Dr. Robert Jeffress: Waffling about a sin is ‘unloving.’ Also, ‘The most loving thing you can do with anybody is to tell them the truth.’
Dr. Robert Jeffress: ‘When Paul writes about the topic of homosexuality, he doesn’t use his whisper voice.’ Also, ‘absolutely cannot, diminish the seriousness of that sin.’
Dr. Robert Jeffress blasted new Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton over a sermon where Ed Litton said the Bible “whispers” about homosexuality. Jeffress, pastor First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, said on the Todd Starnes Show that Pastors of the Gospel owe it to the people to preach what the Bible says.
Jeffress made his comments following a Reformation Charlotte exclusive that discovered a sermon with Ed Litton saying (just like J.D. Greear) that the Bible “whispers” about the sin of homosexuality.
“If this report is true, it is tremendously troubling,” Dr. Jeffress said. “This article goes on to say that these two men (J.D. Greear and Ed Litton) say that homosexuality is not as serious a sin as other sins in the Bible. Look, first of all, the comment is wrong. When you go to Romans 1, when Paul writes about the topic of homosexuality, he doesn’t use his whisper voice. He says that it is unlike any sin in the universe because it is not only the cause of God’s judgment but a result of God’s judgment. Paul said when people reject the truth about God, He gives them over to homosexuality, to what the Bible calls degrading passions and unnatural acts.
Jeffress continued, “So, it is different. Of course, any sin can be forgiven by Jesus Christ. But we cannot, absolutely cannot, diminish the seriousness of that sin.”
Jeffress said, “If these comments from Ed Litton and J.D. Greear are true, they are very unloving comments. The most loving thing you can do with anybody is to tell them the truth.”
Jeffress said there are many individuals of all ages in our churches who struggle with issues of gender and sexuality. So, the right thing to do is tell them the truth.
“When a man of God stands up and stutters and waffles and wavers on this, he is giving indirect permission for people to enter a lifestyle that is degrading and destructive,” Jeffress said. “That is an unloving thing to do.”
The goal of a pastor is to preach God’s word and not opinion or preference. (This is something Dr. Russell Fuller noted about the problem of Ed Litton co-preaching sermons with a woman.)
According to Jeffress, only by preaching the Word can we transform society.
“Our goal is to always teach God’s truth even if it is politically incorrect,” Jeffress said. “We will never transform the world. We will never transform America when we go wobbly on the absolute truth.”