Much of the American church is desperately trying to remain relevant in the rapidly deteriorating culture. Writing in 2001, Jim Cymbala warned that as the church confronts an antagonistic culture we need to take a look at what the church is doing. One of the things he observed was that the church is, “Letting the world ‘evangelize’ us without our realizing it…Instead of being a holy, powerful remnant that is consecrated and available to God (in the New Testament sense of the words), the world’s value system has invaded the church so that there’s almost no distinction between the two.”[1]
From the pulpits in America and the conversations of many Christians, the rise of the homosexual agenda has been met by the church with a soft-soap message regarding the sin of homosexuality and how the church should engage homosexuals. These anemic messages and conversations always contain an element of truth to support the lie just as Satan had done when he whispered in Eve’s ear, “Did God really say…” For those that believe God has soft-soap, tolerant view of the sin of homosexuality, those beliefs will be quickly dispelled by a reading of the strong words of Paul in his letter to the Romans.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. [Romans1:18, 24-27. NKJV]
The word “soft-soap” can be used as a noun or verb. Soft-soap used as a noun describes a semi-fluid soap made especially from potassium hydroxide. Also, soft-soap is used as a noun to describe certain concepts such as flattery, overpraise, sweet talk, cajole, palaver, or wheedle. Used as a verb, soft-soap means to soothe or persuade with flattery or blarney.
As truth recedes in importance in the post-truth modern world, we see much of the church sliding into the Great Apostasy that is now occurring just before the Rapture at the end of the Church Age. Much of the modern evangelical church has embraced a soft-soap message in addressing the sin of homosexuality and presenting the truth of God’s Word to the homosexual community and their supporters. An example of this anemic teaching is found in a recent Facebook posting which contains several identifying marks of a soft-soap message.
• Creation of moral equivalency between the homosexuality and Christianity.
Moral equivalence is a form of equivocation (evasion) and a fallacy of relevance often used in political debates. It seeks to draw comparisons between different, often unrelated things, to make a point that one is just as bad as the other or just as good as the other.
Christians often resort to moral equivalency to justify a seeker-friendly approach to the homosexual. For many, the seeker-friendly approach is the equivalent of a nonjudgmental, loving approach. But how can a Christian truly love the sinner if he or she is not forthright in telling the sinner the truth about the sinner’s approaching eternal damnation?
“I (the Christian) am no better than you (the homosexual).”
The fallacy in this statement is that a Christian is no better or no worse than a sinner, e.g., homosexual. To the contrary, Christians are sinners saved by grace and delivered from the curse of sin. Practicing homosexuals are sinners by definition (see Romans 1:18, 24-27). However, a homosexual, who is saved by grace and has turned from their sin, is better than any sinner regardless of what that sinner’s sins may be. The Christian is better because they have a relationship with God that will last for eternity whereas the sinner will experience an eternity in Hell without a saving relationship with God.
“Have you contributed to pushing someone away from God simply because their sin looks different than yours?”
In this type of moral equivalency, a soft-soap Christian message often focuses on the sin rather than the goodness or badness of the sinner when compared to Christians. Un-repented sin will keep the sinner out of relationship with God and condemn him or her to an eternal Hell. It doesn’t matter what the sin is: homosexuality, adultery, theft, lying, murder, rape, or any of thousands of other sins. However, the past sins of faithful Christians have been washed away by the blood of Jesus shed at Calvary. Therefore, born-again Christians cannot look at their forgiven sins and judge them to be more or less onerous than a homosexual living a sinful life. There is no moral equivalency. However, if that Christian continues to harbor un-repented sin, then they are in danger of eternal damnation just like the unrepentant homosexual.
“Even if you’ve never had a conversation with someone who experiences same-sex attraction it should tear you apart that we (Christians) are, in part, responsible.”
This form of moral equivalency attempts to make a born-again Christian equally responsible (in part) for a homosexual’s same-sex attraction, i.e., “You are a Christian; therefore you are responsible for at least some of the homosexual’s sin.” This is a fallacy which mimics the tactics of much of today’s humanistic social justice memes such as systemic racism, white supremacy, and toxic masculinity. One is guilty of being an oppressor because of skin color, ethnicity, gender, or being a heterosexual Christian.
• Minimize the sin of homosexuality
“My sin has equal weight on the cross.”
This is another example of moral equivalency and again deals with the sin and not the person. This statement implies that the sin of a practicing homosexual is no better or no worse than any other sin. In other words, every sin has equal weight with any other sin. This assumption is blatantly false at two levels.
First, an unrepentant sinner’s sin cannot have equal weight with that of a born-again sinner saved by grace because the sin of a born-again Christian has been wiped away and never to be seen again. To be fair, the speaker of the above quote may have been careless with his choice of words and may have meant to say that the atoning blood of Jesus is powerful enough to cover any and all sins of the human race who seek salvation regardless of the magnitude or heinousness of those sins. It is a true statement to say that I am a sinner saved by grace, and my former sin was no less sinful that that of a homosexual. In this context it is correct to say that my sins before I was saved, no matter how great or small, would have caused me to be damned to hell just as some engaged in the sin of homosexuality would be damned to hell if he or she does not repent and continues in sin. It is the state of being in sin, not the weight of the sin that damns one to Hell.
Second, regardless of the power of Jesus’ shed blood to blot out all the sins of mankind, all of those sins are not of equal weight. There are varying degrees of sin. Otherwise, there would no need for the Great White Throne judgment following the Millennial Reign of Christ (see Revelation 20:11-15). At this judgment the sins of unrepentant sinners of all time will be judged to determine the degree of the sinner’s punishment, and then all of those who appear before the White Throne judgment will be cast into Hell.
“Our culture has told you that your identity is centered around your sexual preference. A preference does not define a person.”
Although another form of moral equivalence, this statement primarily attempts to minimize the sin of homosexuality by labeling it as a preference. To the contrary, preferences DO define a person and their eternal destination if that preference is chosen. If a preference for adultery, homosexuality, fornication, lying, stealing, etc. are chosen, each of those preferences will define a person and lead that person to Hell even though he or she was created in the image of God. Following one’s salvation, a preference for leading a godly life, honoring God, following God’s commands, loving your neighbor, and all other things that define faithful Christians will lead to eternal life with God in Heaven. This includes Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction which they prefer to not have. A preference (desire for) is not something that is forever. With God’s help, those Christians who have a tendency toward same-sex attraction can conquer this desire. Even if the tendency persists, God will give them the strength to withstand the attraction and lead a godly life.
• Present a partial gospel of salvation when preaching or witnessing to homosexuals
“Your job is not to convict people…That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. Love people, show them who God is, and understand that everyone, including you (the Christian), needs to repent.”
The first part of this quote is correct. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” [John 16:7-8. NKJV] [emphasis added.
The last part of the quote indicates that all the Christian has left to do is to love the sinner, show them that God loves them, and show them the need to repent. However, for most of the modern church this mindset quickly drifts into the world’s definition of nonjudgmental love and tolerance which leads to preaching a soft-soap gospel. The rough edges of the gospel of the cross are smoothed to make it comfortable and more acceptable to the seeker-sinner, all under the guise of accomplishing the Great Commission.
But soon the complete work of the cross and its message becomes irrelevant and is replaced by what now passes for salvation and the Christian life in seeker-friendly churches. The world’s new definitions of love and tolerance require unconditional acceptance of the sinner and is presumed superior to the biblical approach that requires repentance and turning from sin.[2] But the world’s definitions of nonjudgmental love and tolerance are contrary to the very nature of God because He cannot tolerate sin. God is both loving and just, and if His love is conformed to the world’s definition of nonjudgmental love and tolerance, then He cannot be both loving and just.
______
The problem for those presenting a soft-soap version of the gospel message is that they have left out an essential element—the Word of God. Cheap grace is the end product of preaching the world’s definition of nonjudgmental love and tolerance. Cheap grace does not transform by washing away man’s sin but merely provides a transparent, temporal, and defective covering for his sin, but it does not eradicate it. Rather, cheap grace makes a mockery of Christ’s death on the cross to purchase forgiveness for mankind’s sin. It makes the shedding of His blood at Calvary irrelevant for man’s redemption.
In the era of seeker-sensitive preaching and witnessing, there is an inherent conflict between preaching the cross and the goal of being sensitive to the feelings and needs of the unchurched. In the book of Hebrews, we find the correct answer to this dilemma created by the purveyors of the seeker-friendly message.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12. KJV]
In his commentary, Matthew Henry explains the work of the sword in Hebrews 4:12. “It is quick; it is very lively and active, in seizing the conscience of the sinner, in cutting him to the heart, and in comforting him and binding up the wounds of the soul…It convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully.”[3] [emphasis added]
Here we see that the Word not only accuses and cuts but comforts and dresses wounds. In the seeker-sensitive/friendly church world, saccharine superficial messages attempt to massage and caress felt needs without the necessity of spiritual surgery. But the Word rightly applied cuts deeply beneath felt needs to the secret sin buried in the heart of man which Jeremiah called desperately wicked and deceitful (see Jeremiah 17:9).
The Word of God is the centerpiece between the conviction of sin brought by the Holy Spirit and the love of Christians welcoming a new creation into God’s kingdom. It is the Word of God that exposes the sin within and the work of the Holy Spirit that brings conviction to the heart of the sinner. How is the Word delivered? For the vast majority of people, the Word of God was and continues to be delivered verbally by the preaching and witnessing of Christians worldwide. A soft-soap message without the soul-shaking truth of the Word of God cannot deliver the full gospel of salvation to a lost and dying world.
We must remember that Christ was an outcast, an exile in the culture of His day, and the cross became an offense to the world because it declares that there is no other way to salvation but death to sin and self. Those preaching that the church must become relevant to the culture attempt to bypass the cross by accommodating their preaching to the opinions of those who reject the cross and God’s judgement against sin. By doing so they are damning millions to an eternal Hell.
Larry G. Johnson
[1] Jim Cymbala, Fresh Power, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2001), pp. 22-23.
[2] Larry G. Johnson, “Strange Fire – The Church’s quest for cultural relevance – Part IV,” culturewarrior.net January 9, 2015,
culturewarrior.net. https://www.culturewarrior.net/2015/01/09/strange-fire-the-churchs-quest-for-cultural-relevance-part-iv/
[3] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Ed. Rev. Leslie F. Church, Ph.D., (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961), p.1914.
