When Christians revise their understanding of the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality, it is often not driven by a stringent re-evaluation of the historical biblical texts. It would appear that there is a variety of stimuli that cause the relaxation of the orthodox viewpoints.

As I pondered the brief for this article, a wry smile came over my face as I reflected on the title. Simply by removing one word, this article would be widely celebrated in today’s woke culture. 

A number of years ago, the term “agree to disagree” came into popular parlance in relation to compromise over the biblical interpretation of same-sex practice. When encountering a difference in opinion, could we amicably “agree to disagree” with others and continue to fellowship with them? At the time, it was inconceivable that I would ever have to take a stand if faced with my minister changing stance from holding an orthodox, historical view of scripture on sexual relationships to allowing other views to have equal value. Well, that exact instance happened recently.

In many ways, the message of this book is perfectly summed up in the subtitle, “How to live for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn’t”. Yet, significantly, Stephen McAlpine has as much to say about “why” we should live for Jesus in this broken world, as “how”. The fundamental point of the book is that we, God’s people, the church, used to be the good guys. Then we became just one of the guys. Now, pretty much everyone outside ourselves views us as the bad guys.

I doubt any of us would be put off walking through a field of sheep grazing happily on the grass. A field of wolves might be a different matter. For as long as there have been sheep and wolves, there have also been false teachers in the life of the church. False teachers are described as those wearing sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15). Take a moment to read through these passages to remind yourself of the presence of false teachers in the early church - 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 4:1-3 and 2 Timothy 3:1-9.

Growing up, I lived opposite an incredibly house-proud lady. We could regularly see her, rain or shine, sprucing up the front of her home. She would clean the windows, ensure no weeds were growing, and even go out onto the pavement with a hard scrubbing brush to remove all the dirt from the concrete flagstones. I’m not going to criticise anyone for maintaining high standards of cleanliness, but it used to amuse us that the fastidiousness of her home didn’t match that of the homes surrounding it.