Alastair Begg and the Question of Attending LGBTQ Weddings

So how should we respond to the controversy surrounding Pastor Alistair Begg and his counsel on a Christian attending a trans or gay wedding? It's time for the Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the Line of Fire. And now here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. We are going to have a very important and constructive eye-opening broadcast today. This is Michael Brown here to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines as all of us today are in the Line of Fire.

Here's the number to call to weigh in 866-34-TRUTH 866-348-7884 is the number to call. As we talk about the comments of Pastor Alistair Begg, the question of whether it's ever right for a Christian to attend a trans or same-sex quote wedding, we'll talk about that. The purpose of the show is not clickbait to just draw people around the latest controversy because as I was looking into this last night to see where things stood, I literally, if I just went from YouTube channel to YouTube channel, I could find Christian leader after Christian leader after Christian leader and social media influence different ones weighing in and I could just play clips of different opinions for hours. So this is a subject that a lot of people are talking about and for good reason.

It's the world that we live in but I don't just want to add in another opinion or be an echo chamber for those who agree. I want to try to sort this through because Pastor Begg has said that there's nothing he has to repent of in terms of his comments. He's held his ground. There are major radio networks that have now removed his radio show. Because of that, people that have loved and supported him for years saying we can no longer do that.

So I want us to sort this out. I'm not saying others haven't done a good job on their commentary. I've not tried to watch everybody's commentary but there's an unique role perspective that I want to bring in service of those that do listen to this broadcast. Before I play the clip in question and set the background to it, I want to remind you that next week we'll be sending out our second ever frontline equipping newsletter. You don't want to miss it from the great monthly message to the powerful testimonies to the Hebrew word study of the month to what's going to be a very powerful excerpt from one of my books. Make sure you get in the newsletter.

If you're not getting my emails, go to thelineoffire.org and sign up to get the emails today right there on the home page. Okay for many years I've been asked the question whether it's right for a Christian to attend a same-sex quote wedding. Yes I know it's offensive to same-sex listeners now that I say wedding in quotes but as I understand wedding to be marriage the union of a man and a woman. I don't see it as a true wedding or marriage in God's sight hence the the scare quotes but the question has come up for many many years as we've addressed the issues for many many years. Really for 20 years now made it a focus of our ministry to be ready to equip the body in terms of reaching out to those who identify as LGBTQ with compassion but at the same time resisting what we see is a very dangerous anti-biblical agenda. So as I've been asked the question I've always told people you need to do what God wants you to do here's why I could not do it here's why there's no possible way that I could go to a same-sex wedding or a trans person marrying someone else in a wedding and etc. So I could not do it in conscience before God for several reasons so to restate the obvious the obvious is that you were there at a wedding really for two reasons to celebrate and to witness right but I mean be a witness to the event you were there to say hey we we were there for your wedding and we celebrate it with you and you know and here's the bride walking down the aisle and you know the all the all the now the couple and I now present to you mr and mrs that you're a husband away everybody claps so you're there to celebrate and then afterwards you know many people go to the party and celebrate there together and you greet the couple warmly and you're so excited for them so you're there to witness the event and you're there to celebrate so if you're a follower of Jesus and it's your brother quote marrying another man they may be the nicest guys you know they may even be professing Christians or they may be atheists they may really care about each other but but you can't go because you're not celebrating that you know the you may now kiss the groom may kiss the groom you can't you can't be there for that you're going to be grieved you don't want to be a witness to that because you don't believe it's genuinely marriage in god's sight no matter how committed they are to each other no matter how nice and kind they may be as individuals so my council has always been when asked this is what this is what I would do I would reach out to them privately if they live nearby I'd ask to take them out to a meal and I would sit with them and say hey I love you I care about you I'm always going to be here for you if you have a need if you need prayer if I can be of help in your life I'm here but here's why I can't attend the wedding I would not give them a gift because that would be celebrating the wedding as well I would explain lovingly now you may lose them they may they may cut you off they may turn away from you but that happens that happens when when I got saved in 71 my dad introduced me to the local rabbi he befriended me Nancy got saved in two and a half years later in 74 I would consider the end of 71 she got came to faith in May of 74 two and a half years later then we got married in March of 76 so Nancy had gotten to know the rabbi as well we become good friends the rabbi and I know she got to meet him spend some time with him so we invited him to the wedding and he wrote to us and said I can't go because it's a church if it had been a Jewish wedding even though we were followers of Jesus it had been a traditional Jewish wedding in a synagogue he would have gladly attended but because it was a Christian wedding in a church he couldn't attend that didn't affect friendship and he's a rabbi we we get it we understand now maybe someone's going to be much more sensitive over the issue if they uh they are same-sex attracted and you are rejecting the validity of their wedding that could be a deeper personal thing they they may reject you for it but you want to love them you want to reach out to them if it's someone who identifies as trans so let's say it is a biological male who now identifies as a female marrying a man well in God's sight that's a same-sex wedding that would be wrong if if it is someone who's a biological female now identifies as a man married a man well that is overtly trying to be a same-sex wedding so either way you could you couldn't go to it because the the identity is is wrong again that's that's always been my conviction what about if God sent you to share the gospel now I'm gonna play some clips for you I'm gonna play the actual clip from from Pastor Begg where he laid this out and then I'll I'll play the devil's advocate or Pastor Begg's I don't you know what I'm saying this figure of speech devil's advocate or Pastor Begg's advocate and try to explain why there's validity to his position now I don't agree with it I don't agree with it but try to explain it and and what his angle is I'm gonna raise the question of has the reaction to him been right has the reaction been proper have people overreacted are they going too far I've got a clip from Justin Peters where where he will explain why it would be wrong to go to the wedding to share the gospel I'm going to interact with that and then uh so I'll play a clip from Pastor Begg clip from from Pastor Vodi Bautram not specifically responding to Pastor Begg but separately saying hey we get rejected for our positions and then a clip from from Pastor Steve Lawson a colleague and and some of these gentlemen colleagues of Pastor MacArthur would share similar perspectives about Reformed theology their cessationist etc and and his very strong views on this subject so I want to do this again to be constructive so let's let's listen then to the clip from Pastor Alistair Begg this is what stirred up all the controversy you and I know that we field questions all the time that go along the lines of my grandson is about to be married to a transgender person and I don't know what to do about this and I'm calling to ask you to tell me what to do which is a huge responsibility and in a conversation like that just a few days ago and people may not like this answer but I asked the I asked the grandmother does your grandson understand your belief in Jesus yes does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can't countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life yes I said well then okay as long as he knows that then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony and I suggest that you buy them a gift oh she said what she was caught off guard I said well here's the thing they're you're not going to your your love for them may catch them off guard but your absence will simply reinforce the fact that they said these people are what I always thought judgmental critical unprepared to countenance anything and it is a fancy it is a fine line isn't it it really is and people need to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling but I think we're going to take that risk we're going to have to take that risk a lot more if we want to build bridges into the hearts and lives of those who don't understand Jesus and and don't understand that he is a king all right so first thing Pastor Begg is is not changing his view in any way shape size or form about homosexual practice or transgender identity or the meaning of marriage right he's not changing that and he's asking the question does this woman's grandson understand exactly where she stands and what she believes now if that's the case the question is why would the grandson want her at the wedding right that's that's a fair question in other words if you invite me and you know I'm grieved in my spirit you know I don't believe this is a valid wedding in God's sight you know I don't affirm your trans identity and believe that God has a better way why would you want me there I wouldn't want someone like that at my wedding but I understand the point he's making now again it's not my position it is not my position I've been clear on this as long as I've been asked however long this has been going on I was asked these questions early on because we spoke about these issues that very few were speaking on back then but now just about everybody gets asked these questions if you're in ministry or leadership so it's not my position but I absolutely agree with pastor bay that in many ways the church has caricatured those who identify as lgbtq has made them into the kind of the boogeyman or the cause of all evils in America and and that we haven't we have been so loud on political issues and cultural issues that we haven't been allowed in terms of our loving outreached individuals and that many people who identify as gay lesbian biotrans really think that Christians hate them think that the church hates them think that God hates them so whatever we can do in the Lord to change their thinking we want to do it but you can never compromise your stand you can never compromise theology you can never compromise your witness in order to demonstrate love then it's not real love okay we'll be right back let's hear what tri-vita customers are saying dr grotto can't wait to tell you that those supplements are absolutely amazing my strength has gone up at least 15 pounds in everything I do I mean I can curl like I'll usually do curls with arms you know I'll do 40 to 45 I was doing 60 pound curls 10 times in each arm and then yesterday I did a back workout and I was doing weight that I haven't done since my 20s and I 20s and I usually ride my bike to the gym it's about a 10-12 minute bike ride and then on the way back after I've done my weight training 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Okay do you agree do any of you agree with Pastor Begg's perspective do any of you think that what he said is really what we have to do that the church has been known as being hateful that many times we've been insensitive to the struggles of people with same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion that that we're just going to have to do a better job of loving people and that means going into uncomfortable settings in Jesus with the the tax collectors and the prostitutes the sinners of his day and we're just going to have to kind of do that and and you think that Pastor Begg was right and taking this position 866-348-7884 or do you see it as some type of moral compromise he's taken tremendous flack over this whatever he was expecting give me that answer as a prominent national pastor I can't imagine he was expecting the response that he got in terms of this I I didn't know even how viral had gone in terms of how many people have weighed in I was just taking my time and waiting to see if there was something that I could add to the discussion before we weighed in so even even Pastor Begg with his national stature is probably very surprised to how viral this has gone and how visceral some of the responses have been so let me say again I absolutely get what he's saying about we have to surprise people with the love that we show I remember flying just an hour something flight probably from Charlotte to Maryland and sitting next to a guy who was a high school principal and very clearly as we started talking I I realized he was gay so we got into a discussion the entire flight about gay activists ideas the schools children different things like that and towards the end of the flight he said to me you know the man you're talking to is is one of them is gay I said yeah that's why I'm having a conversation that was yeah that was clear out of the gate that's why I'm having this very civil constructive conversation with you because because I know you're gay he may have thought I was talking to him not realizing oh he's got the cooties I wouldn't talk to someone like that well quite the contrary quite the contrary so in point of fact where we've been stereotyped or where we've been better known for our political stands where we have been better known for our social and cultural stands maybe there was a vote in our state before the supreme court outrageously overturned the meaning of marriage in 2015 but let's say we were better known for our social social cultural stands there was a vote in our state about same-sex marriage we were voting against it encouraging others to vote against it we've been better known for that than loving our neighbor than caring for everyone saying hey whoever you are whatever your walk of life whatever your background we'd love for you to come and hear the gospel and if you're our neighbor we're going to love you as a neighbor so by all means by all means let's surprise those that are in other communities outside of us and that perceive us as being against them let's surprise them by the love that we show I remember a guy satanist background coming into our home church in north carolina fire church in concord and and he was dressed all in black and black eyeshadow and black fingernails kind of exaggerated and presented himself a certain way and found out that he visited different churches to test had they responded to him and i was pleased to hear that with our young people because he was fairly young himself maybe early 20s or something i don't think he was a teenager still but he said he he got more love and acceptance from our from our folks than anywhere he had gone i was really pleased to hear that but they did it's not like they compromised on satanism or compromised on their views of the gospel no they just loved on him as someone who needed jesus and then shared the gospel with him so i i'm all for what pastor beg is saying in terms of loving people in difficult and uncomfortable situations but the idea that by doing that will change their thinking or that it's the right thing to do in terms of going to a wedding that's where i strongly categorically differ look i i when my book a queer thing happened to america came out in 2011 i publicly said i will debate any qualified spokesperson on any subject in my book 700 page book 1500 endnotes a lot of material covered i said anything i cover in the book i will debate anyone that's qualified to debate me on the subject the reason i want someone qualified is you want it to be a fair debate there's no sense having a debate if if you don't have someone qualified on the other side because they can't rightly represent that position of that community so we then reached out to some christian leaders we knew in different states who knew folks working on different campuses and they got word out and in several different states we got the exact same response no as a christian group we will not have you on our campus no we're not going to start this controversy no we're not going to risk our status on campus by doing this event in some cases we were told if you try to bring it to our campus we will resist it christian groups christian groups now on the one hand they were very concerned about their status that they might be kicked off campus by addressing a controversial issue having to do with homosexuality gay activism etc on the other hand they said look we are building good relationships with the the gay and bi and trans groups on our campus we're building good relations we're having good dialogue and if you come in it's going to mess everything up so i said actually if i come in i'll model how to do this publicly i'll build more bridges in coming in and modeling this in terms of here's how we can graciously lay out our views without being offensive towards individuals laid our views laid our biblical convictions and do it in a world that now opens the door for further dialogue and discussion without in any way watering down or compromising anything that we believe at the same time i told them here's where you're deceiving yourself you say we're building this dialogue building bridges all you do is keep coming over to their side until you say that god affirms homosexual relationships or trans identity and trans wasn't really the big subject then in 2011 as as big as now i said until you say that that we've misunderstood the bible and and that god is not against loving committed homosexual practice until you say that you're still a bigot they just think little by little by little you're coming their way and that's what the quote progressive church does and then it embraces error it embraces heresy it braces wrong doctrine wrong practice thinking it's being loving all it's doing is is sinking the ship and going down with it it's not really helping anybody so that's that's the real issue here are we actually helping anybody aren't we now muddying the waters and giving a false impression so the right response in my view as i've understood it it's very simple you reach out with all the love you can privately either to the individual or to the couple you explain to them how committed you are to their well-being and then why you can't be there and why you think that they really wouldn't want you there you say hey look i know this is personally offensive but it's nothing personal it could be my own son or daughter or mother or father that's not the issue it's an issue of what i believe is is best and right in god's sight and you may hate me reject me for it i'm not going to hate you i'm not going to reject you and if there's any time any way i could ever be involved in your life here i am here i am all right we come back i'm going to play you some more clips talk about whether we should go to a wedding maybe we should share the gospel and has there been an overreaction to pastor bags stand we'll be right back if you simply seek to live by biblical values or just conservative moral values you could be canceled you could be cast out you could be put down you could be silenced i'm here to say friends that i am not about to be silenced and i don't believe you are either it is time for us to stand up it is time for us to say enough is enough it is time for us to push back in jesus name not fighting the way the world fights no overcoming evil with good overcoming hatred with love overcoming the flesh with the power of the spirit overcoming lies with truth and that's what we're here to do on the line of fire broadcast and friends it's not just a broadcast it is a movement of people around the world god's people standing up saying enough is enough and saying lord here we are send us use us i want to urge you today to join our support team because we are on the front lines together and we are literally touching people around the world in america in the nations in israel and together with your help we're going to amplify this voice and spread this movement around the globe so i encourage you go right now to the line of fire dot org the line of fire dot org click donate monthly support the line of fire dot org click donate monthly support when you do you become a torch bearer we immediately send you two great life-changing books we immediately give you access to many classes i've taught others have to pay to take those you get them for free exclusive video audio content a new audio message every month an insider prayer newsletter 15 discount our online bookstore so much more join our support team today go to the line of fire dot org donate monthly support it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr michael brown thanks for joining us friends on the line of fire another reminder if you're not getting my frontline newsletter and updates on our latest articles videos and for coming to your area to speak go to my website now the line of fire dot org the line of fire dot org and sign up today for the frontline newsletter we'll put you in our welcome program share more of my testimony from lsd to phd all right let's grab some of those next clips uh the second clip i want to play for you is not pastor uh vody baucom interacting directly with alistair beg but just the larger question of rejection for our moral stance let's listen to what he had to say so some some people in this very room you have members of your family and this is so common now that it's happened that i know a number of people in this room a member of your family comes out not only as gay but then they're going to have a a gay you know wedding and they invite everybody in the family to the gay wedding and when you get an invitation to a gay wedding that's not just an invitation it is a theological test and other members of the family who go to church and identify themselves as christian they gladly go to the wedding and here you are the lone holdout and you're alienated because all these other folks were good loving christians but you're a legalistic monster so and now there's alienation and loss of relationship within your family because of this some of you have lost jobs yes so uh sorry to jump in there in the in part way through the clip so this this is reality that we will be rejected for our stance and i have colleagues who have lost jobs because of the views they've held about abortion or homosexual practice or other things like that they've lost jobs and the believers around the world are literally losing their head literally losing their heads for the gospel the fact that someone unfriends us on social media the fact that we may miss out on the promotion or scholarship or something like that or even lose a job or an opportunity because of our moral stance that's unfortunately the situation in america with cancel culture and the war on on so many christian beliefs uh is this one of those where we say hey if we lose friends we lose friends absolutely i would say of course we lose friends we lose absolutely i would say of course absolutely but but but hang on what if what if you feel led to go share the gospel at one of these events one of these weddings same-sex trans quote wedding what if the couple knows hey you know i don't agree with this you know i don't believe it's valid but if you want me there i'll be there to share the gospel i met a couple that told me i forget was it in the states or in holland i forget but they told me very zealous yeah we went to the event to share the gospel we got to sit with people we never would have sat with and shared the gospel with them left and right and we had an amazing time to tell them about jesus and who we were and what we believed we believe god sent us so that's between them and god in terms of them saying that god sent them but justin peters in his video uh as someone who greatly respected and supported pastor beg before i mean recognized his ministry and i say support it uh but will not stand with him or recognize the validity of his ministry now listen to what justin peters said when he weighed in on that subject and some people might say well what if you go to the uh you know the homosexual wedding and you go in hopes of speaking the truth to someone you go in hopes of evangelizing them uh i would say no not under any circumstances do you do that a you don't have to go to a homosexual wedding quote-unquote to find someone to witness to you don't have to do that walk around your neighborhood and you can find someone to witness to you don't have to go to give another example you don't have to go to a nude bar to find lost people right i mean walk out your front door you're going to run into a lost person in pretty short order you don't have to do that to be a witness the only way the only way that i would ever attend a the ceremony of a homosexual wedding would be is if i knew with 100 certainty that there would be a time in the service where the whoever's doing it would say if there's anyone here who has any objection any reason as to why this these two people should not join themselves in holy matrimony speak now or forever hold your peace you may have heard that line preachers used to say that i don't think they even say that anymore but if i knew with one thousand percent certainty that that would be said i might go just to have the opportunity at that point to stand up and say i object here's why i object this is an abomination before i would say it in front of everybody this is an abomination for before god and then i would give the full crystal clear gospel and call everyone there including the couple to repent and then i would walk out if i'm not thrown out first that is the only conceivable scenario but you you have no way of knowing that you would have that opportunity in all likelihood you're not because i don't think preachers even say that anymore i think that's a something they said in a bygone era i don't think they do it anymore so you'll never have that opportunity so in other words don't go don't go there's other opportunities to share the gospel without attending something that is an abomination before god all right so a clear reasoning there from justin peters in terms if you want to reach the lost there are plenty of lost people to to reach but you don't want to be at that let's not soften our views of how wrong this is in god's sight that it's it's not what it is not marriage it's not holy union no matter how devoted the people are to each other or caring for each other etc so and again as you know my position has always been no of course not i would not go i could not go to the wedding now someone might push back on what justin peters said and say and by the way he's being consistent you know he has very strong views against the charismatic movement and and even more about word of faith that he would just put in the cult category and he and i've had a very candid interaction with with personal respect for each other in terms of i i believe in the sincerity of what he's doing and and that he's he's really deeply convicted over these things and he's he's treated me respectfully in the midst of our very very strong differences but he's being consistent here just like he as he is he's he's he's he's he's he's he has cut off certain characteristics he believes in error couldn't support them now he says he could not do that with pastor beg as much as he's honored him and justin is very strong reformed calvinist cessationist right so he would have been in pastor begs camp saying i cannot be now the other way that i can see pushing back to what he said is what if there were people that i would never get to talk to that are going to be there in other words people specific people i want to get to talk to that that are going to be there at the wedding and i will never get to see them family members and things from different states that i've been praying for well then maybe you could say to the people inviting you know i don't agree with this you know i don't believe it's valid but i would love to see some of the family if it's okay with you i will just show up at the reception and then just share the gospel with people at the reception in other words if if you're gonna if that's your whole intent i want to share the gospel with people that i otherwise will not be able to see so i'm not just thinking for a lost person but that lost person and this other way i'll do it well why not put all the cards on the table you invited me to the wedding even though let's say it was me i've written whole books like can you be gay and christian or a queer thing happened to america or outlast in the gay revolution you know exactly where i stand yet you're inviting me so i i can't in good conscience be there at the wedding for the following reasons but i absolutely want to talk to family that's going to be there so if if you just understand i'm not going to be at the wedding but i will be at the reception if they're okay with that maybe you can go and share the gospel there though some might even still differ with that but you say no i protest i reject the the wedding i reject its validity i cannot participate i cannot be a witness to that i cannot celebrate it but if i sit at the table and share the gospel with people and they give a toast i'm not going to be part of that i'm not going to you know whatever be there share the gospel and leave then why not put those cards on the table now some would say that you don't even want to do that but hey just just to throw that out in the mix all right there's a steve lawson response we're going to play but let's wait a minute on that we'll grab a call or two let's go over to bill in raleigh north carolina thanks for calling the line of fire what's your take i think that uh you dr brown and and pastor beg and some of the others i've heard uh you're all missing the point go ahead and and the and the point is as jesus said in in matthew i believe it's chapter five or six in his sermon on the mount that we shouldn't repent we shouldn't pray we shouldn't do give give alms she shouldn't do any of those things in public because if we do then we have our reward already but what we should do is never let the right hand know what the left is doing and we should do whatever we do to please his father all right so how does that how does it tie in specifically here okay specifically it means that if i were asked i would first pray and ask god what he wanted me to do okay and then do whatever he wanted me to do because he is the one who knows if i'm going to be well received or his word will be well received he is the one who knows whether he wants me to do that all right all right but what if someone asked you what if a family member or friend asked you for input what would you tell them i would tell them that i'll pray about it and let them know what i find out okay and if if you feel god tells you they shouldn't go would you then tell them yes right so that's the same thing that alistair beg did in other words he's prayerfully considered this and he's giving that that answer i've prayerfully considered it and give a different answer so you guys are all saying as a pat answer to any such circumstances i i'm not that wise i like to ask god for every specific circumstance because i don't know what his plan is yeah but bill so so a couple of thoughts uh number number one i tell people what i said at the beginning of the show you have to do what god tells you to do here's what i would exactly answer it right so that's where i started that you have to do it you believe god tells you here's why i couldn't go here's here's my reasoning that's one thing this the second thing with with all respect sir is that matthew six about your giving don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing is that has to do with making a public show of our acts of righteousness of course we have public prayer meetings acts the fourth chapter that we use gathered together acts 12 we're gathering together in prayer in public settings right a group settings but don't make a public show of it don't make a public show of your praying you're sitting for righteousness but in any case let us do it god tells us dude does the word of god give us principles though that we live on that we live by that's the big question hey thank you sir appreciate it i'm paul brunette a board-certified doctor of holistic health and i want to take this opportunity to talk to you about the importance of healthy blood flow and how it's enhanced by a miracle molecule known as nitric oxide you see blood vessels release nitric oxide which increases blood flow known as something called vasodilation at trivita we take blood flow seriously for our members and we've developed a nitric oxide plus supplement that has been formulated with natural ingredients designed to maximize nitric oxide production in our blood 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your choice call 1-800-771-5584 800-771-5584 may you live with greater wellness it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866 three four truth here again is dr michael brown thanks again for joining us on the line of fire broadcast okay let me play one last clip these are representative clips this is from pastor steve lawson again a reform cessationist colleague of john mccarther as is justin peters and they would they would have a similar viewpoint and take on these issues but very articulate clear-headed in their presentations so let's listen to what pastor steve lawson said there's been a lot of talk recently about whether a christian should attend a homosexual marriage and there's been a lot of talk recently about whether a christian should attend a transgender wedding and should they bring a gift to the wedding so that they would appear to be compassionate and loving and i want you to know that the answer is absolutely no you have no business being there because it is a travesty it is a blasphemy it is an abomination it is an abomination it is not to be supported it is not to be celebrated it is to be repudiated and it is to be exposed all right so very clear and many of you would echo that and say amen to it so here's a question for us as believers again that's for those reasons i could not be there myself at such a wedding so here here's some things for reflection what about lots of marriages taking place all over america today with christians who got divorced without any biblical merit this weren't compatible anymore things weren't meshing or we found someone we liked more right so based on no fault divorce they got divorced and now they're remarrying and that remarriage is adultery in god's sight how do we feel about that would be a tense situation i hope we wouldn't i would hope we wouldn't in conscience before god because the union would be adulterous i do believe there are biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage even while the spouse is still alive that if there are biblical grounds for divorce then there can be remarriage again that's another debate within the body but do we hold the same standard up in other words is this just one particular thing we focus on or would you do we hold the the same standard up and as i've said for many years no fault divorce in the church has done more to destroy marriage than all gay activists combined so i always look at home and look inward and what have we done wrong and where have we blown it and where do we need to repent and fix things at the same time i'm not going to compromise with the spirit of the age i'm not going to affirm something that god does not affirm but my other question is this before i look at the the larger reaction to pastor beg the larger question is this are we better known as believers for voting for particular candidates who we believe or are going to to stand for our priorities just everybody votes for the candidate they believe is going to represent their values are we better known for the political choices that we make are we better known for categorical statements against same-sex quote marriage and i put quote there again to say i don't believe it's marriage in god's sight are we better known for those things than for our love for our neighbor then for the recognition that all have fallen short and that all need god's grace and mercy look just this issue of heterosexual point addiction in the church is a plague and i don't say that to condemn those struggling we we've had floodgates open against us that we've never had to deal with in history in terms of availability of what's there and the depths of evil of what's there accessibility etc so let let us be self-reflective and recognize sin in our own lives and hypocrisy in our own lives that's one thing without for a split second adjusting the moral standard not for a split second you know jesus did not practice affirmational inclusion he didn't hang out with tax collectors and prostitutes and other societal sinners he didn't hang out with them to affirm them he hanged out hung out with them to transform them he hung out with them to call them to repentance and transformation he did not morally compromise and if his stands to be with him if he had to if it's like going to a strip club well then you don't go to the strip club even though there are people there that you can't reach outside the strip club because you don't know where they live or who they be reaching that way you don't go in there obviously obviously but again are we known for our love are we known for our compassionate outreach in our communities if you have a neighbor let's say a neighbor's lesbian couple or something like that do they know you firsthand from their interaction with you or from your posts on social media or or signs on your lawn do they know you primarily as standing for certain moral and political values or do they know you as really nice neighbors who really differ with us on a lot of things although they're really nice neighbors yeah they they don't they think we're wrong you're wrong you're living like this etc hey look what if it was a guy living with his girlfriend i was next door neighbor but they're not saved what's the issue we need to bring them to jesus and and if they ask us about the relationship we'll tell them but that that's not their big issue the big issues they don't know the lord so that that's that's the thing whatever our wherever we stand let it be known above all that we care about people as people and want them to know the lord and recognize that we're all lost and we're all damned outside of his grace and every one of us is broken and flawed outside of his grace and hold the line hold your views hold your convictions as we say we should have hearts of compassion and backbones of steel that's one thing the other thing is this has there been an overreaction by christian leaders to pastor begs position if the reaction is to completely write him off i'm not listening to his messages now i'm by the way i've i've never heard a full message of auster begg or read one of his books i don't even know i don't know if i've read an article of history so he's well known how they respect it but i've i've never just tons of ministries out there that i've never read books listen to messages etc but let's say you have let's say for years you you love listening to his show let's say for years you've you've read his books but don't throw out all the good that you got from him don't throw out all the ways that he's helped you and don't view him now as as compromised with the devil this is something where we we have a strong difference of approach and opinion and yes yes yes yes yes i am concerned anytime we move the boundary stones i am concerned with any concession because i know where these things lead so that does concern me even though he's not wavering for a split second in terms of what he believes the bible says or what a genuine wedding is in god's sight or how we should i deal with with trans identity etc he's not wavering from his biblical viewpoints there so don't throw out the baby with the bath water i understand why certain networks say okay if he said that and and his voice is going on our network and he and he's going to hold the line on that then we don't want them on our network i understand that i have colleagues by the way that have removed him from their networks and other colleagues that have kept him on their networks and each network has to answer to god i'm i'm not there i'm on their networks i'm blessed to be on their networks i'm not there to tell them what to do or how to operate okay i'm not trying to be politically correct you're just it's not my role that's not my role if there's a sin issue i'll call it out but i i just want to caution us you can strongly differ with pastor beg you can even say my dear brother with all respect she was a leader in the body i believe you're wrong here and i believe that you've misled others and you've opened up a dangerous door and i believe there needs to be repentance that can be your viewpoint but don't throw the man out entirely because of that don't write the man off entirely because of that difference because ultimately he's still without flinching holding to his view of the authority of scripture holding to his view of the lordship of jesus holding to his view of salvation only through the blood and the cross and the resurrection of the son of god holding to the essential nature of the new birth and and and saying that we affirm marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman and anything outside of that is not valid marriage in god's sight and that homosexual practice is always sinful in god's sight no matter how loving and committed the relationship and that god's solution for trans identity and gender struggles is to make someone whole from the inside out and that all of us in following jesus must deny our very self and take up the cross and follow him i believe he still holds to all those views so while you may have a very strong difference with his opinion on attending one of these events or giving a gift as as i do as i've said very clearly uh you you may think it's it's really harmful which i get and i'm deeply concerned about anything that that opens up a wrong door or deepens our moral confusion but don't don't burn the guy's books now don't try to unlearn everything you learn from him and what i would do is i would say here's how i would pray i would say lord alistair begg is your servant and i pray that whatever is on your heart in this situation that you would speak to him that you would leave him even more deeply into a spirit of truth more deeply intimacy with you more moral clarity than he's ever had and i pray the exact same prayer for myself i would then turn around and pray that exact same prayer for myself so i'm not standing as an accuser of the brothers the brothers and sisters i'm making clear my difference i'm not compromising my view on that but rather than praying for him like he's some enemy and i'm his moral superior i'd say god share your heart with him fully through your word and spirit and help him to represent your heart fully through the word and spirit to you and through your word and spirit to your people that's the prayer that i pray whether there's been sin or error bring them to repentance and shine your light on my life too are you get to weigh in in the comments section if you're watching on youtube or facebook let us know how you're sorting this out as well