Objecting With Love
As our culture becomes less and less “Christian”, we will increasingly face situations in which we are pressured to participate in or approve of activities that are sinful. As I write, the Supreme Court is considering just such a case, in which a Christian web designer is suing Colorado over a policy that would essentially force her to design websites for same-sex weddings. Christians in wedding-related professions have faced this situation for several years, but it is spreading far beyond that industry. Christians in all walks of life are threatened with similar scenarios. A Christian family may be invited to the same-sex wedding of a friend or family member. A Christian supervisor may be directed by superiors or company policy to participate in Pride Month events . Christian parents may face situations in which their children are forced by school policy to participate in Pride Month events or be exposed to overly descriptive or graphic curriculum on sexuality. And these are just scenarios dealing with homosexuality. There may be mandatory work social events in which excessive drinking is essentially required, work or school policies that require active support of causes that directly contradict Scripture and lead to the degradation of society, or the expectation of working in a dishonest way to increase profits. Possibly the most likely scenario for any Christian involves transgenderism and the use of pronouns clearly inconsistent with biology, which I cannot cover briefly here, so I will cover it in the next post. And there is a myriad of other such situations that any Christian may encounter.
Approaching the Situation
Clearly, all Christians need to be prepared to respond biblically to any of these scenarios. While such a prospect is new for American Christians, it has been the norm throughout the history of the Church, as Peter makes clear:
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
-1 Peter 3:13-17, ESV
In this passage, Peter basically outlines how Christians should approach these situations. This begins with approaching the situation with the right perspective. Peter points out that no matter what happens, blessing will come to those who obey Christ. Whether no harm comes to you because you are doing good (which Peter says is generally the case) or you suffer for the sake of righteousness, you will be blessed, whether in this life or the next. Therefore, we should approach the situation without fear, trusting in the sovereignty and goodness of God over and above what any human can do. We must fear God rather than man, which is the point of Isaiah 8:12-13, which Peter is directly referencing in verses 14 and 15. Next, we must start with the objective of honoring Christ as of first importance. We must honor and obey Christ in whatever we do, so however we decide to act in the situation, it must honor and obey Christ. Then, we must always be prepared to give an answer as to why we decided to act in that way. This means we need to have a well-thought-out reason from Scripture and be able to explain it. But we must do this with gentleness and respect, honoring our opponents as people made in the image of God. So any conscientious objection must be both logically robust from Scripture and lovingly applied with the ultimate objective of glorifying Christ.
Knowing Your Opponent
With that in mind, we must prepare for battle. Arguably the most famous line from Sun Tzu’s Art of War is: “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril”. He wrote this around the fifth century B.C. about military battles but it applies equally to spiritual battles. Make no mistake, when we face these situations we are at war and must therefore take on a wartime mentality, following his advice to know both ourselves and our opponents. First, we must recognize that the people who make and support these policies are not the enemy, neither are the people who want to coerce us to support their sinful lifestyle. Instead, the true enemy is the devil who has blinded and enslaved them. Therefore, we must always approach our opponents not as the true enemy but as those held captive by the true enemy, whom God can free from that captivity. He may even choose to use the humble and winsome demeanor with which we approach them as part of their salvation. Paul says as much when telling Timothy how elders are to approach such conflicts:
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
-2 Timothy 2:24-26, ESV
Just as it would be foolish to treat an enemy harshly who is about to defect to your side, it would be foolish to alienate someone whom God may save (and therefore make your brother or sister). The Gospel that says that all people are dead in sin and cannot do anything to be right with God is inherently offensive, so we have no need (or Scriptural warrant) to offend people any further. In everything, we must avoid offending God altogether and endeavor to offend people as little as possible.
We must also acknowledge that the reason we can object to sinful activity in the first place is that the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the beauty of obedience to His Word and the ugliness of sin and empowers us to choose to obey God rather than sin. Unbelievers do not have access to that power, so we should not be surprised when they find our arguments filled with biblical logic to be absurd. Again, this is nothing new, as Peter notes in the very next chapter:
“For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
-1 Peter 4:3-5, ESV
Note how Peter says that unbelievers who practice various sins are surprised when Christians will not join them in those sins. Self-indulgence is the norm, so self-denial in obedience to rules that appear to stifle our pleasure would naturally seem absurd. The fact that those rules govern thoughts and motives as well as words and actions would seem even more absurd. Therefore, our unwillingness to participate in activities that affirm their lifestyle would seem unreasonable. The fact that we refuse to do seemingly insignificant things like sending an email acknowledging Pride Month, attending a same-sex wedding, or using preferred pronouns can certainly seem narrow-minded and intolerant. In a sense, that accusation would be correct. Christians view everything through the lens of Scripture and pass everything through the filter of Scripture, which certainly does narrow our point of view. This narrowing is necessary to maintain truth and obey God, but it is a narrowing nonetheless. Thus, as we explain our conscientious objections, we need to be both kind and patient, acknowledging the astronomical difference in our worldviews that hinders mutual understanding.
An Outline for Objection
This means that we need to be very clear when explaining the reasoning for our objections. Once we explain this, we also need to clearly state what we can and cannot do biblically in the particular situation. Here is an outline that may be helpful in communicating our argument:
Start with the authority of Scripture, pointing out that the Bible is the ultimate authority over a Christian’s life, so you are bound to what the Bible clearly teaches. Emphasize the fact that you must obey God even if it means disobeying human authorities.
State what the Bible clearly teaches about the subject, making sure that you are interpreting the applicable passages properly. Be cognizant of different interpretations that genuine Christians may have on unclear passages and instead focus on the clear passages. For issues that are spelled out (such as homosexuality) you can cite those verses directly, but for issues that are not directly addressed, you will need to build your argument from who God is, who we are, and how we are to reflect and represent God. An important point in approaching most of these issues will be that the Bible teaches that any approval of sin is sinful (Romans 1:32).
Apply what the Bible clearly teaches to the specific situation by clearly stating what you cannot do, tying it in with the clear Scriptures you previously laid out.
State what you can do. Since we are commanded in Scripture to submit to the human authorities God has put in place, we must only disobey human authorities by the minimum amount required to obey God. Going any further would be a violation of passages like Romans 13:1-7.
At present in the United States, you can often appeal to the First Amendment and legal precedent as well. This may not always be the case, but for now it can still be useful. While we do not place our trust in the law or the Bill of Rights, they are given by God through government for our good. This can be useful when those trying to compel us to support sinful activity do not recognize the authority of Scripture.
In all of this, we must focus on the facts. Keep to what the Bible says and what that means for what you can and cannot do. Avoid accusations of narrow-mindedness and intolerance, remembering that while you may perceive those traits in them, they also perceive those traits in you. This is especially important as they may try to argue with you that you are going against Scripture’s clear teaching that God is love and that we are to love one another. In truth, acceptance of sin is very unloving, but if you cannot patiently explain that in the moment, there is no shame in saying that you will study that and then continue the conversation at a later point.
An Example: Supporting Pride Month
For a brief example of this, let’s take a supervisor compelled by superiors or policy to promote the organization’s Pride Month activities. In this scenario, all supervisors are required to send a message to all of their subordinates with the schedule of events and encouraging participation in those events. A biblical response might be for the supervisor to start with how the Bible has ultimate authority over his or her life (Deuteronomy 8:3, 1 Timothy 3:16-17) and the obligation to obey the Bible even if it contradicts the policy (Acts 5:29). Next the supervisor can explain how the Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is sinful (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Timothy 1:6-11) and that it is also sinful to approve of sinful activity like homosexuality (Romans 1:32). Then the supervisor can state that it would also be sinful to treat anyone as image bearers of God with disrespect (Romans 12:10, 1 Peter 2:17), particularly those in authority (Romans 13:7). With this established, the supervisor can then lay out the way in which he or she will comply with the policy as much as possible without sinning. This might be to send a generic message extolling the importance of respecting and seeking to understand those of diverse backgrounds in the workplace (which can certainly be supported by Scripture) with a link to the organization’s cultural event calendar for all who wish to participate but without any encouragement to participate in specific events. This would allow the supervisor to fulfill the intent of the policy and accomplish much of its underlying objective without sinning by promoting specific events that celebrate sin.
Trusting God with the Consequences
Finally, Peter is clear that we must then obey God accept the consequences from man. The broader section begins with the exhortation to not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling (1 Peter 3:9), assuming that we will experience evil and reviling. This is reinforced with the assumption that we will be slandered in verse 16, which echoes what he said earlier about how people would speak against us as evildoers (1 Peter 2:12). Therefore, we should not be surprised if our objection is rejected, not matter how solid and biblical it was or how respectfully and kindly it was delivered. Remember that our opponents are blinded by the enemy such that they cannot see the situation through the lens of Scripture as we do, so they will likely still consider us narrow-minded, bigoted, and even hateful. We may well lose respect, relationships, and even jobs over this. Regardless of what happens, a major theme of 1 Peter is to endure these trials by trusting that God will provide what we need, including final justice. Another theme woven throughout this section of 1 Peter is that trusting in God to bring about final justice on our behalf enables us to endure these trials. Therefore, we must not take vengeance but trust in the ultimate justice of God. If they do not repent in this life, they will die in their sin apart from Christ and suffer God’s infinite wrath for eternity. Our personal vengeance against them cannot add anything to that, so it would be pointless. God has promised to sustain us and to work out everything for our sanctification and ultimate glorification. The question is: will we trust Him to do that when our life becomes difficult?
As situations like this become more common, Christians in nearly any context will have to biblically object to these culturally expected policies and practices. No matter the situation, we must start with the authority of Scripture, explain why we cannot acquiesce from what is clearly taught in Scripture, lay out how we will disobey the policy only enough to avoid sinning while maintaining respect for all, and then accepting the consequences and trusting God to sustain us through them and bring ultimate justice in the end. This model can be used in any such scenario but it could be fleshed out more. Next time, I will apply it specifically to the topic of transgenderism and pronouns, which I see as the most likely scenario most Christians (including myself) will face.
