There are plenty of good things that summer brings: baseball, vacations, cookouts and the like. But in the last few years, the country as a whole welcomes summer with something new. And it’s not good.
Unless you’re color-blind, you can’t help but notice that it looks like a box of crayons threw up all over the country on June 1. Businesses, banks, baseball teams and beer companies all compete to see who can be the gayest.
And we call it pride.
But this June, we don’t need to celebrate this lifestyle, nor should we sit idly by while Target, public libraries and drag queens try to force pride on our kids. Instead, we need to cry out to God to have mercy on us.
A common objection lobbed at Christians today is that Jesus never addressed homosexuality or transgenderism. But He did, quoting Genesis 1:27 as recounted in Matthew 19:4: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning ‘made them male and female?’” In this statement, Jesus affirmed that gender is not fluid and that sexual activity is to be enjoyed thoroughly but exclusively by a man and a woman in marriage. Anything outside of that is sin.
Sin is more than just a moral or theological matter: it has consequences. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” Paul writes in Romans 1:18. He continues in Romans 1:26-27 by saying, “For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” So sin is not just wrong; it also hurts people.
Everyone who has attended a Sunday school class likely knows the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them,” Jude 7 says, “since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
In spite of what both nature and divine revelation teach about how bad these sins are, we not only continue to engage in these activities but almost turn it into a competition to see who can be the worst at them!
This is not something in which we should take pride. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall,” King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:18. Perhaps this lament about taking pride in sin will be nothing more than a voice crying out in the wilderness in the end. But for those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
Sin — all sin — comes with a penalty: eternal separation from God in hell. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8 says. God so loved sinners that He crushed His Son instead of us so that all who believe in Him might be saved. When Pride Month screams “love is love,” Jesus holds out His nail-scarred hands and says, “this is love” in return.
So this June, my hope for America is that we will no longer take pride in things that hurt us, separate us from God and incur His wrath. Instead of being haughty, let us repent. Repentance doesn’t mean beating yourself up or working to atone for what you’ve done. It simply means turning your back on sin, turning to Christ, confessing that you need Him, and calling on Him to save you. Come “be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16.)
Truthfully, the foregoing applies to all kinds of sin, not just homosexuality and transgenderism. But I feel compelled to speak about those specific issues today because there’s no other sin that gets a full Pride Month, is in your face constantly and demands that you not only tolerate it but also celebrate it. As the world pushes this on us and our kids, we must stand up, speaking the truth in love. Sin comes with a penalty, but God makes a provision if we will just avail ourselves of it.
Matt Clark is the President of the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. His column appears every Friday in 1819 News. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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