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Pride Month surfaces a sharp divide within the Church. Some Christians view participation or affirmation as a compromise of biblical truth—a moment that demands clarity, not celebration. Others believe standing in solidarity with LGBTQ individuals during Pride Month is a powerful way to show compassion, dignity, and Christlike inclusion.
Both sides often appeal to love—but define it differently. One sees love as telling hard truths no matter the cost. The other sees love as presence, affirmation, and advocacy in the face of rejection. In this cultural and spiritual tension, many believers feel stuck: Is it possible to walk in both grace and truth without alienating people or diluting Scripture?
This article offers three biblical ways to approach Pride Month with wisdom: (1) Stay rooted in Scripture, (2) Speak truth with love and gentleness, and (3) Show mercy while maintaining conviction. It encourages believers to avoid fear-driven responses and instead trust the Spirit’s leading to reflect Christ well—even in disagreement.
It’s not just about Pride Month. It’s about how we reflect the gospel in a world that often pits compassion against conviction. Can we embody both? And when we can’t agree on how to do that—how do we treat each other?
“Pride Month is not a time to panic, but to remember who we are, who God is, and how He calls us to love.”
Read this thoughtful challenge to lead with both courage and compassion:
Where do you personally land on this? Is it possible for Christians to support individuals without affirming identity? How should we respond when fellow believers draw the line differently?
Title: Affirmation is Not Compassion**: Sexual Sin and the Non-Negotiable Gospel**
Opening Volley:
Pride Month is not just a calendar event—it’s a litmus test for fidelity to the Word of God. When well-meaning articles attempt to soften this line by appealing to “love,” “presence,” or “compassion,” they often trade truth for approval.This isn’t pastoral wisdom–it’s doctrinal erosion.
Let’s dismantle the article’s claims point by point using Scripture, Greek and Hebrew morphology, and clear moral reasoning.
“Pride Month surfaces a sharp divide within the Church…”
Refuted with: John_10:27, 1 John_2:19, Titus_1:16
This is not a divide within the true Church but a revealing of who was never truly of it.
1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us…”
Those who affirm sin while claiming Christ fit Paul’s description:
Titus 1:16: “They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works…”
Greek verb: ἀρνοῦνται (present middle/passive indicative, 3rd plural of ἀρνέομαι) — “to continually disown or repudiate.” Their lifestyle confesses louder than their lips.
“Some view affirmation as compromise… others as inclusion.”
Refuted with: Lev_18:22, Lev_20:13, Rom_1:26–27, 1 Cor_6:9–10, 1 Tim_1:9–10
Inclusion cannot mean endorsing what God condemns.
Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
Hebrew verb: תִּשְׁכַּב (Qal imperfect 2ms of שָׁכַב) — to lie sexually.
The noun תוֹעֵבָה = abomination, detestable act.
Romans 1:26–27:
Paul describes unnatural passion (Greek: πάθη ἀτιμίας) and male-with-male activity as ἀσχημοσύνην (shameful acts).
Greek verbs:
ἐξεκαύθησαν (aorist passive indicative 3rd plural of ἐκκαίω) — “burned out” with lust.
κατεργαζόμενοι (present middle participle of κατεργάζομαι) — “continually practicing.” This isn’t orientation–it’s persistent, volitional sin.
1 Corinthians 6:9:
“Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral… nor men who practice homosexuality…”
Greek words:
πόρνοι = fornicators (from πορνεύω)
ἀρσενοκοῖται = men who bed men (from ἄρσην + κοίτη)
This term is a direct echo of the LXX version of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.
1 Timothy 1:10 lists ἀρσενοκοίταις again—these sins violate the moral use of the Law.
3**. “Both sides appeal to love–but define it differently.”**
Refuted with: John_14:15, 1 John_5:3, 2 John_6, Rom_13:10
Love is not affirming what kills the soul. Love is obedience to God’s commands.
1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…”
Greek verb: τηρῶμεν (present active subjunctive of τηρέω) — “we continually guard, preserve.” Real love guards God’s moral law–not tramples it.
2 John 6: “This is love: that we walk according to His commandments.”
Greek verb: περιπατῶμεν (present active subjunctive of περιπατέω) — to walk habitually.
When love is redefined to include affirming sin, it becomes spiritual sabotage.
“Is it possible to walk in both grace and truth…?”
Refuted with: John_1:14, John_7:7, Eph_4:15, 2 Tim_4:2
Yes–but truth will cost you. Jesus was full of grace and truth, and they still wanted Him dead.
John 7:7: “The world hates Me because I testify that its works are evil.” Greek verb: μαρτυρῶ (present active indicative of μαρτυρέω)“bear witness,” not soften.
Ephesians 4:15 calls us to “speak the truth in love,” not to adjust the truth in fear.
2 Timothy 4:2–3: “Preach the Word… for the time will come when — they will not endure sound doctrine…”
Greek verb: ἀνέξονται (future middle indicative 3rd plural of ἀνέχομαι) — “will not bear with.” Sound teaching hurts, but it heals. Compromise flatters, but it kills.
Good-sounding advice, but rooted in what? If “gentleness” and “mercy” become euphemisms for muting God’s judgments, they become snares.
Jude 3–4: “Contend for the faith… For certain people have crept in unnoticed… perverting the grace of our God into sensuality.”
Greek verb: μετατιθέντες (present participle of μετατίθημι) — “transferring, corrupting” God’s grace into lawlessness.
Hebrews 12:14–17 warns of profaning holiness like Esau. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. That includes sexual holiness (cf. 1 Thess_4:3–7).
“How do we reflect the gospel in a hostile world?”
Refuted with: Matt_1:21, Acts_17:30, Eph_5:5–11
We reflect the gospel by declaring sin and salvation–not affirmation and identity politics.
Matthew 1:21: “He will save His people from their sins,” Not in their sins. Not celebrating their sins.
Greek verb: σώσει (future active indicative of σῴζω) — “He will rescue.”
Ephesians 5:5–6: “No immoral or impure person… has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words.”
Greek verb: ἀπατάτω (present active imperative of ἀπατάω) - “do not let anyone seduce or trick you.”
The seduction today is “affirmation.” Truth speaks plainly: such people are excluded from the Kingdom unless they repent.
“Pride Month is not a time to panic, but to remember who we are…”
Refuted with: 1 Pet_2:9–11, Eph_5:11, 2 Cor_6:17
Yes–remember who we are. But also what we are not.
We are not allies with darkness.
1 Peter 2:9: “A chosen race… called out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Ephesians 5:11**: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”**
Greek verb: ἐλέγχετε (present active imperative of ἐλέγχω) – to rebuke, reprove. Not affirm. Not accommodate. Expose.
Final Strike:
The Church does not bow to the calendar of Caesar, nor to the moral confusion of June.
The Gospel is a call to repentance (Acts_2:38), not self-identification. We cannot walk in the Spirit while affirming the desires of the flesh (Gal_5:16–21).
Galatians 1:10: “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
You can be a servant of Christ.
Or you can affirm sexual sin.
But you cannot do both.
“I don’t see it through the lens of modern culture–I see it through Scripture. My convictions are shaped by the Word of God, not by the shifting norms of the age.”
Romans 12:2
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”
Greek verb: συσχηματίζεσθε (present passive imperative of συσχηματίζω) — do not let yourself be molded or shaped by the age-pattern of this world.
Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” Cultural redefinitions of sin are not new—God condemned it long before Pride parades existed.
Galatians 1:10
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?.. If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
2 Timothy 4:3–4
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching… but will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
Psalm 119:89
“Forever, O LORD, Your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”
Hebrew verb: נִצָּב (Nifal perfect 3rd masc. sing. of נצב) — it stands firm, unmoved, immutable.
Matthew 24:35
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
Let’s dismantle the article’s claims point by point using Scripture, Greek and Hebrew morphology, and clear moral reasoning.
“Pride Month surfaces a sharp divide within the Church…”
Refuted with: John_10:27, 1 John_2:19, Titus_1:16
This is not a divide within the true Church but a revealing of who was never truly of it.
1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us…”
Those who affirm sin while claiming Christ fit Paul’s description:
Titus 1:16: “They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works…”
My interest here isn’t to address the morality or immorality of pride month and everything associated with it. Rather, I am curious how consistently we can apply the above you have given to other social issues of our times.
To get straight to the point, I am uncomfortable with that form of Christian ethics that has sometimes been called “Crotch Christianity”, where the central issue Christians end up focused on is what happens between two people in the bedroom (even if those two people aren’t in the Church and do not profess to be).
The harshest moral language I sometimes hear, such as what you have stated above, is directed toward those who live in the world outside of the Church and what they do in the privacy of their own bedchambers. And yet, I rarely see this same level of language addressed to other pressing moral issues, including ones within the Church herself.
I don’t know you personally, you may very well be just as bold in your condemnation of social evils such as the rampant racism, sexism, social inequity, and the wide disparity of wealth between those who hoard wealth for their own selfishness and the impoverished who struggle to put food on the table. I would certainly hope so. So this is not a criticism directed toward you, but is instead a more general observation of mine: There is a lack of moral outrage against all manner of pervasive social evils that afflicts millions of people. The poor are poor and the rich have their fill, and Scripture consistently condemns the hoarding of wealth, depriving the poor of their needs, and those systems of power which enable the wealthy to perpetuate this cycle of evil; as Scriptures reminds us, “The love of money is the root of all evil”.
But I do not see the appelation of apostasy and antichrist against this evil, even when this evil is endorsed by those within the Church. Where in the Church we might find ourselves defending the right of the wealthy to hoard their wealth, and even worse, we might find ourselves even condemning the poor for being poor, speaking evil such as “they do not try hard enough”. I have even seen Scripture abused and misused to defend withholding food to the poor and hungry, as though “Whoever does not work does not eat” can be used to abrogate the Commandment of God that the hungry are to be fed. The meaning of “whoever does not work does not eat” is not so that we can absolve ourselves of the responsibility of caring for the poor and the hungry, or arbitrate which hungry belly is “deserving” of our love–but speaks of not taking advantage of the community of the Faithful by being a laze-about. When the Church gathered in the homes of the Faithful, and food was distributed among all, those who would come in to take advantage of the charity of the Faithful and, in turn, deprive those who needed that food by taking it for themselves, was serious enough to warrant stern words. But as it pertains to our charity, our love, to our calling and our obedience to the Commandment of God, it is plain as day, “I was hungry, and you did not feed Me” and if on that Last and Final Day we say, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and did not feed You?” He will say that all that we failed to do for the least of these, we failed to do for Him.
If our central moral concern is not those things which God Himself is clearly concerned with–how we treat our neighbor, with justice for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the hungry, and the oppressed–but instead we like the Pharisees concern ourselves only with the show of “righteousness”, then the condemnation which the Lord Jesus spoke to them is also to us: We are as those who go mile after mile to make a convert and make him twice a son of Gehenna as ourselves. The language could not be stronger.
This isn’t to say we shouldn’t be concerned about Pride Month, or deal with the morality and ethics of sexuality in our present age. But if we reserve our harsh language solely to what two non-believers do in their bedchamber, but are complicit (or worse, endorsing) of the myriad of evils plaguing our communities, societies, nations, and even our own churches then at best we are hypocrites merely playing the role of a white-washed sepulcher; at worst we are children of the devil who deny the Son of God in our words and actions, and on the Last Day we shall be justly and righteously condemned.
Rather strange, coming from you @TheologyNerd and the thing is, you don’t know me, right?
On “Crotch Christianity” and Narrow Moral Focus
You’re right to object to a Christianity that becomes obsessed with sexual sin while remaining silent on matters of justice, poverty, or oppression. The Apostle Paul, whose writings constitute a robust framework for Christian ethics, addresses sexual immorality seriously (1 Cor_6:9–10, Gal_5:19–21, Eph_5:3–6), but not exclusively.
Paul also speaks with equal severity about greed, slander, and divisions (Rom_1:29–32, 2 Tim_3:1–5), and his rebukes to the Corinthian church (1 Cor_11:21–22) over classism and abuse at the Lord’s Table reflect deep concern for economic injustice.
Therefore, it is not faithful to Scripture to build an ethical system on sexuality alone. Yet neither can we minimize sexual ethics, which Scripture treats as sacred, reflecting Christ’s union with the Church (Eph_5:31–32).
Sexual Sin and Outsiders: Why Speak Against It?
1 Corinthians 5:9–13 makes a key distinction. Paul tells the church not to judge outsiders but to hold those inside the church accountable. Yet in the same breath, he urges the Corinthians to expel unrepentant sexual sinners from their midst.
The Greek verb for ‘expel’ in 1 Cor_5:13 is exarate (ἐξάρατε, aorist active imperative), which is not a suggestion, but a command..urgent and decisive. Yet Paul also acknowledges that the church does not judge those outside (1 Cor_5:12).
This means while we do proclaim God’s moral law publicly (Rom_3:19–20, 1 Tim_1:8–10), we do not approach outsiders with condemnation, but with the gospel that calls all to repentance (Acts_17:30).
On Moral Hypocrisy and Social Evil in the Church
Yes, Jesus reserved His strongest rebukes for religious leaders who neglected justice (Matt_23:23). Likewise, James_5:1–6 delivers blistering condemnation of the rich who defraud workers and live in luxury while the poor suffer.
The Greek verb katadikasate (κατεδικάσατε, aorist active indicative) in James_5:6—“you have condemned the righteous man”—shows judicial injustice, likely within the believing community.
Thus, any attempt to use verses like 2 Thess_3:10 (“If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat”) as a tool to avoid charity is an abuse of Paul’s pastoral concern. That text applies to idlers within the church who exploit communal generosity, not to the helpless poor outside (cf. Gal_2:10, Acts_6:1).
Judgment, Justice, and Christ’s Words
Matthew 25:31–46 is decisive: the eternal judgment hinges not merely on private morality but on how we treat the “least of these.” The verbs edeipsate (ἐδείψατε), ekalupsate (ἐκαλύψατε), episkepsasthe (ἐπεσκέψασθε) in v. 35–36 show concrete acts of mercy—feeding, clothing, visiting.
Therefore, if the Church fails to embody justice and compassion alongside moral clarity, she is not imitating Christ. Yet compassion and conviction are not mutually exclusive. Paul urges both (2 Tim_2:24–26), calling us to correct opponents with gentleness, yet unwavering in truth.
Sexual Ethics Still Matter Deeply
Paul includes sexual sin alongside other damning practices in multiple vice lists (1 Cor_6:9–10, Eph_5:5). The Greek arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται) in 1 Cor_6:9, meaning “men who have sex with men,” is drawn from the LXX of Lev_18:22 and Lev_20:13 (ἀρσενος…κοίτην), showing Paul’s continuity with Torah sexual ethics.
This sin, along with greed (pleonektēs, πλεονέκτης), drunkenness, slander, and swindling, excludes one from the kingdom unless repented of. And yet, Paul says, “such were some of you”—past tense—“but you were washed…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor_6:11).
So sexual ethics matter not because we hate people, but because we love them too much to lie. The call to holiness is not exclusionary, but redemptive (Titus_2:11–14).
Balanced Fidelity
You are right to demand a Christianity that speaks against the exploitation of the poor, the abuse of wealth, and the injustice embedded in social systems. That is biblical, prophetic, and true. But we must not lose the courage to speak plainly where God has spoken clearly about sexual holiness. Not because it is the only issue, but because it too is a fruit of either righteousness or rebellion.
Let us be a people who call for justice like Amos_5:24, but also for repentance like Romans_2:4. One without the other is half the gospel. And half a gospel cannot save.
Grace and peace in Christ.
Let me know if I’ve misunderstood the core of what you’re getting at here.
You asked how Christians should respond to Pride Month. Let’s not break out the tambourines for sin just because it’s dressed in sequins and hashtags. The world throws a parade for what God calls perversion, and too many churches are lining the streets clapping like Herod’s court before the worms showed up.
Pride Month isn’t just a celebration of identity—it’s a month-long altar to rebellion. The Bible doesn’t just whisper about this stuff; it roars. Leviticus 18:22? Crystal. Romans 1:26–27? Uncomfortable but unavoidable. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11? Cuts, but it heals—because it ends with “and such were some of you.” Past tense. Grace doesn’t affirm the old man—it crucifies him.
And let’s be honest: they didn’t call it “Humility Month.” It’s Pride Month for a reason. And pride is what got Satan evicted from heaven. So why are we acting like it belongs in the sanctuary?
Love doesn’t mean affirmation. Love means confrontation—with gentleness, yes, but also with the steel of Scripture. Jesus didn’t say, “Let him who is without sin wave a flag.” He said, “Go and sin no more.”
Don’t get me wrong—we don’t hate people caught in sin. We were them. But if we call darkness light, we’re not being kind. We’re being complicit. If we fly their flag in our churches, we’re not being relevant. We’re being rebels. And if we let our fear of offense muzzle the message, we’re not being loving. We’re being liars.
So how should Christians respond to Pride Month?
With conviction, not cowardice. With truth, not tolerance. With gospel clarity, not cultural confusion. We don’t need rainbow theology. We need repentance. Not celebration. Salvation. Not affirmation. Transformation.
Because in the end, every knee will bow. Not to the flag of man’s desires—but to the name of the Holy One who calls us to die to self, not deify it.
—Sincere Seeker. Scripturally savage. Here for the Truth.
