The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

How did you arrive at your interpretations? How do you know you are right? Do you believe in God?

Good teachers make it possible for people to change their positions without shame.

I came to believe that my job was not to critique and “receive” a sermon, but to dig into it, to seize its power, to participate with its message, and to steal its fruit. I learned by sitting under Ken Smith’s preaching that the easily offended are missing the point.

Bruce Backensto’s

I tutor in an inspiring homeschool cooperative that uses the curriculum Classical Conversations.

“if Joseph is not ‘really’ the father of Jesus, you and I are going to hell”

Someone I valued as a friend, a founding church member with influence, asked me what I would do if a homosexual entered our worship service. I quickly shared with her my testimony, apologizing that I hadn’t done so earlier. I gave her a chapter of the book that you are holding in your hand and I asked her to read it and to let me know what she thought of all of this. A week later, she came to talk. She took a deep breath. All the color drained from her face. She looked like she had just witnessed a crime scene. Manifesting disgust and horror, she told me that she wished that I hadn’t shared this with her. She quickly added, “Oh, I’m fine with this information, but X (another weighty founding church member) could never handle it. Do you have to tell people about this?” This. Rosaria’s unmentionable past. Rahab the Harlot. Mary Magdalene. We love these women between the pages of our Bible, but we don’t want to sit at the Lord’s Table with them—with people like me—drinking from a common cup. That’s the real ringer: the common cup—that is, our common origin in depravity. We are only righteous in Christ and in him alone. But that’s a hard pill to swallow, especially if you give yourself kudos for good choices.

What does this mean in practice? I do not spend time talking with a non-Christian about his sins. That’s not his problem. His problem is his sin: his broken relationship with God.

Yes, homosexuality is a sin, but so is homophobia. Homophobia is the irrational fear of a whole people group, failing to see in that group God’s image diminished but not extinguished by sin, and that God’s elect people linger there, snared by their own sin and awaiting gospel grace.

For Christ’s sake and the sake of your loved one, we must remember what Christ’s victory means: death to sin, especially the ones that wrap themselves around our necks. In the resurrection, Jesus gave sin an irreparable blow. Even our choice sins have been given a death warrant. Oh they may linger for a while—like a decapitated chicken—but the undisputed end is death. With true repentance God promises true redemption. New creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). God promises that he will give your loved one the capacity and joy in living lives of holy sexuality. For some, that will mean celibacy. For others, that will mean redemptive heterosexuality. God knows what we need, and he loves your child or friend more than you do.