Is Homosexuality Really the Worst Sin?

00:00:00.000 | Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John Podcast with longtime pastor and author John Piper.

00:00:09.200 | Today's question is an important one and it comes from a listener named Daniel.

00:00:12.720 | "Hello Pastor John.

00:00:14.320 | Very often Christians point out the sin of homosexuality is a major problem in this country,

00:00:20.360 | while they seemingly forget about the massive amounts of sinners addicted to other sinful

00:00:24.440 | patterns in life.

00:00:26.460 | Is homosexuality truly more detrimental to a society than other sins?

00:00:31.040 | How would you weigh the cultural impact of this sin against, say, the sins of pride and

00:00:37.500 | overeating and greed?"

00:00:39.440 | Pastor John, how would you answer that question from Daniel?

00:00:43.680 | My answer to the last question can be straightforward.

00:00:47.860 | I do not doubt that millions more people are ruined in this life and the next through greed

00:00:57.400 | and covetousness, through pride, through selfishness, through excessive anger, than are ruined through

00:01:04.480 | same-sex orientation or through homosexual behavior.

00:01:09.320 | And the reason for that opinion on my part is twofold.

00:01:14.880 | One, on the one hand, the sins of greed and pride and selfishness and anger are more widespread

00:01:27.000 | than either same-sex attraction or homosexual behavior.

00:01:31.840 | And on the other hand, the sins of greed and pride and selfishness and anger are more subtle

00:01:38.600 | and disguise themselves more easily as acceptable.

00:01:43.360 | So yes, the number of people who are ruined in this life and the next by the sins of greed,

00:01:50.760 | pride, selfishness, anger is vastly greater than the number of people ruined by same-sex

00:01:56.880 | orientation or sinful homosexual behavior.

00:02:00.100 | And I would add, the social miseries brought about through those sins are also vastly greater

00:02:06.840 | in scope than any brought about through homosexual sin.

00:02:13.200 | Now my guess is that Daniel didn't want me to stop there because that's my answer to

00:02:17.800 | his question, but probably would want me now to ask the question implicit in my answer,

00:02:23.960 | namely, well then, why is so much attention paid to homosexuality?

00:02:28.520 | I think that's probably behind his question.

00:02:30.960 | All of us function in different circles of humanity and I don't know anything about Daniel's

00:02:36.760 | context.

00:02:38.040 | In my context, the people that I watch most closely in leadership certainly do take note

00:02:45.200 | of Daniel's very point, namely that homosexuality is no more deadly a sin and certainly no more

00:02:52.520 | widespread than greed and pride and selfishness and anger.

00:02:56.500 | The people that I function among are keenly aware of this and are eager to make it plain

00:03:02.040 | as I am now.

00:03:04.600 | It may not, however, be the case in Daniel's situation, I don't know.

00:03:08.260 | So let me suggest three things about why I think homosexuality is getting such attention

00:03:17.400 | in our day.

00:03:18.400 | Number one, it's because the media feature this issue.

00:03:22.280 | It isn't Christians who put homosexuality in the news.

00:03:27.320 | Christians are drawn to explain our position in public through preaching and writing as

00:03:32.700 | often as we do these days because the media have made the issue so public that we feel

00:03:39.760 | we need to serve Christians with careful biblical answers and we need to clarify for non-Christians

00:03:46.520 | how we think.

00:03:47.520 | I mean this podcast right now is a good example of this.

00:03:50.880 | Number two, and more importantly I think, unlike the sins of greed with its counterpart

00:03:57.680 | stealing and pride with its counterpart the humiliating of others and selfishness with

00:04:04.240 | its counterpart of exploiting others and anger with its counterpart of malice and abusiveness,

00:04:09.560 | unlike these sins, homosexual behavior has articulate and forceful advocates, advocates,

00:04:18.920 | defenders.

00:04:20.080 | This is one of the things that makes the sin of homosexual intercourse stand out today.

00:04:26.360 | If there were strident and articulate and forceful publishing advocates for greed and

00:04:33.560 | stealing and pride and humiliating others and selfishness and the exploitation of others

00:04:40.300 | and anger and abusiveness, if these sins were being publicly advocated, then they would

00:04:46.960 | probably get more press as well.

00:04:50.280 | But you find few, if any, people trying to normalize stealing and normalize humiliation

00:04:57.840 | and normalize exploitation and normalize angry abusiveness.

00:05:04.440 | But you find thousands of people trying to normalize homosexual behavior.

00:05:11.440 | That's the second reason why it has a unique place in our society right now.

00:05:17.560 | It is a sin with forceful advocates.

00:05:22.520 | Third, homosexual intercourse has an unusual status in our moral discourse because it is

00:05:33.840 | in a peculiar way going against nature.

00:05:38.880 | The apostle Paul describes it like this.

00:05:41.520 | God gave them up to a dishonorable passion for their women exchanged natural relations

00:05:48.280 | for those that are contrary to nature.

00:05:52.200 | And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion

00:05:57.680 | for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves

00:06:02.840 | the due penalty of their error.

00:06:06.240 | So to repeat my answer, I don't doubt that millions more people are ruined in this life

00:06:14.200 | and the next through greed, pride, selfishness, excessive anger, than are ruined through same-sex

00:06:25.280 | orientation or through homosexual behavior.

00:06:29.120 | The reason for the attention that homosexual behavior is getting is not because it destroys

00:06:36.840 | more people, but because one, it makes news.

00:06:40.760 | Two, it's a public sin with forceful advocates.

00:06:46.200 | And three, it is peculiarly contrary to nature.

00:06:51.760 | So those of us who believe that same-sex orientation is a distortion of nature and that it may

00:07:00.240 | result in sinful homosexual intercourse are called upon, like I'm being called upon right

00:07:07.720 | now, to record answers to questions like this and therefore be public about this and emphasize

00:07:16.440 | that Jesus Christ, and I end with this.

00:07:19.480 | It's the most important thing I have to say.

00:07:22.600 | And emphasize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to save sinners,

00:07:30.360 | heterosexual sinners and homosexual sinners, greedy, proud, selfish, angry sinners and

00:07:39.080 | sinners who commit homosexual acts.

00:07:41.900 | We all need the same Savior and the blood of Christ is sufficient to wash away every

00:07:50.680 | sin and remove all judgment and bring us to everlasting healing and joy.

00:08:01.360 | This is an incredibly insightful answer, Pastor John.

00:08:03.800 | Thank you for diving into this complex issue and addressing the controversy once again.

00:08:08.760 | And Daniel, thank you for the question.

00:08:09.760 | It's a good one.

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00:08:36.080 | We will return on Wednesday with a new episode, a new question from you, the perceptive listeners

00:08:40.740 | thank you for listening each week to the podcast.

00:08:43.360 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.

00:08:44.360 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast with John Piper.

00:08:48.320 | We'll see you on Wednesday.

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Is Homosexuality Really the Worst Sin?

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