In our culture, if you say something that others perceive to be wrong, you can provoke a verbal lashing or a social media storm, or worse. This article explores why God allows opposition to his people and shows how the Bible presents this as the normal Christian experience.

This article is an edited extract from a much longer conversation about disagreeing well with those holding to a revisionist view of scripture. Stuart Parker was in conversation with Andrew Goddard for the Ascend Higher podcast. Andrew is an Assistant Minister at a church in London and a tutor in Christian Ethics. Over the last three years, he has deeply involved himself in the Church of England’s project “Living in Love and Faith”, which has brought together church leaders from both traditional and revisionist perspectives.

How did a single, celibate, fifty-something Christian woman become an ally of those struggling with their sexuality and gender? By giving up on the truth of God’s Word? By discovering a convenient theology of liberal grace? Or by selling out to a worldly mantra of tolerance? Actually, it was none of these.

Sam Allberry has written a short book explaining the meaning of God’s boundaries for sexual morality. In a culture increasingly at odds with the Bible’s teaching on this subject, we need more than just to know what the Bible’s rules are. Rather, we need to be aligned with God’s heart on this matter.

"Life on Side B" is a podcast that looks at the lives of same-sex attracted Christians who believe in the Christian sexual ethic. Each episode explores the joys, beauty and challenges that come with living in this counter-cultural way by interviewing a diverse selection of men and women on their experiences of faith and sexuality.

I created this short script of an imaginary couple (Andrew and Zac) arriving at an imaginary church (Family Church). I tried not to make it too much of a caricature or too extreme. But I wanted to include a range of uncomfortable experiences, so that it can be used to stimulate discussion.