In a previous two-part blogpost entitled, “Are believers at liberty to support any political leader regardless of ethical conduct?” I alluded to the thought-provoking confluence of faith, politics, ethics, greed, and racism as it relates to the presidency of Donald J. Trump. As a necessary sequel to that discussion, I now address presidential candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s enigmatic association of gay marriage and the LGBTQ agenda with Scripture and faith. Buttigieg has claimed, on one hand, that he believes in Scripture and that he is a person of faith while, on the other hand, he justifies his marriage to another man with notions of inclusion and diversity. Yet Scripture views homosexuality as an “abomination” because it is a complete reversal of God’s arrangement at creation for the conduct of male and female human beings.
For example, Leviticus 18:22 states “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (New King James Version[NKJV]). Moreover, Romans 1:18-32 shows that God’s judgment will come upon human beings who turn away from glorifying the Creator and obeying truth to following their vile passions in engaging in such sins as idolatry, murder, and homosexuality. Notice the clarity of Romans 1:24-27 on this matter:
"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God also gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." (Romans 1:24-27. NKJV)
The Scripture also shows that God will forgive and transform penitent persons with any kind of immoral lifestyle or sinful propensity, including homosexuals. For example, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul reminded the believers at Corinth that unrepentant sins and immoral lifestyles will keep them out of heaven. However, he also emphasized that, prior to their conversion, some of these believers had once engaged in immoral living but now they have been cleansed and transformed in the name of Jesus:
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11. NKJV)
The story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone, found in Genesis chapter 19, was a literal event (supported by archeological evidence). However, it is also a microcosm of God’s judgment against those who persist in the sin of homosexuality and other vices. In this regard, Jesus predicted in Luke 17:28-30 that the same indifferent and carefree attitude toward morality that were notoriously pervasive during Lot’s sojourn in Sodom will also be in vogue during the period leading up to His Second Advent:
"Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." (Luke 17:28-30. NKJV)
If Mr. Buttigieg is genuinely a follower of Scripture and a man of faith then he would be well aware of the passages of Scripture cited above. If this be the case, his espousal of homosexuality is bold defiance of God’s word. It is tantamount to audaciously shaking his fist in the face of the Creator. However, if Mr. Buttigieg has been publicly disingenuous about his commitment to Scripture then we may infer that he has been engaging in the most insidious kind of specious reasoning. Therefore, it is incumbent on him to either repent of his claim to follow Scripture or repent of his homosexual lifestyle.
As a free moral agent, Mayor Buttigieg can choose to live any way he chooses, even to impiously defy the Creator. However, if he has opted to engage in the blatantly unethical habit of claiming to follow Scripture while at the same time destroying the clear commands of God, he should be prepared for both public outrage and divine judgment.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction! Who could imagine that two persons so widely different in political ideology, temperament, and intellect as President Donald J. Trump and Mayor Pete Buttigieg could actually be—with respect to ethical conduct—different sides of the same corroded coin?