Caleb Harrelson
[Originally published as Is the world more loving and welcoming than the Church?]
No, the world is not more loving than Christ and His bride.
Let’s focus on some key fallacies of those who celebrate “pride month” to briefly unpack this fallacious idea.
The Straw man and poisoning the well fallacy:
“We welcome and love all kinds of people here.” — when making pride affirmation statements.
You can take a look at the social media of places like Cracker Barrel, the El Paso Zoo, and many other organizations to see examples of this.
What’s the implication?
That those who don’t accept gender confusion, the gnostic view of identity, homosexuality, etc., do not love and welcome people. Thus, progressives build fallacy upon fallacy and end up arguing that in order to be loving, you must be affirming. So, people feel like they now need to make a public statement to show that they don’t hate people (compared to the non-affirming people who allegedly hate people). It’s a giant category error and straw man that poisons the well against orthodox Christians and organizations.
They are doing secular apologetics, which includes language theft with the words “accepting and “welcoming” and discipleship in their worldview while simultaneously bullying people into accepting their secular creed under fear of being labeled a “hater of humanity” and facing possible doxing.
They are directly challenging the ecclesiastical statements from churches that “all are welcome here.” Also, it’s an equivocation that if you don’t affirm homosexuality, then you are not welcoming people.
Secular humanism and expressive individualism have created a new false church of “we are more loving than Jesus….love your truth.”
It’s a blatant lie.
Jesus is opposed to false teaching and sexual immorality (see Revelation 22:15). Churches welcome all people as image bearers of God, but the proper exposition of the Word of God should make sinners uncomfortable in their rebellion to God and should urge them to turn it all over in repentance and trust in Christ alone for forgiveness (1 John 1:9). God calls people to build their lives around their identity in Christ alone and nothing else (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It’s a social construct for people to demand that others must affirm their identity as consisting primarily as something beyond simply being a human being. Now people insist on having special privileges in society regardless of the consequences to others.
In the words of Dr. Andrew Sandlin:
Human sexuality is not identity. It is a creational norm. It is an ineradicable aspect of the divinely established cosmic operating system. To transform sex into an identity, and to argue that one may choose his (her, its) identity, is nothing short of cosmic insurrection. It is an attempt to overturn the universe.
Interestingly enough, those who are gay-affirming also tend to deny the humanity of (and their right to life) the unborn and argue for their abortion. It’s the fruit of their rotten worldview.
Conclusion
It is true that the body of Christ, the Church, doesn’t always act Christ-like; however, when it is faithful and uncompromising on the message of his Word, it is the most loving.
The world celebrates and welcomes rebellion to God. Encouraging that is the epitome of hate. Encouraging repentance and trusting and obeying Christ and His Word is the most loving thing anyone can do.
Want more on this topic? Check out my article, “If you don’t affirm, then…“, which unpacks in greater depth the fallacious argument that you aren’t loving if you aren’t gay-affirming.
