An open letter to homosexuals

By J. Matt Barber

I write this not to professional homosexuals. That is to say, not to members of the well-funded, politically powerful homosexual activist lobby. They will mock and reject my words outright. They will twist and misrepresent what I say to further their own socio-political agenda. That's fine. It's to be expected. It merits little more than a yawn and an eye roll.

Instead, I write this to my fellow travelers in life — average, ordinary people, male and female, young and old — who happen to call themselves "gay." I write this out of obedience to God.

It is my hope and prayer that you will consider what I have to say and take it at face value. My intentions are pure and my motives upright. If I can plant the seed of truth in just one person, and that seed begins to sprout, then I consider this letter a success.

I pray that you are that person.

What I write may offend you. It may even infuriate you. But I hope it makes you think. Know this: Your friends have lied to you. Christians do not hate you. We love you intensely. We love you because of who you are, not because of what you do or because of who you think you are.

Still, to love someone and to lie to them is to hate them — especially when that lie inevitably leads to a tragic and hopeless end.

If you have a loved one, blindfolded and running full speed toward cliff's edge, do you not yell, stop! Would you not run after them, even tackling them if need be to prevent them from plummeting to certain death? What would we think of the person who said: "Keep running; all is well."

All is not well, and you know it. On this path, "it" decidedly does not "get better." It only gets worse. You will fall and you will die — perhaps not physical death, straight away — but certainly, an emotional and spiritual death. Homosexual activists, "progressives," Hollywood, the media, academia and popular culture are telling you to keep running.

I'm yelling, stop!

Your lifestyle — homosexuality — is always and forever, objectively and demonstrably wrong. It is never good, natural, right or praiseworthy. If you have "gay pride," you have "sin pride." Although homosexuality is not the only sexual sin, it is, indeed, sin. Scripture is unequivocal on this fact throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

But this reality is manifest beyond the pages of Scripture. Unnatural behaviors beget natural consequences. So-called "homophobia" is not responsible for the fact that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-in-five "gay" men and adolescents in major cities across America have been infected — through bad behavior — with HIV/AIDS.

Sin is responsible.

In almost every category — disease, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide — those who call themselves "gay" live and die with consequences that have nothing gay, in the true sense of the word, about them.

Is this you? Be honest.

At least be honest with yourself.

Scripture admonishes: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). This does not simply mean physical death, but something far worse: spiritual death.

Yes, hell.

I know from which I speak. I am no better than you. I, too, once lived a lifestyle of sexual sin. Not homosexual sin, but sexual sin nonetheless. As a young man I did not treat God's daughters as He intended and, instead, engaged in a lifestyle of selfish womanizing and fornication.

The wages of sin in my life was death — spiritual and emotional death. I was on your same path.

But by His grace, I was offered and accepted "the free gift of God." I, instead, was saved and given "eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Do I still struggle with sin? Of course. Every day. We all do. We are fallen. We are sinners.

Still, Christ's gift to me was forgiveness, redemption and life everlasting. My friend, that gift is available to you as well.

Snatch it up. Please.

During the Awakening 2011 — a national conference held, that year, at Liberty University — I was visiting with a young woman from the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). I liked her. I loved her, in fact, in the way her heavenly Father, Christ Jesus, loves her and has enabled me to love her. I think of her and pray for her often.

In recent years, the SPLC has taken to smearing Christian organizations that defend the biblical sexual ethic as "hate groups." After visiting for a while, I asked this young woman if she really believed that we Christians hate homosexuals. To my surprise she admitted that we do not. "But the things you say are sometimes hateful," she added.

Indeed, truth is hate to those who hate truth.

The truth is that you have immeasurable value. You are a beautiful, unique, priceless human being. The very Creator of the universe, in the person of Jesus Christ, took such an interest in you that He meticulously wove you together in your mother's womb. He loves you with a love that no human can fully grasp. Still, this is true not because of your so-called "sexual orientation," but, rather, in spite of it.

You are valuable and worthy of love because God created you in His image. If you define your identity based upon sexual temptations and behaviors your Creator has called sin — an "abomination" — then you are not fulfilling the purpose for which He created you. In so doing, you have become the sum total of your sins. You are in rebellion against God and you know it.

He made you to know it.

Yes, the activists tell you to take "pride" in your "sexual orientation," but you don't feel pride. You feel ashamed, and so you try, in vain, to numb the shame with more of the very behavior that causes it. You will never fill the void you feel with drugs, alcohol or more sexual acting-out. These things only expand your emptiness.

Christ alone can fill the void.

And He will.

© J. Matt Barber