Bathrooms, Liberty, and the Gospel: A Better Way Forward

I have dedicated part of my ministry life to helping the church move forward in care and discipleship to sexual, gender minorities, and voices often marginalized in our society and the church. Recent events have brought a sense of brokenness and ache for something better. I have listened, watched, and read most of what is out there as various states address the transgender conversation and some with bathroom legislation.

I am not going to weigh in on the politics of the matter because this is what is second (at best) in this discussion. I am still grieved by much of what I hear coming out of people I love, from both sides of this issue. There seems to be no commitment to hear each other but more of commitment to label and castigate each other.

From a ministry standpoint, we must go further into the heart of the Gospel in making person-behavior distinctions and give dignity that is due to LGBT persons because they are created in God’s image! It is no offense to Christ and all that he came to represent, to press in with love and a greater desire to understand. It is no offense to recognize the very real presence of gender dysphoria (a term that will leave some unhappy and others confused but both should seek to grasp it).

Christianity has been forced into a false narrative during the sexual revolution of our day. One the one side we are told full acceptance of someone else’s morality is the only way forward, and we must syncretize to culture to survive or represent true love. On the other side, we are told that belief in historical biblical morality is the problem and the root of so much pain and negativity toward LGBT persons.

We are told there can be no middle ground, and to seek it is a fool’s errand that represents a desire to be liked. I reject both of these extremes and propose that there is a middle ground for Gospel-centered believers to love well, to extend dignity, to demonstrate respect for individuals, to recognize the reality of LGBT persons, and to even seek their civil rights and equal protections under the law.

If you buy the false distinction you will either do a massive injustice to the God who deserves to write your story and the passions of your heart, or you will harm and marginalize those fellow image bearers whom Christ loves and died for.

But if you accept that there can be a middle ground and hold it out as a Gospel conviction in this current cultural and moral debate, you have the opportunity to demonstrate something beautiful about the Gospel. You will be misunderstood; you will be brushed aside and labeled.  But, you will find joy in a heart that desires to honor Christ and the people he loves. You will find an opportunity for love and relationship that previously couldn’t exist, and you will glorify the Savior!

So, to my Christian brothers and sisters, regardless of where you stand on the issue of bathrooms, we must acknowledge that Transgender persons are real, they are loved, and they did not wake up one day and decide to throw their entire life into turmoil.

We must ask ourselves, what advances the cause of Christ and the Gospel? I do not propose to know all of that answer but, in this situation a stoic, non-empathetic, insistence on gender normality doesn’t address the full spectrum of real issues that exist and fails to see transgender persons as people to be loved but rather pawns in a larger political culture war.

We must also, offer a humble truth to those we seek to love, with the Gospel. God created humanity in his image, male and female and gender nonconformity is not part of his good design and to insist on a subjective view of the body and the erasing of gender distinctions will bring further brokenness.

yet,our concern is Christ’s body, and the church must do more to tell LGBT persons, we want you! We must be willing for our grace to be messy, and we must not expect individuals to agree with us before we can minister to them or disciple them. We must stop looking to legislatures to lead on difficult moral issues of our day. Bathrooms and marriage views should not singly define us. Rather, the self-sacrificing, incarnational love of Christ, will come to be our banner.

I am aware this article does not give and easy answer to the religious liberty and bathroom laws. These answers require dialogue a commitment to nuance and a true desire to listen. We can enter into the public conversation and recognize the need for protections and certain measures without demeaning the truth that God created us in his image, male and female. Stripping or limiting rights is a dangerous move that has real Gospel losses and consequences. Christ often presented himself as a lamb-like lion to the culture he stepped tabernacled among. It is time the church stepped back from a war footing and resolve to a greater degree of dialogue because the opportunity for relationship and gospel ministry are far more transcendent than our rights in this moment.

If you would like to know more about The Identify Network and the work we do to help equip churches and pastors to shepherd and disciple sexual and gender minorities, please visit us at www.identifynetwork.org and contact us there or at info@identifynetwork.org. We are here to serve the church and those who love it.