Dear pastors and elders. No matter how well-intended, I’m rather afraid that your words are not always heard the way you think. Here, let me translate.
“You shouldn’t identify with your sin” = “Get back in your closet.”
“Your identity is in Christ” = “Fake it ’til you make it”
“You’re minimizing the power of the gospel to change you” = “You’re unbelieving”
“You can’t be gay and Christain” = “You are not saved.”
Rev. Greg Johnson
Johnson lately has been in uber mode complaining about how people in the Church are going after poor Greg and yet nobody says anything about the sin of slander that he is experiencing from other clergy members. Yet, in this write-up above Johnson himself has now gone from the desire to bugger other men to an actual generic slander of other men. Greg is slandering these unnamed men by suggesting that they are being deceptive in their language.
Alternately, if Greg will insist that he is not saying that his translations are really the heart intent of these unnamed ministers but rather only the way they are being heard by the “I have a desire to bugger other men” crowd then the question has to be asked of Greg; “Whose fault is that?” If the “I desire to bugger other men crowd,” can’t take what is being said at its face value but instead are practicing a hermeneutic of suspicion one can hardly blame these unnamed ministers for that as Greg is doing.
Having said that let’s look at some of what Greg says here. First, speaking only for myself, I do believe that Greg and his fellow “I desire to bugger other men” crowd should indeed get back into the closet. Why would unnatural, loathsome, and despicable desires be flaunted by the “I desire to bugger other men crowd like some cheap whore waiting at the dock for the sailors to come ashore?” So, count me as someone who wants Greg and his buds to be back in the closet. Compassion for those who might be tempted to go into this “death-style” (as opposed to lifestyle) constrains me to speak this way. Note here I am NOT saying that Greg and his buddies who desire other men’s butts are not saved. I am merely saying the common acknowledgment of it over loudspeakers or from pulpits is both unsavory and undesirable.
The “Fake it till you make it” complaint from Greg is just another repeated verse from his common refrain that same-sex attracted people can no more be cured of this inordinate desire than an amputee can be cured of his lack of a limb. He can keep repeating that mantra all he wants but his repeating it does not make it so. Besides, the “Fake it till you make it” insistence is more often than not just saying that the love that once dared not speak its name now just shut up about these detestable desires.
Why would a wise counselor believe that God would leave people with desires that God hates? If someone came to a godly counselor saying that they had a desire to bed farm animals would we think that God would leave that person who is in union with Christ to continue to desire to bed farm animals, or would a godly counselor comfort them that God will lead them out of these kinds of inordinate sexual desires? There is nothing wrong with telling people that God will provide a way out of their temptation to bed farm animals or other men.
I do believe that someone can have a desire to bed other men and be Christian. Scripture warns about besetting sins that Christians have to put off and I think this desire for other men could fall under that category.
However, I do not believe that someone can have a desire to bed other men and be so satisfied with the presence of that desire in their lives that they talk about queer culture coming into the Kingdom of God and be Christian. This you have done Greg and that is why I wonder if you are indeed in Christ. Jesus said, “By their fruit, you shall know them,” and the fruit you are producing by this crusade Greg is not of God.
It is clear from reading your twitter feed Greg that you have become incredibly embittered and are now on an angry crusade trying to pull Christianity into your twisted reality.
“I do believe that someone can have a desire to bed other men and be Christian. Scripture warns about besetting sins that Christians have to put off and I think this desire for other men could fall under that category.
However, I do not believe that someone can have a desire to bed other men and be so satisfied with the presence of that desire in their lives that they talk about queer culture coming into the Kingdom of God and be Christian. This you have done Greg and that is why I wonder if you are indeed in Christ. Jesus said, “By their fruit, you shall know them,” and the fruit you are producing by this crusade Greg is not of God.”
Exactly. If a Christian truly loathes his own sin, which is a Christian’s first step in growing in sanctifying power, he would be more disgusted by it than those who oppose him–so disgusted that he would rather suffer in obscurity than risk polluting the body of Christ.