The Gospel Coalition's Gagging Reflex

I was told this morning that The Gospel Coalition is once again under some attack for a blog they posted entitled The Importance of Your Gag Reflex When Discussing Homosexuality and “Gay Marriage” by Thabiti Anyabwile. I read the article and I had several thoughts but when I finished writing my reaction I discovered a better thought.

Anyabwile wrote, that Christians in the gay-marriage debate must “Return the discussion to sexual behavior in all its yuckiest gag-inducing truth.” In an attempt to show what Anyabwile calls the “yuck factor” he describes homosexual acts. He then states, “That sense of moral outrage you’re now likely feeling–either at the descriptions above or at me for writing them–that gut-wrenching, jaw-clenching, hand-over-your-mouth, ‘I feel dirty’ moral outrage is the gag reflex. It’s what you quietly felt when you read “two men deep kissing” in the second paragraph. Your moral sensibilities have been provoked–and rightly so. That reflex triggered by an accurate description of homosexual behavior will be the beginning of the recovery of moral sense and sensibility when it comes to the so-called ‘gay marriage’ debate.”

Here is what I think:

The idea that we will make progress in reestablishing moral sensibilities through the development of reactions of disgust towards certain sexual acts is misguided and shortsighted. People who are easily grossed-out aren’t bound to be morally upstanding people. They may be sensitive (possibly even hypersensitive) to sinful acts but that doesn’t make them necessarily upstanding or send them on the path towards being morally upstanding. Weren’t the Pharisee’s disgusted when they encountered Jesus breaking the Mosaic Law or when they found a woman committing adultery? What good did it do them? And in contrast, how good was it for the Pharisee’s and the sinners to encounter the person of Jesus?

What we need is not to see certain sexual acts as “yucky” but rather to see sinful people as similar to us. We must learn to see others as God sees them and created them. Ultimately, this begins with us seeing ourselves as sinful (and whether or not our sin is “yucky” or not is relative).

This means we embrace the knowledge that all humans, gay and straight alike, chaste and promiscuous alike, are created in the very image of God. It means we acknowledge that we are ourselves sinners in need of the Father, Son, and Spirit. We focus on the log in our own eye so that we may be of assistance to those who have specks in their eye (something done delicately). My sin is a bigger issue than someone else’s sin and my fight against sin is within myself.

Our focus must always be on loving people because that is the command Jesus gave us. He told us to give up our own sinful ways and to love others. He didn’t tell us we need to see sinful acts as more disgusting, create a morally sensible population, or to win political debates. His focus isn’t on those things. So why is ours? Jesus tells us that his kingdom is subversive. It does not flourish by winning political quarrels or by the establishment of laws that suit the opinions of his people. More often his kingdom is found in the suffering of his people. Maybe we see the kingdom more when we are busy being with people instead of being busy being against people.

If we will faithfully read the words of Jesus in the gospels, I guarantee that we will not be focused on convincing others that homosexual acts are disgusting so that we can recover “moral sense and sensibilities” and as a result win a political or moral debate about gay-marriage. Rather, we will be focused on following Jesus into his upside down kingdom as humble people who fight sin in their own hearts and honor others in a way that makes them see the beauty and goodness of God and his Way so that they desire to also follow him.

I’m not saying we don’t call sin out for what it is. I’m not saying homosexual acts aren’t sinful. Scripture teaches that they are indeed sinful. But that doesn’t mean I should fight to be disgusted by other people’s sin or fight for other’s to be disgusted by other people’s sin. It means I should avoid that sin in my own life and be unafraid to call it sin when necessary as I deeply love others, no matter what sins they commit. 

If I’m disgusted or not doesn’t matter. What matters is if I am pure and loving in Christ Jesus. So perhaps the better aim and strategy is to love God and to love neighbors as ourselves. This means we talk less about homosexuals and talk more with homosexuals, and not about their sexuality but about everything in love. Less debate, more life. Eventually our focus won’t even be about homosexuals but rather about people. Let’s face it, people don’t want to be labels and projects anyway. People want to be embraced as people through love.