First, I will share something that I say in my commentary Defending the LGBTQ community isn’t easy for a Christian.

I have shared the above statement on Twitter. In response, some Christian pastors altered the Gospel so that it excludes members of the LGBTQ community.

Except that the Gospel described in the New Testament doesn’t exclude members of the LGBTQ community.

For example . . .

. . . and . . .

Contrary to the so-called “Gospel” presented by the aforementioned pastors, the Gospel in the New Testament says the following:

. . . and . . .

Nowhere in the above-shown verses are members of the LGBTQ community excluded from having saving faith in Messiah Jesus, and those verses say that a person who has faith in Jesus has eternal life.

Show me a member of the LGBTQ community who has turned to Messiah Jesus for salvation, and I will show you a person who has repented of sins, which means that the person will spend eternity in Heaven.

The aforemented pastors claim that anyone with unconfessed sins will not go to Heaven. They make the mistake of assuming that cishet (a.k.a. heterosexual) believers in Jesus don’t have any unconfessed sins, especially those aforementioned pastors.

Well, they do have unconfessed sins, including the pastors. They just aren’t aware of them. So, if they die while having unconfessed sins, then will they spend eternity somewhere other than in Heaven?

The aforementioned pastors will answer that question with “No.” Yet, they deny that the same answer applies to members of the LGBTQ community who believe in Jesus.

Well, the same answer does apply to members of the LGBTQ community who believe in Jesus.

As I see it, such pastors are ignoring a warning that the Apostle James gives.

Then again, such pastors already ignored another warning from James.

LGBTQ-condemning pastors claim that they are siding with the Bible. What they are really doing is siding with their favorite non-Greek/non-Hebrew version of the Bible.

To illustrate what I mean, consider how Martin Luther translates two New Testament passages used by the aforementioned pastors.

. . . and . . .

In both passages, Luther translates the Greek word Arsenokoitai as Knabenschänder, which translates into English as Pederast.

Luther’s translation of the Bible predates the translations used by LGBTQ-condemning pastors. Thus, it is false that the universal Church has always interpreted Arsenokoitai as meaning Homosexual.

Robertson-Wesley United Church (in Canada) explains the origin of Arsenokoitai and what it likely means:

LGBTQ-condemning pastors tend to cling to an English-American ethnocentric interpretation of the Apostle Paul’s writings without realizing that is what they are doing. It is as if they were educated in Bible colleges and seminaries without being educated about English-American ethnocentric thinking.

If Martin Luther and Robertson-Wesley United Church are correct about Arsenokoitai, then would LGBTQ-condemning pastors be humble enough to admit it?

I doubt it, especially if they have their own “Gospel” that denies the ability of the LGBTQ community to have saving faith in Jesus.

As I say in the beginning of this commentary, such pastors are missing the forest for the trees. I can only speculate as to why they do.

Yet, that forest (a.k.a. the New Testament) tells me that members of the LGBTQ community will spend eternity in Heaven if they have saving faith in Messiah Jesus no matter what LGBTQ-condemning pastors say.

Do I have to conform to the teachings of those pastors? No, I do not, especially if they are contradicting the Gospel that I read in the New Testament, which is what they are doing.

They may think that their authority comes from God, but it really comes from other mortals who believe in Jesus. That is why there are hundreds of church denominations.

Could I be wrong about what is and isn’t sin? Of course I could be wrong.

Yet, the shed blood of Jesus covers all sins of everyone who is trusting in him for eternal life, and “everyone” includes members of the LGBTQ community.

That is why attacks on the LGBTQ community disgust me, especially attacks coming from people who are allegedly Christian pastors.