You Are Loved?
What’s Better, the Truth that Hurts then Saves, or the Lie that Destroys?
Walking out my door I take a right and head downtown Helena, Montana. Passing a school and the town’s beautiful cathedral I next spy St. Paul’s Methodist Church. Prominently displayed in the window hangs the transgender flag. A flag often displayed by people or organizations who want to consider themselves the segment of society that genuinely loves people no matter how they live their lives. But is that really love?
After returning home I run an errand and see a giant transgender flag on an interstate billboard saying, “You Are Loved.” I’m struck by the fact that God creates us all and He is an awesome and just God. Should we the celebrate a lifestyle choice that mocks and belittles what God made and call it love? His word is clear that He created us wonderful the way we are born, man and woman.[i]
Psalm 139:13 - Psalm 139:16
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
So, God loves us all and created us with the capacity to love Him and each other. To encourage someone to remain in and celebrate their sin is not love. I know my own sins and those who love me would never encourage me to pursue them, instead they’d hold me accountable. Christians must stand firm against sin in any form, knowing that none of us are sinless. This means that acts of real love are those that help the homosexual and transgender be free of their sin, something only possible through Jesus Christ. As a Christian man, I must also display my love for others by sharing a truth that hurts then saves over the lie that destroys.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Romans 1:26-27
God made us “wonderful” as male and female. Modifying or denying our true nature is mocking God. Let’s look at the LGBTQ flag as an example. First, it claims to be a “rainbow” flag, but it’s not. There are six colored stripes in that flag, a rainbow has seven. The color that’s missing is indigo. Indigo is the color that stands for the rule of the mind, our reasoning ability, and the intellect. It represents knowledge, dignity, and intuition. Biblically the number seven represents perfection, while the number six represents man. One can easily see how this flag serves to mock God and his creation by magnifying man over God, while also denying basic reason and dignity.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Galatians 6:7
What love is this then? I am not a worthy judge of others, but God is and to Him alone will a person answer. Many will read this and hate its message, but I’d rather stand alone in God’s perfect truth and genuinely love people. It’s better than joining the crowd and supporting a lie.
Lt Col (ret), US Army, Darin Gaub is a Co-founder of Restore Liberty, an international military strategist and foreign policy analyst, an executive leadership coach, and serves on the boards of multiple volunteer international, national, and state level organizations. He’s served as an elder and deacon in churches across the country and has taught biblical apologetics for 25 years.
[i] There are times when there are birth defects that force parents to choose the sex/gender of their child. These extraordinary circumstances should be addressed for what they are, rare.