Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

Be afraid, be very afraid. Of what? And why?

Fear defined is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.” Fear is what causes my child to call for me at night because he believes there is a monster under the bed that wants to eat him. Fear is what causes the jungle man to contact the witch doctor to cast a voodoo spell on the neighboring tribe so they won’t come and rape and pillage his village. Fear is what causes me to eat more celery so my heart doesn’t clog up and stop beating. 

Fear is a real emotion and often is a healthy response to an incoming threat.

Another word we use for fear is “phobia”. Phobia is extreme fear, sometimes irrational and debilitating. But basically the word phobia is nothing more than a synonym with fear. Again, it is being scared of something that might threaten or hurt me.

If you agree with the above assessment than I think you would agree with me that our culture is seriously misusing this word. “It doesn’t seem to mean what we think it means.” I am told, because I am a Christian and I live by a set of moral standards which encourages monogamy and sexual purity, that I am scared. They (society-at-large) say I am scared of homosexuals and transgendered people. They say, “I am homophobic and transphobic” — but I am not really scared, threatened or worried about their behavior so how could I be what they call me?

Why should I be scared of them? Do I feel threatened by them? Why should I feel threatened? Are they going to hit on me? That doesn’t threaten me because I am old, ugly and married. Are they going to hit on my kids? I wouldn’t do that if I were you, they wouldn’t take too kindly to that and they are rather strong. Am I threatened that homosexuals and transgendered people will convince the majority of people in our culture that their beliefs are becoming the norm? No, especially when less than 5% of the population has same sex attraction.

Does homosexual behavior make me irrational? No, this behavior makes me sad because it is a lie that is destroying people; statistics and case-study after case-study point clearly to the fact that this type of behavior is not healthy. Do transgendered people cause me to think they are gross or repugnant? No, if anything they seem to be playing a game of dress-up. And instead of keeping it at the Halloween party, they want to play dress-up everywhere they go. No longer is the game “Pretty-Pretty Princess” reserved for the quiet of your living room as your 7-year-old daughter is make-believing with her friends, but now “Pretty-Pretty Princess” is being played by the 25-year-old man spreading mayonnaise on my sub-sandwich that I am buying for lunch.

Last week I went to Subway and the man taking my money had long eyelashes, and purple glitter over his eyes. Not only did purple clash with his green shirt, I just don’t get it. Are we supposed to be impressed, or excited a guy can apply makeup? Somehow it seems more like that person wants to prove they are unique and trendy in their mundane world where they put some salami on my sandwich. Okay, great, you can apply purple makeup, just don’t expect me to celebrate the color purple with you.

I am not scared, no, not one bit!  But I am hoping they will hear me out as I try to convince them that living in the gender God made them to be will make life more satisfying and good. It isn’t fear and phobia that move me nor form my convictions, it is how I understand the world to be. 

I really believe God knows what he is talking about. I really do. And I believe he wants us to have a blessed life, one that grows and flourishes. So I preach and voice what I believe to be true, because what I believe to be true is what sets a person free. 

And yet, if I were honest, there also is a bit of fear involved when it comes to homosexuality. But this fear is a fear “for them” not “of them”. I am genuinely scared for them.

Martin Luther calls this fear Anfechtungen. It is a place of helplessness, where darkness is visible, as Milton would say. If a person ignores God too long and does not care about his opinion, there will be that moment when God utterly forsakes and leaves a person alone with himself — they literally will get what they want. To be left alone without God. This is Anfechtungen. This state is an emotional dead-end that only offers “agony and depression” as Eric Metaxas states in his book on Luther. And this place is scary! Really, really scary!

And that is what I am scared of!

I fear for those who think they will be just fine ignoring God. There is a strange movement in our culture where people actually think God will yield to our pet desires if it becomes a consensus. I think that is why there is a Gay Pride Parade and progressive people try so hard to prove their point. I think they believe if they can win the battle of public opinion God himself will finally have to give in.

So their cry of homophobia and transphobia is a way to get us to join the consensus. They want us to back down. They want us to join their new cool, trendy, popular, and so-called courageous movement. I think they really believe if they can get real Christians to agree with them, God will ultimately agree with them also. 

But God won’t bend on his convictions, because he made the world. He knows what he is doing. And he won’t bend to consensus because he owes us nothing. He sent his Son to die for us, for crying out loud…isn’t that enough?

Hasn’t he done more for the world, and us, than we can ask for, hope for, or think? Do you really think we can convince him to change his mind and bend his will our way? And if we cannot convince him, don’t you think we ought to be convinced by His word? Should we not instead take notice when he says that we need to fear him, the one “who can destroy body and soul in hell?”

We need to be honest and reverse the phobia: Instead of buying the lie that we are homophobic, isn’t the opposite true that they are Theophobic?

If we join the consensus we are not helping them. We are not doing them a favor. Building consensus is building on sand. And the reason is simple, because Hebrews 12:29 is still true!