Homosexuality is a hot topic these days. While social media is filled with inflammatory comments being thrown in every direction, many Christians wrongly think that their only options are to compromise their views or tell the world that homosexuals are going to hell. But Alan Chambers of Exodus International is reaching out to homosexuals in love. Instead of unfruitful condemnation, he is seeking to help them out of a homosexual lifestyle so that they can enjoy life the way God intended.
What’s more is he is taking a stand for the eternal security of homosexuals who believe in Christ. He told CBN News, “We agree acting on same-sex attraction is sin, it creates a barrier in someone’s relationship with Christ… However we do not differentiate between homosexual practice and other unrepentant sins. I, Alan, personally hold to a belief that once someone is truly saved such a relationship is irrevocable” (here).
Sadly Robert Gagnon, a professor at Pittsburg Theological Seminary, is calling for Chambers’s dismissal over this issue. Gagnon said, “…Alan’s approach of providing assurances of salvation to those actively engaged in sexually immoral intercourse is a very different approach than Jesus’ and Paul’s warnings that immoral sexual behavior…can get one…thrown into hell” (here). His argument is based upon confusion between eternal destiny and eternal reward.
Chambers’s method isn’t popular because grace just isn’t popular. But we need to support Chambers and everyone else who stands up for truth and chooses to apply that truth toward real people with real problems. That’s what Jesus did with the woman at the well (John 4), and with the woman caught in adultery (John 8), and with Peter when Jesus revealed that he would deny Him three times (John 13:38–14:1).
Free Grace is practical truth. It helps us keep a level head when serious love is called for. Armed with Free Grace truth, we can truly meet people where they are and love them away from sinful behavior and into a closer relationship with God.