As Andy Stanley’s church and public profile have grown, the pastor has become an increasingly controversial figure in Christian life. His attempts to make the gospel attractive to the lost appear to come from a genuine desire to help people know the Lord, but too often he crosses boundaries that end up drawing people to a god that stands in contrast to the God of Scripture. As such, perhaps it should not come as a surprise that he and his church are in the news once again in the buildup to the Unconditional Conference that they will host next week.

The Unconditional Conference is an event “for parents of LGBTQ+ children and for ministry leaders looking to discover ways to support parents and LGBTQ+ children in their churches.” They promise that those who attend “will be equipped, refreshed, and inspired as you hear from leading communicators on topics that speak to your heart, soul, and mind,” adding that “no matter what theological stance you hold, we invite you to listen, reflect, and learn as we approach this topic from the quieter middle space.”

How they define that “middle space” has been the primary point of contention for many.

“Normalizing the LGBTQ+ revolution”

Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Seminary, remarked that “the promise of ‘the quieter middle space’ might appear attractive, given the volatility of cultural discourse on LGBTQ+ issues, and a conference designed to help parents of LGBTQ+ children and ministry leaders work through these issues in clearly Biblical terms would be a welcome development. But the advertising for the Unconditional Conference indicates clearly that this event is designed as a platform for normalizing the LGBTQ+ revolution.”

Mohler went on to point out that many of the event’s speakers—such as David Gushee, Justin Lee, and Brian Nietzel—have made clear their stance on this issue. As such, Mohler argues that “this conference is not really ‘quiet,’ nor is it ‘middle space.’ It is structured as what most evangelicals would quickly recognize as a departure from historic normative Biblical Christianity.”

And it is difficult to disagree with his assessment. While the list of breakout sessions and description of the event make it seem as though the event truly is focused on giving parents and ministers advice on relating to LGBTQ+ youth, it also appears that such advice will be given from a foundation of acceptance for that lifestyle.

Still, it would be presumptuous to pass firm judgment on the content of an event that has yet to take place, and both Andy Stanley and the group behind the conference have not spoken clearly on the details of those sessions to this point.

It’s possible that we will address the conference once again after it takes place, but for today I would like to focus instead on the way these conversations tend to occur and how we can engage with this subject in a way that does the greatest good for the kingdom.

How do you speak biblically to someone who doesn’t believe the Bible is true?

One of the most common mistakes Christians make when discussing LGBTQ+ issues is speaking the same way to non-Christians as we would to fellow believers.

When writing to other Christians, as Al Mohler was doing, grounding our argument for a biblical view of sexuality in the truth of Scripture is both right and relevant. We should be able to assume—though it is, unfortunately, not always the case—that those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior will give weight to his word. We can have honest disagreements about how certain passages should be interpreted and applied to a modern context (see “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?”), but a basic foundation of biblical authority should provide common ground for discussion.

With non-Christians, however, that is not the case.

The lost are unlikely to be convinced by an argument for a biblical view of sexuality that is based primarily in Scriptures that they do not see as relevant or authoritative. Moreover, it should not come as a surprise when God’s truth is difficult to accept for those whose minds “the god of this world has blinded” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

We should be prepared to speak the truth about what the Bible teaches regarding sexuality and to do so with the confidence, love, and grace that Christ showed throughout his ministry, but we also shouldn’t linger on the subject any longer than we have to.

The truth is, until a person embraces God, they have little reason to care about what his word says on this—or any—subject. As such, helping them to know and accept Jesus needs to be our primary focus.

So how can we do that?

A true test of your (digital) character

The most important step we can take in helping people come to accept Christ as their savior is to live a life that draws people to him.

Maintaining such a witness doesn’t mean achieving a perfection that is, ultimately, impossible this side of heaven, but there are steps each of us can take that could help and blind spots we must address.

Take social media, for example. We may like, share, and post content with little thought to how it might impact the way other people see us. The truth, however, is that our digital persona is often the primary expression of who we are for most of the people we know. After all, how many magnitudes more friends do you have on Facebook than you interact with in real life?

To better understand the impact of your digital profile, ask a friend or family member to spend a few minutes going through your Facebook page, X (Twitter) feed, or other social media as if you were a stranger to them. Then ask for an honest assessment of how they would characterize the person whose content they’d just read.

How easy would it be for the person they described to tell someone about the love and grace of Christ? What would the gospel sound like coming from them?

Whether it’s issues of sexuality, politics, or any other controversial topic, endeavor to make sure that the person you present to others—either in person or online—is someone who could present the good news of Jesus without the words sounding foreign or hypocritical to those who need to hear them. And while we must never shy away from defending biblical truth, we also need to recognize that we can’t have those discussions the same way with people who don’t care about the Bible.

So the next time you’re given the opportunity to comment on
or discuss a topic where the biblical view stands in contrast to the culturally acceptable perspective, take some time to recognize with whom you’re talking and who else might be around to hear or see it. Then ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the path best suited to helping others come to know the God of Scripture.

Helping others know Jesus—the real Jesus—must remain our highest priority.

Is it yours?

Denison Forum

Bryan Johnson swallows 111 pills a day, wears a baseball cap that shoots red light into his scalp, and sleeps in a laser face-shield for collagen growth and wrinkle reduction. The multimillionaire tech entrepreneur has spent more than $4 million developing a life-extension system he calls Blueprint. It outsources every decision involving his body to a team of doctors, who then use this data to develop a strict health regimen to reduce what Johnson calls his “biological age.” His goal is to never die.

But what if he has an accident, like the British tourist who plummeted three hundred feet to his death in Austria while climbing an aerial ladder made popular by Instagram photos? Or he is struck by the asteroid Bennu, which NASA scientists predict could strike Earth in the future? Or another virus outbreak starts another pandemic? Or another natural disaster finds him?

Experts asked about Johnson’s quest to live forever were skeptical in the extreme. “There’s absolutely no evidence that it’s possible,” said one, “and there’s absolutely no technology right now that even suggests that we’re heading that way.”

Another added: “If you want immortality, you should go to a church.”

Which is precisely my point today.

“Your soul takes the color of your thoughts”

Marcus Aurelius observed: “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes the color of your thoughts.” He also said, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

Bryan Johnson is passionately pursuing an idea at the cost of other priorities and values. Vladimir Putin is pursuing a fictitious narrative of Russian imperial greatness contrived primarily by his ghostwriter and chief propagandist, Vladimir Medinsky. The recent devastation in Libya was caused not just by flooding but by a breakdown of the civil order there, leading to dam and infrastructure failures that greatly exacerbated the tragedy.

I recorded a podcast yesterday with a Cuban pastor who is one of my dearest friends. He has lived his entire life in the shadow of ideas first propagated by a then-obscure economics philosopher named Karl Marx. Das Kapital and the worldview it espoused have enslaved billions of people to Communist ideology.

In his thoughtful meditation on Psalm 23 titled Life Without Lack, philosopher Dallas Willard noted: “Our ideas form the belief system upon which we base our actions and decisions, and these in turn determine the trajectory of our lives. Living a life without lack involves recognizing the idea systems that govern the present age and its respective cultures—as well as those that constitute life away from God—and replacing them with the idea system that was embodied and taught by Jesus Christ” (my emphases)

How do we do both?

One: View secularism as spiritual warfare.

By multiple measures, American society is less religious and less biblical than ever before in our lifetime. In such a culture, we must expect to face false ideologies and immoral value systems because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

In this spiritual battle, we need the “belt of truth” and the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14, 17). We need to see unbiblical truth claims as attacks by Satan on the minds and eternal souls of everyone we know, including our children and grandchildren. I often quote my friend John Stonestreet in this regard: “Ideas have consequences, and bad ideas have victims.”

Two: Think biblically to act redemptively.

I told my seminary students that the only word God is obligated to bless is his word. I know this because he said of biblical truth, “It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

Thus, in every conflict of ideas, turn first to Scripture. Ask what God says on the subject, then act redemptively to bring his word to life.

Three: Know Christ and make him known with excellence.

The wisest man who ever lived (apart from Christ) noted, “The fear of the Lᴏʀᴅ is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). The greatest theologian in history added that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

The omniscient Lord of the universe exhorts us: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth” (Jeremiah 9:23–24).

God wants us to “understand” him intellectually and then to “know” him intimately. One of my mentors noted, “The Holy Spirit has a strange affinity for the trained mind.” C. S. Lewis likewise asserted that God “wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim.”

When we have a passion to know Christ and make him known to our fallen culture, we can say with the prophet of old: “As the Lᴏʀᴅ lives, what the Lᴏʀᴅ says to me, that I will speak” (1 Kings 22:14).

And our world can never be the same.

Denison Forum