The Pressure to Conform
A guest opinion from our good friend Janet Boynes, of Janet Boynes Ministries in Minnesota.
One day you are sitting in church and your pastor allows a speaker from the LGBTQ community to mount the pulpit and promote an event that brings awareness to alternative sexual lifestyles. You listen attentively because you have been in the church for years and you trust the judgment of your pastor. The LGBTQ representative shares literature that clearly explains that children have the right to choose their gender and that God wants us all to live the life that makes us happy. As the representative speaks, you can hear “Amens” echoing from across the sanctuary. After the speech, many people get up and clap in agreement along with the pastor for the speech. Some eyes shift to you as a youth leader. They are looking to see your response. The pastor takes the podium and pushes the church to show love and to support the LGBTQ’s event. What do you do? The pastor can’t be wrong, or can he? The other people who are pillars in the church would have corrected the pastor. However, they are standing and applauding in agreement. Some of the youths are standing. What do you do? Do you do what they are doing, submitting to the pressure? Do you conform because you can always repent later? Or do you stand out and decide that you will not agree and will not support their agenda even if it means going against the church?
Although this is a fictitious account of an incident, it couldn’t be a more realistic scenario of the different situations so many Christians are faced with. We compromise our beliefs because we believe it is the way to win them over. There are so many blurred lines that are crossed causing confusion and discouragement for all parties. The pressure is growing moment by moment for churches to forsake foundational Biblical principles just to prevent offense to the gay community. Laws are being made to condemn any pastor or organization that even tries to speak against the gay lifestyle. As society becomes more and more tolerant of gay pride and same-sex marriage, the hope is that this lifestyle becomes the norm and the acceptable way of life.
Do we bow to their will because we fear repercussions? Do we remove sections of the Bible so that they are not offended? Do we add to the Bible so that they feel comfortable and do not feel discriminated against? To what extent are they asking the church to compromise so that they will feel accepted or better yet how far are we willing to go?
The Word of God clearly states that we ought to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). It is human nature to not willingly surrender our will to God. Human nature seeks to gratify self and to live out fleshly desires. That is just who we are without Christ. It has nothing to do with being gay. The old fleshly nature is totally against the holiness of God. We must make the choice to obey God no matter how much the world entices us. The Bible says, "Love not the world neither the things in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them.” (I John 2:15)
My first responsibility must be to God. If I am a lover of God, I must be obedient and willing to deny myself and anything that goes against my Heavenly Father. A child of God knows that the world and the devil are seeking a way to discredit Christ. The pressure is on to make us compromise and give in to sin. When we do, the world will laugh at us in mockery. How can we show the world He is real and a keeper if we are not willing to be kept? If God is as valuable to us as we declare, why do we so quickly give up on Him and compromise our sanctification?
There will always be pressure to conform. There will always be something that will try us to see if we really believe what we confess. We must recognize it as a plan of the enemy and fight the good fight of faith. Don’t conform. Don’t give in to the pressure to sin. It may be hard, but we have the power of God within to fight and to win. Be transformed and allow Christ to lead. You can do this. We can do it together.
Romans 12:2 says Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (MSG)
Janet Boynes founded Janet Boynes Ministries in Maple Grove, MN in 2006. She authored the books: Called Out- A Former Lesbian’s Discovery of Freedom, God & Sexuality & her latest book God & The LGBT Community. She challenges individuals and the church to reach out with a message of hope and restoration to those who struggle with identity issues. Her life is proof that the love of God has the power to heal and restore the brokenness in our lives. It’s been over twenty years since she was called out of the lesbian lifestyle. Janet is an ordained minister Under the Assemblies of God and travels the U.S and overseas sharing a message of redemption. Her desire is to bring hope through the power of Jesus Christ.