult issues confronting the church today. Can you be gay and Christian? Can you be trans and Christian? What happens when a loved one comes out and says I'm gay, I'm lesbian, I'm bi, I'm non-binary, I'm trans? What happens when you get the invitation to the gay wedding? What happens when you're told at school that you have to give your preferred gender pronouns?
What happens when a boy who identifies as a girl wants to play on your daughter's soccer team and share the bathroom and locker room with her at school? What does the Bible really say? What do we say when we're confronted with questions and challenges that the Bible has mistranslated things as we have it today and that we're misusing the Bible to support our bigoted views? We'll cover all that this month. We laid the foundations the first week. We're going to continue to develop this week. We've got an important resource we're making available to you as well.
Can you be gay and Christian? A full-length book I've written on this. We'll tell you about that later in the broadcast. If you're not getting my emails, what are you waiting for? The Frontline Newsletter. We have never received this many subscriptions for anything we've ever done. It's absolutely free.
The interest is off the charts. The responses are wonderful. Yes, once a month we send it out. The moment you sign up we'll send you the previous month's Frontline Newsletter so you can read that and be blessed and edified and encouraged and find out what our fire team is literally doing around the world and you can be part of it as well. So go to TheLineOfFire.org. TheLineOfFire.org and sign up today for our Frontline Newsletter. We'll also put you in our welcome tour, share more about my own testimony of salvation from LSD to PhD and the many free resources we have to serve and equip you. So last week we laid out foundations. I want to review them again. Remind those who listened as we infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines.
I want to review them for those that listened last week and lay this foundation again for those just turning in. To have God's heart we should reach out to the people with compassion while we resist the agenda with courage. We should have hearts of compassion, backbones of steel. If you cut us we should bleed love, but everything we do is grounded in the truth of the word.
That's how we live, that's what we do. Not only so, rather than demonize those we differ with we should humanize them. So we humanize, not demonize those we differ with. We call sin, sin. We hold that the standards of God for marriage and family and sexuality and individual holiness.
We don't compromise, we don't apologize for what is written. At the same time, at the same time we fully recognize that it's easy to demonize those we differ with and paint exaggerated caricatured pictures of them. Rather let us humanize them, recognize they are fellow human beings with flaws, weaknesses, desires, goals, ambitions. Like the rest of us, fallen, flawed, in need of redemption, in need of forgiveness of sin, like the rest of us, Jesus died for gay and straight exactly the same. We are all created in image of God, all fallen short, all need the mercy of God and the redemption of the cross.
All right, so we lay out those foundations very, very clearly. And I want to reiterate another key foundation that we don't, we don't interpret the Bible through the lens of our sexuality or gender identity. Rather, we interpret our gender identity, we interpret our sexuality through the lens of the scripture.
So what we're going to do today is this. We opened up Genesis 1 last week and saw that God created male and female. There are only two sexes, male and female. There may be someone born with a biological or chromosomal abnormality that we would call intersex, but that is an abnormality. Just like someone that may be born with a severe defect in sight or hearing or a child that may be born missing a limb or with an undeveloped limb, with a heart condition.
All these are biological abnormalities. We do not change reality. We do not change the meaning of the eyes or the meaning of ears or the meaning of limbs or the meaning of the heart because of someone's handicap or disability. In the same way, we recognize there are only two sexes. There are not an infinite number of sexes and or gender expressions.
That's why the Bible makes clear that God created male and female. What I want to do here is play a video for you. It's about six minutes long and it is called, Can You Be Gay and Christian? You can watch this by going to our website, TheLineOfFire.org, and just search for Gay and Christian. It's part of our animated Consider This video series inspired by the PragerU type series.
That's what we've put together. You'll find this super effective to share. Or you can just go to YouTube, type in Dr. Brown, Can You Be Gay and Christian? You'll see some full-length messages, but also this six-minute video. It's going to give you an overview of everything that we're going to cover and break down as we dig into the Word together.
So, listen and enjoy. Can you be gay and Christian? Well, if you claim to be a Christian, then Jesus is your Lord and the Bible is your authority. So, the real question is, what does Jesus have to say about this? What does the Bible, God's Word, have to say? Now, we know that every Christian struggles in some area, whether it be pride or anger or lust or jealousy or grief, but we also recognize that these desires and attitudes are sinful, saying no to them and yes to the Lord. In the same way, some Christians struggle with same-sex attractions, saying no to those attractions and yes to the Lord. But what about those who say, God made me gay and if I'm in a committed relationship, then the Lord is pleased. After all, God is love and love wins. And what the Bible opposes is abusive relationships, like homosexual pederasty and prostitution and promiscuity. That's what Scripture condemns. But God blesses committed same-sex relationships.
Is this true? Well, let's look at what the Bible, God's Word, has to say, starting at the beginning. There in Genesis 1, we learn that God creates the human race in his image, male and female, and blesses us with the ability to procreate. In other words, he designed us for heterosexuality. And it doesn't take the Bible or rocket scientists to figure that out. And it's true that there are heterosexual couples who are barren, but their relationship doesn't violate God's design. Then in Genesis 2, we see that God didn't want Adam, the first man, to be alone. So he decided to make him a suitable helper, not just a companion, but a helper.
Why? Because only with Eve would Adam be complete and able to reproduce. And how did he make Eve? He took her out of Adam's rib or side, which is why Adam said that she would be called woman because she was taken out of man. And then notice, the Scripture says that through marriage, the two become one. That's because they once were one, the woman taken out of the man. There's unique complementarity between them biologically and spiritually and emotionally.
That's why man plus man or woman plus woman can never equal man plus woman. In response, some gay theologians ask, well, if homosexuality is so important, why does the Bible mention it so infrequently? You see, they're looking at this exactly the opposite way.
They're looking at it backwards. It's because God designed us for heterosexuality that there's so few references to homosexuality. In other words, every single reference in the Bible to marriage, family, and relationships presupposes heterosexuality, as in the Ten Commandments, honor your father and mother, and Paul's directives to husbands and wives.
In a same-sex relationship, who's the husband and who's the wife? Also, we note that there's not one single positive reference to homosexuality in the Bible, whereas every single reference to it is decidedly negative. As we move on to Leviticus, we see that there were some laws God gave Israel to keep them separate from the nations, like the dietary laws. And then there were other laws God gave that applied to all people, like do not murder. As for homosexual practice in Leviticus, God calls it detestable, and it doesn't get any less detestable if you do it over and over with the same person. When we come to the New Testament and the teaching of Jesus, he really didn't need to address this, because first century Jewish teaching clearly forbade homosexual practice, yet in three different ways, Jesus did address this. First, in Matthew 5, Jesus said that he didn't come to abolish the law of the prophets, but to fulfill.
And when it came to the moral laws of the Torah, he fulfilled them by taking them to an even higher standard. Second, in Matthew 15, Jesus taught that all sexual acts committed outside of marriage defiled. And then in Matthew 19, he taught that marriage, as God intended it from the beginning, was one man and one woman together for life. Coming to the teachings of Paul in Romans 1, we see that because of God's judgment on the human race, we were given over to idolatry and sexual promiscuity and homosexuality, with males and females exchanging natural sexual relationships for unnatural sexual relationships. And when Paul talks about natural sexual relationships, he's talking about natural as God created us in Genesis chapter 1. Then in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says that those who willingly give themselves to homosexuality, along with a number of other sins, would not inherit the kingdom of God. And in fact, Paul's teaching is so clear that one lesbian scholar, Bernadette Bruton, says, I see Paul as condemning all forms of homoeroticism.
But Paul didn't stop there. He also wrote, that's what some of you once were, but God forgave you and transformed you. That's because Jesus died for homosexual sins the same way he died for heterosexual sins. As for the notion that Moses or Jesus or Paul didn't know about long-term committed same-sex relationships, the fact is, they spoke and wrote by the inspiration of the Spirit. Not only so, but Jesus, the Son of God, could look into the heart of every human being. Surely, he understood the struggles of someone with same-sex attractions, and yet he didn't affirm them where they were.
He offered them transformation. So rather than put homosexual practice into a special category, as if it's the worst of all sins, or as if God is fine with it, put it where it belongs, like other sins but one for which Jesus died. And rather than finding your identity in your romantic attractions and sexual desires, find your identity in Jesus. That way, rather than interpreting the scriptures through the lens of your sexuality, you can interpret your sexuality through the lens of the scriptures. All right, friends, we will be right back, and we're going to dive into Genesis, chapter two. I trust you enjoyed the video, Can You Be Gay?
And Christian, again, you can watch it on our website, TheLineOfFire.org. First, a quick, important message, and we will be right back. Staying active is essential for your well-being. Whether you're at the gym, strolling in the park, or enjoying hobbies, every step counts because movement is life. I'm Paul, a board-certified doctor of holistic health, and I want to introduce you to TriVita's beetroot gummies. Packed with nitrates, these gummies enhance vasodilation, giving you the boost you need to stay active. The natural power of beetroot supports energy, stamina, and healthy blood pressure. So whether you're gardening, dancing, or enjoying time outdoors, TriVita's beetroot gummies keep you energized.
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So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at trivita.com. Thanks for joining us here on The Line of Fire. Five days a week, here to equip you, empower you, help you to engage on the front lines. So Genesis chapter 2 is foundational. Now there is the the old line that God didn't make Adam and Steve, he made Adam and Eve, and it's very catchy. But a gay counterpart to that would be, yes, we understand that heterosexual marriage is the norm. We understand without heterosexual marriage and procreation there would be no human race, but how does our relationship, gay couple would say, how does our relationship hurt anyone else? And why say that same-sex love is any less worthy than opposite-sex love?
If it's committed, if it's based on long-term monogamy, and if there's a way to adopt or bring a child into the world, and that child can have loving moms or loving dads, it's far better than being in the foster caste system, far better than just being in an orphanage, or far better than just being homeless on the streets. So why not embrace it? It doesn't diminish heterosexual love, it doesn't diminish heterosexual marriage as the norm, it doesn't take away from filling the world with human beings.
So why reject it? Well, if it was just on a personal level, and we were making choices or saying what we like or don't like, that would be one thing. But as followers of Jesus, we don't make that call. As followers of Jesus, the Bible is our manual. And if there are things clearly laid out in Scripture, then we want to understand that, and we want to follow it, and we want to embrace it because we know God knows best. So let's dig into Genesis chapter 2 verse 18. The Lord God said, it is not good for man to be alone.
I will make a fitting helper for him. So originally in the creation of Adam, which is man or Adam or humankind, that within the first man were elements of a woman as well. Now it's not like some rabbinic legend has it that this is kind of a Siamese twin creation, like back to back, male on one side, female on the other. That's clearly not what Scripture describes here. But Adam, as he stands, is just a man. And God says, I will make a fitting helper for him.
In Hebrew, ezer kenegdo, a help as his opposite, or a help rightly corresponding to him. Now, why did Adam need a helper? God didn't just say, it's not good for man to be alone. I'll make a companion for him, but I will make a fitting helper for him. It was not just that the Garden of Eden was big and that Adam needed help in keeping the garden. Rather, there was something else, there was something more going on.
He needed a helper, not just a companion, but a helper if he was going to fulfill the mandate to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. I bring that up because this is now a fundamental purpose of the creation of woman out of man, the ishah, woman who comes out of the ish, the man, that this is fundamental in its nature. Not that every couple is able to procreate. You may have a couple that is barren.
You may have a couple, I'm talking about a heterosexual couple, they get married when they're old and they're not able to procreate. But biologically they are made one for another to procreate. In other words, by design, procreation is part of the design and this is part of the very foundation of marriage as intended by God. So the Lord God formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that would be its name. And the man gave name to all the cattle, to the birds of the sky, to all the wild beasts.
But for Adam, no fitting helper was found. So the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon the man and while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that spot. One of his ribs or part of his side closed up the flesh at that spot and the Lord God fashioned the rib or the side that he had taken from the man into a woman and he brought it to the man. Then the man said, this one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman ishah for from man ish was she taken. Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife so that they become one flesh.
Let's unpack this. First, the man and the woman become one as they come together sexually and romantically and emotionally and join their lives together. They become one because they once were one.
The ishah, the woman, is taken out of the ish, the man. There is a unique compatibility. Man plus man or woman plus woman can never equal man plus woman.
In fact, you may have read these books or heard about them, never read them but knew about them. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. So Venus plus Venus or Mars plus Mars cannot equal Mars plus Venus. There is a biological compatibility that is only male-female.
The way that the man is made with the seed and the woman with the egg, the way they come together and the bodies function, the woman able to carry and nurse a baby. So they have clear distinctions. Only those two can join together. It's just like plugging a plug into the socket and the wall that you have what's called the male and the female, that only those bring about electricity.
It's socket plus socket, right? Male plus male, female plus female. It does not produce that. Not only so, there is something unique in terms of the emotional and mental and physical compatibility between a man and a woman that is different between man and man, woman and woman. It doesn't mean two men don't love each other. It doesn't mean two women don't love each other. It doesn't mean that they're not devoted to kids they're raising. It simply means it's not according to God's design. Someone will say, yeah, but it's such a big deal. If it's such a big deal in the Bible, why are there only like six passages in the whole Bible, these passages you clobber us with, the clobber passages speaking against speaking against homosexual practice? Actually, we're looking at it backwards.
My friend Larry Tomczak pointed this out many years ago. It's like you have a book which is healthy dessert recipes, right? Healthy dessert recipes. And you start reading through the book and you see at the beginning of the book, it tells you about five times in the introduction, you will not find any recipes with sugar. We don't use refined sugar. Nowhere in this book will you find any recipes with refined sugar anywhere because we think it's bad. Well, now you read through the rest of the book and the word sugar does not occur a single time. You think, oh, I guess it's not important. No, it's so important.
It's left out from all the recipes because it's not part of healthy recipes. So when you go through all the recipes in the Bible, every single reference to marriage, to family, honor your father and mother, husbands love your wives, wives respect your husbands, every single reference to marriage and family, every law, every parable, every illustration presupposes male, female requires male, female, even with polygamy, which is never God's ideal. Even there you have male plus female always. And if you're reading the Bible as a same sex couple, I don't say this to mock, but if you're reading the Bible as a same sex couple, it doesn't fit. Husbands love your wives, wives respect your husband. Who's who? Who's the husband?
Who's the wife? When it's the same sex couple, it's exclusively heterosexual. And God's designed for marriage and family is exclusively heterosexual. And because you have that throughout the entire Bible, you don't need to repeat it on every page every so often.
You just need to say anything that deviates from this is wrong. Okay. We are just getting started. Let me grab a copy of Can You Began Christian?
Hold it here in my hands. This book will go into great depth, but in a way that you can read and understand. So I use my biblical scholarship and background in biblical languages to dig into these things and then present this in a way that you can understand with compassion, with grace, with truth, with practical answers as well. Can You Began Christian?
It's the book you've been looking for, but didn't know where to find. As you read it, it will affect your heart. You'll get a greater love for those that identify as LGBTQ. You'll understand why some say that we are gay and Christian or queer Christians.
How in the world could they say that? You'll understand better where they're coming from. You'll see that the Bible is crystal clear and unambiguous on all these issues.
And you'll have what you need. You'll get the information that you need to really minister grace. Pastors, leaders, if you don't have the book, it's a must you get it. I encourage folks, get copies for yourselves and for pastors, leaders, for others.
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 the line of fire.org, the line of fire.org and click donate.
