1. notleia says:

    Since he was with Sovereign Grace, he probably saw some ugly sausage being made, re: sexual abuse and its coverup, that he probably contributed to, directly or indirectly. I’ve also heard some speculation that he himself might be coming out of the closet, but frankly I don’t care about that. I just want him to learn to live as a mere commoner, instead of an ~~Important Author, Speaker, and Leader~~~, whose opinion warrants only as much attention as it earns. It might be an abrupt change for someone who’s probably ridden on his dad’s coattails for most of his life.

    At least his defection might (MIGHT) stop people from saying dumb things like “he was never a Real Christian(TM).” Or if they feel the urge, may they reflect on the fact that he seemed to be able to fake it so well that he had a pretty important gig in the hierarchy.

    Does he get a redemption arc? If he does, what is it supposed to look like? What happens if it’s different from that? Right now he’s still under my stink-eye (an internet stranger with no impact nor ability to influence his life).

    • I appreciate your sympathy for Harris in this comment! As you’ve seen, I’m also eager to remind people that a lot of life experience passed between “Joshua Harris the ‘love guru'” and his recanting of the books’ content.

      Because I cling to the Old Ways, I’m holding out for a redemption arc. It would require a return to faith and a double-recanting of his recent overcorrection, e.g. deciding that if his previous unbiblical beliefs were wrong, then his previous biblical beliefs (that is, a biblical definition of marriage) must also be wrong. It takes discernment and practice of faith in a real-world context—not just Church-and-Conference-Land—to recognize that you can practice both grace and truth, as Jesus did, all at the same time.

  2. notleia says:

    Also, as for your “surrogate victim” idea, that’s a super cynical way to describe common empathy that even goes beyond me, a habitual cynic.

    Could they just feel sorry for those people? Nah, it must be because they have an agenda!

    • notleia, you’ve once again pasted an utterly alien reading on top of my article. That’s a bad-faith accusation. Want to withdraw it?

      The whole point of my “surrogate” framework here is that the person who “casts” a victim group in a “play” to represent himself is doing this by emotional impulse. It is not a logical response. It is not a response based first in reasoning, and it is not first an “agenda”-based response. And a caring Christian should be responding to this with appeal to that person’s desire for healing from this previous conflict or trauma, rather than with Facts and Logic—or accusations of agenda. Does that help to clarify?

      • notleia says:

        Not really, no. Usually they suffered for much the same reasons, that they were expected to perform a certain way no matter how unreasonable or unfair it was.

        Maybe they weren’t gay, but they policed into being “properly” feminine or masculine (which most gay kids also experienced on top of being called abominations). Maybe they had to be in choir or know the most verses or watch the babies regardless of what they wanted. There are lots of ways for appearances to be more important than anything else.

        • It sounds like you are speaking from familiarity with those situations. I know that they occur. I also know, however, that a Christian who has undergone that kind of legalistic environment can rightfully learn empathy for anyone else who had a similar experience. But if the Christian then says to a sexual rebel, “Because you suffered hurt as I did, I’m not only going to identify with you, but outright tell you a lie that your sinful response is actually righteous,” then empathy has become an idol. We have tried to be “more spiritual than God,” which, of course, is the exact error as the legalist.

          • notleia says:

            So gay peeps can never have empathy?

            Hmm, why are gay peeps leaving the church? So mystery, much puzzle.

          • Please show me where I said anything like “[LGBTQ+ persons] can never have empathy,” and then your comment will have substance worth a response. As it is, you’re just making stuff up again. 😛

          • A biblical Christian, who has struggled with alcoholism or with alcoholic persons, can empathize with an alcoholic.

            This is good empathy.

            A biblical Christian cannot also assure the alcoholic that his desires are good desires and that only bad Christians would urge him to stop drinking/abusing alcohol.

            This is fake “empathy.”

            At that point, whether the alcoholic wants to “leave the church” is immaterial. One might as well clutch pearls and complain that, oh noes, we simply must show better love to all of those people who are unrepentant embezzlers or spiritual abusers, or else they might leave the church, oh noes.

          • notleia says:

            That implies that queerness is analogous to addiction, which probably isn’t true, but assuming that it was, addiction is more effectively treated as a flawed coping mechanism rather than a moral failure.

            Embezzlement does demonstrable harm to a community, but the crux of the matter for me is that I’ve yet to see any convincing argument on how queerness is supposedly harmful.

            Why is it supposedly a moral OT law instead of a cultural relic like menstrual uncleanliness or polygamy? (Assuming that distinction is warranted anyway. Rabbis don’t make a distinction between “moral” OT law and “cultural” OT law. But most of them aren’t authoritarians and engage with the Torah on its own merits.) Sex-only-for-children is a weird Catholic relic that not even Catholics pay attention to, so why are we using it as a double standard to police people with?

          • Ahsoka Jackson says:

            First of all, addiction and “queerness” are actually quite similar in multiple ways. What’s more, those in my community actually do, for various reasons, engage in substance abuse at disproportionately high rates, so the two are often not only similar but also concurrent. That’s also true of various mental illnesses, like bipolar disorder (the comorbidity).

            Secondly, a distinction must be made between the impulse/tendency and the acts. People very often fail to do this, and it’s destructive for multiple reasons. One of which being how they’ll point to the more innocuous-appearing things in an effort to defend or glamorize, while conveniently ignoring the more obviously unpleasant, unethical, and cruel stuff that’s a harder sell.

            I will briefly state that the inclination is harmful in factors like how it can drive the destructive behavior and also drive people to defend or promote such behavior.

            Now, regarding the behavior itself, there are any number of types of it, but to summarize, the relationships and interactions are unhealthy and destructive from both psychological and physical standpoints. One way—and this is analogous to addiction again—is how it’s used as a false replacement for actually dealing with the deeper issues a person has. People in my community have significantly higher rates both of having been raped or molested in general and also of having been abused in that way by someone of the same sex. And some of the characteristic destructive behaviors of the community are common to those who have suffered that way.

            But in my case, the biggest thing I center on when people make comments asking how it’s harmful, problematic, wrong, etc, is the physical aspect of some of these behaviors.

            Besides being unsanitary and degrading, some of this stuff is very damaging physically, causing a myriad of health problems: diseases, chronic infections, vulnerability to further disease, multiple forms of injury, loss of normal function of one’s body, and pain in a myriad of ways. The body quite literally isn’t designed for certain stuff, and there are major consequences to subjecting it to such trauma, especially on a repeated basis and over a period of time.

            Some of this stuff is also practiced in heterosexual contexts—though it tends to be less commonly, less frequently, and also with less extremity—and guess what? It’s harmful, painful, unsanitary, abusive, and degrading there, too!

            And this is something that really disgusts and infuriates me in dealing with these various people who claim to care just so much about my community.

            Some of their support and normalization of it could be attributed to ignorance, to not realizing the destructiveness and harm of this stuff. But even in that situation, there’s an extremely basic level of sanitation that they’re showing disregard for, so what it suggests about their own cleanliness and decency level is severely disturbing. We’re talking about levels literally taught to young children, regarding both sanitation and normal functioning of the body. So what excuse do adults have?

            But that aside, I’ve repeatedly found that it goes beyond just that. Because when you try to educate these so conscientious people who just love my community and are friends of ours and care so much about our wellbeing…they don’t care. They either refuse to listen at all or just dismiss or make excuses for or otherwise show a real lack of _genuine_ compassion and love.

            Do you have any idea how painful and staggering that can be? To talk to them about some of the appalling, grotesque stuff that goes on and about how much people SUFFER, and to see such an emptiness of love and compassion in response.

            I feel like crying as I’m typing this. It’s not only painful—it’s enraging. And I think it exposes the selfishness and sheer dishonesty at work in some of these people. To be honest, I mistrust people in general now who claim to be “allies” of ours, because I’ve repeatedly been shown that they don’t actually care.

            How can you talk about how much you love and care about people who are addicted to meth, but you actually encourage and normalize the use of it, and then when someone tries to, assuming that you actually cared like you _claimed_ to, educate you and explain about the harm it does…things like rotting out your teeth, causing brain damage, causing psychosis…you don’t care or you make excuses, and you keep encouraging people to horrifically harm themselves and each other, all while continuing to claim how much you love them and support them and their wellbeing?

            That’s absolutely sickening, and I consider it a massive betrayal.

            (And speaking of meth, that’s one of the drugs disproportionately used by the community….)

            And I think it reveals some of the real motives and priorities. I think people want to follow the popular trend, and to paint themselves as being “nice” and “loving” and “kind” and “ compassionate,” but without actually worrying about having substance and integrity and honesty behind those claims. Because their behavior demonstrates the exact opposite of what they profess. They’re enablers, not friends.

            And another commonality is how they’ll use a friend or family member as an excuse. That should actually be GREATER reason for them to show genuine, honest compassion and concern, not an excuse to further the lies and harm! Your aunt smokes so you’re busy promoting cancer sticks?

            See, I think this is again largely due to selfish motives. They don’t want to cause any disturbance to their social circle by being honest, and they’re more concerned about social enjoyment and making “friends” by enabling people rather than caring enough about those friends to either speak the truth or at least refrain from lying. It’s not like you are required to confront them. I don’t really expect that of people. But just be a half-decent person and don’t ENCOURAGE them to abuse themselves or others!

            And that’s another aspect of how unethical this all is. Not only do people harm themselves, they also inflict harm on those they engage in certain practices with. Much like smoking harms both the smoker and those breathing in the secondhand smoke in proximity.

            Sexually injuring people, damaging their bodies for some moment of sexual enjoyment, is a truly cruel, unethical act, and is not remotely “loving” or “kind.”

            And people talk about things like respect for women and being kind and nice and loving, but then promote sexually harming those you supposedly love and whom you should be expected to treat better than average, if anything. It’s dehumanizing and objectifying to trash and misuse someone’s body that way. The sanitation factor also plays into the degradation, in several ways.

            I’m guessing a site like this probably wouldn’t want me to be too graphic, and I’d rather not get too specific for now, anyways. But to talk about loving and respecting a person whom you’re subjecting to certain stuff is just laughable. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t care about them at all, but the actions and words don’t line up. It’s like a professed health nut who smokes, or a loving parent who locks their children in closets. Maybe you do care about health in other areas, and maybe you do love your children in other ways. But you’re also egregiously and unrepentantly violating the principles you claim.

            Which reminds me…one of the very reasons our relationships can fall apart is that we do get pricked by our conscience, because the more we do come to genuinely care for the other person, the less we’re able to stomach abusing them so! And no, the fact that they “allow” or even “enjoy” it doesn’t make it not abusive or unethical. There’s a lot people allow that isn’t right. Like women who choose to stay with men or women who beat them. And yeah, those men and women claim to “love” them, too.

            Which reminds me—it’s disturbing how people get that you shouldn’t be violent in other ways in your relationships, but being sexually violent and causing sexual injury gets such a free ride. That’s appalling and contradictory.

            And if you really care about things like harassment, and mistreatment of women, and respect for people, well, I feel supporting this kind of dehumanizing stuff is promoting just that. Treat women well and respect them…except when you’re sexually injuring them? I call so much bull.

            There’s an apt proverb (not quoted from Scripture, mind you) about not tearing down a fence until you know why it was built. If people had listened, there’s a huge amount of suffering that could’ve been prevented. What’s more, time and other resources could’ve been devoted to things like investigating and problem-solving. (One concern relative to this is the effect that environmental contamination—which in some areas disproportionately affects Black, Brown, and poor communities, who are already suffering—can have on prenatal development and hormonal exposure. So basically, normalizing this is potentially like normalizing how people affected by substances used in warfare will have various medical issues and birth defects. You’re dismissing and further victimizing people, saying the damage is normal!)

            And one thing about those who are in my community is that while it often is hard to be patient, especially for those lacking remorse and not attempting to change their behavior, there’s also the balance that these are often deeply wounded people acting out of their pain. That molestation thing I mentioned is an example.

            And I also understand how extremely difficult it can be to extract yourself from stuff once you get involved in it.

            But what’s the excuse for the supposed allies? Those who should be able to see much more clearly, but refuse to. They’re not the addicts themselves, yet they want to keep the addiction going.

            I’ve been through Hades dealing with people like that and watching them put on these acts of being nice and sugary sweet and claiming friendship while showing horrific levels of callousness, dishonesty, and cruelty.

            And people want me to be forgiving about it and let it go, but so far…I’m not in a forgiving spirit. And again, it’s one thing if someone is regretful and trying to be better. I tend to be Ms. Cheerleader and very proud of people like that in various situations. But those who blatantly and brazenly continue, like those who normalize “consensual” sexual slavery (and this is extremely offensive racially, by the way…) and other abusive, demeaning practices, and while still claiming friendship and spewing lies about love in the midst of this mishegoss they’re fostering…they are lucky that karma hasn’t inflicted on them the same pain, injury, and loss of function that they cheerfully encourage people to inflict on themselves, and worse, each other. Those they “love.”

            Anyways, I think this article actually does an excellent job of analyzing and discussing one of the factors behind some of these people taking up banners, and I’ve seen similar ideas suggested before: that in some cases it’s really more self-concerned and not about the people the cause is supposedly about.

            Because with friends like these, we’ve no need of enemies. In fact, I prefer those who are openly hostile and at least don’t claim to care about use versus those who claim it while so deeply betraying us and furthering our hurt and self-destruction and exploiting our pain and vulnerability to paint themselves as something they’re not.

            Just how badly do we have to suffer to garner their supposedly abundant compassion for us that mysteriously vanishes when it comes to what results from these lifestyles? Because I’ve seen them stonily unmoved by some heavy stuff.

          • This is an absolutely epic comment, though it is born of real tragedy and trauma. Thank you, Ahsoka. I hope you see my reply (even a few weeks late). And I will take other steps to ensure that you do see my reply.

            Everything you’ve written here, apparently from an insider’s perspective, aligns and fleshes out what I’ve read elsewhere about the real emotional, physical harm in the movement.

            That includes the very detailed descriptions of the physical harm. Many of these I’ve seen described at length elsewhere, particularly from Joseph Sciambra. (This is the original link, though I see the site has apparently been down for maintenance for some time.) To be sure, one must be very careful with such details, but sin thrives when it’s done in the darkness and painted over with melodrama and sentimentalism. I believe the benefits of exposing these unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11) outweigh the risks.

          • Ahsoka Jackson says:

            [Cannot delete comment outright, so removing the text here and moving my second comment to being a reply to the first.]

          • notleia says:

            Addendum: Thinking on it more, your terminology bugs me. Specifically “false ’empathy.'” On the surface, it looks like you mean to invalidate that feeling, that what they’re feeling is not actually empathy.
            But you probably just mean that it’s ineffective empathy — but you like the equivocation that allows you to indirectly call someone WRONGITTY WRONG (CHECKMATE SJW’s).

          • notleia says:

            That whole thing where you italicized “rightfully.” Like, how is it wrong to be upset at how lil gay frens are so often treated badly in church culture?

            You’re making it sound like it’s all projection on the SJW’s part, but how so? Even if they’re displacing some of their own feelings about authority/parents/all that, that doesn’t make their feelings less valid. Like, how are those feelings not valid, anyway? You’re trying to make them sound immature, like they’re just mad at their parents, but why wouldn’t their anger about their parents be legit?

          • notleia, Jesus Christ himself says:

            “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4–6)

            When Jesus speaks, we should listen. And obey. Otherwise, we prove that we do not love him (John 14:15,21).

            Once we commit to loving and obeying Jesus, then we can start talking about all the other stuff, e.g. the reasons for particular Jewish laws, or how/whether they apply today, or whether sex in marriage is for God-glorifying pleasure or children (answer: yes), or whether particular novelty views of “queerness” or reverse-engineered sexuality really hurt people. But apart from this love and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of that stuff is just a distraction.

  3. 60something says:

    Dear Mr Burnett,

    Thank you for your article. It was forwarded to me, and I was thankful for a number of insights you have brought to our attention.

    There is an aspect of this current day’s overuse of victim status, and what you call “surrogate oppressors”, that you help to clarify. This is a societal trend that is wreaking havoc in families and churches. Those who are parents of estranged adult children may understand this better than others. I think that the most important concept to hold onto is forgiveness, starting with Christ forgiving us, and working our way out from there with all that the scriptures teach us about forgiveness.

    Also, I come from a place of knowing about the Harris family going back to when Greg was teaching families how to be more effective in educating their children. This news hits us hard.

    But God has not changed or moved, and His word has not been changed by these events, in the least. “Though we are faithless, He remains faithful.”

  4. Lilly Landis says:

    It’s very difficult to understand these atrocities that have taken place in the life of Joshua Harris, however, the Word of God is very explicit when speaking from the voices of prophets… concerning the breaking away of those who fall short of the message that they preach. Just read the angry words in Isaiah 65. God is the ONLY ONE who should be reacting to this sort of guile behavior and apostacy within the evangelical church, but YES!…. we too, who are experiencing and watching this great disturbance take place too, must also continue to feed our own faith by the precious Word of God, lest we shall fall too!
    We also must realize that we are but fallible man, pursuing an infallible God through our hearts, and fellowship, through the teachings of God’s Holy Word, and trust through the Grace of Almighty God. We cannot strive over this one who has gone astray, but we must continue to speak assertively from the Word of God, and to show God’s people the Strong Arm of God, rather than weep over a brother who has lost his OWN way.
    I only speak from the heart of a pastor’s wife, as I was one of those wives who’s life was shattered due to my ex’s behavior inside and outside the pastoral ministry. Yes… there is a time to grieve over this, but all the more reason we must proclaim the tried and true Word of God. I have been through great loss, but I still have a drive to teach the true Word of God, and Praise our God in the middle of the storm… whatever that may be. Keep preaching that Amazing Grace of God!

  5. […] Some Early Responses to Joshua Harris’s Confession of Apostasy | E. Stephen Burnett, Jul 26 […]

  6. Dana Bell says:

    I know the titles of the books, but have never read them. Totally understand how the author feels as I’ve done a fair amount of wandering other paths as well. Why? Because the churches have lost so much of what Christianity is really about and gone down the legal path of laws.

    I’ve settled at Messianic Jewish. Love listening to Rabbi’s and how they fit all the pieces together for both the old and new testament. They include the culture, history, and other things needed for the western mind to understand an eastern book.

    What most Christians don’t understand, if that Paul used the word adoption deliberately. In Roman days, a biological child could be disinherited, but an adopted one couldn’t because they were chosen. This how we, God’s children are referred to. We are adopted. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and fellow-heirs of Messiah. 8: 15-17. One New Man Bible. (Translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.)

    While Harris my chose at this time to walk away, he still belongs to God. Pray for him and our heavenly Father will deal with his heart.

    What we of the church need to remember are the two greatest commands.

    Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
    Love your neighbor as yourself.

    On this rests the law and prophets.

    Does this mean to love the gay people you know. Yes.
    Does this mean to love those of other religions. Yes.
    Does this mean to love those how hate you. Yes.

    If we spent more time loving the sinners rather than condemning them, Christianity would’t be despised. This is the fault of the church, false teaching and mythology that has crept in, like Christ being born on Christmas. That is a huge lie. It’s a pagan holiday the Roman Catholic Church ‘christianized’ to get the pagans into the church. So’s Easter.

    We need to celebrate the feasts of God as shown in the Old Testament. Those are what God put in place. It’s not just a Jewish festival.

    The reason I know as much as I do is because I study the Bible as we are commanded in Timothy.

    So my brothers and sisters, The Lord will bless you and He will keep you. The Lord will make His face shine upon you and he will be gracious to you. The Lord will lift his countenance to you and He will establish Shalom for you.

    And they (the priests) will put My name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.

    Numbers 6: 24-27.

    This blessing includes us, gentiles, as we are grafted onto the same tribe branch Christ was. (Sorry, don’t have the Biblical reference.)

    Going to get off my soapbox and apologize if my wandering mind doesn’t quite make all the pieces fit. I could write an entire book on what I’ve learned. This is why I left the church, but not my faith. I got tired of the wrong teaching.

    • Some quick thoughts.

      If we spent more time loving the sinners rather than condemning them, Christianity would’t be despised.

      Not so. This is, at best, wishful thinking. Jesus said,

      “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
      — John 15:18–19

      With respect, the notion that “the world only despises Christians because we’re not loving enough” is itself a misguided or even false teaching that’s often taught by many churches. It sounds like you are taking a personal experience (maybe with a church that was not very loving to you), and are projecting it onto all other churches and Christians. Please reconsider!

      Meanwhile, regarding the holidays and whether they’re pagan, and whether we should celebrate some holidays and not others, Paul actually says that this teaching is itself a kind of legalism that Christians must avoid. He writes:

      One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
      —Romans 14:5

      This specifically applies to people who feel we must celebrate all the original Jewish holidays. It also applies to people who feel that any “secular” elements in holidays (in the past) mean that anyone who enjoys the holiday is sinning, and/or acting like a heathen. Not so. In your study of holidays’ origins, beware making false judgment against the motives of your sister or brother in Christ. Please also beware any hint of the notion that non-Christians are driven away because we haven’t got the holidays right. (Nope. The fault is sin. Basic as that.)

  7. Richard Asni says:

    Well, your attitude toward gays (who, need I remind you, are human beings and no less God’s children than you) is about the most un-Christian attitude I can imagine. Jesus would cringe to read #9. Shame on you.

    • Shaming rejected. Jesus died for my real shame caused by actual guilt. I’m no longer hostage to actual guilt and shame, much less the fake guilt and shame that people make up as part of a (possibly accidental) play at wielding moral authority.

      • In your quote from Mark Carver (which you said you agreed with) he said ‘There is *no* place for homosexuality in the church’, which can easily be interpreted as ‘there’s no place for homosexuals in the church’. You’ve done very little to show you separate your feelings for homosexual behavior from your feelings for the individuals. It’s fine to disagree with homosexuality, but if you don’t communicate better when it comes to this subject, you’re only going to look like you hate gay people, and that’s only going to hurt your witness and make the church look bad. Why not show true understanding and compassion for what LGBT+ people have been through in spite of disagreeing with it? A lot of them HAVE been treated badly. If you aren’t willing to even acknowledge that, how can you possibly reach them?

        • “Homosexuality,” in this case, refers to the unrepentant practice. That is how I read it, but the point is well taken about the need to separate the person from the unrepentant practice. I heartily affirm that individuals with same-sex attraction are more than welcome among Christ’s people. Their faithfulness to Jesus Christ, to love and obey him over their own temptations, have already been showing many Christians with other temptations how sin-resistance ought to be done.

          • Yeah, I knew what you meant. It just wasn’t coming through well in your words, so I thought I’d warn you that that is probably why people are reacting so much to what you say. 🙂 People that have had hate spewed at them their whole lives, or have watched hate spewed at others their whole life, probably aren’t going to even know to consider giving you the benefit of the doubt like I did, so you would probably have more success with clarifying your opinion with more detail.

      • Richard Asni says:

        “I’m no longer hostage to actual guilt and shame”.
        Wow, I’ve never seen someone so shamelessly (pun intended) give himself a Get Out Of Jail Free card. This is why it is useless to argue with religious people: they are always right in their own eyes. Talk about wielding moral authority… and not even being aware of it! You see neither the forest nor the trees.
        Are you SURE Jesus would agree with your stance on homosexuality?

        • Associations are very powerful things. Some people used to associate drinking, going to the theater, and card games with evil. Other people associate certainty itself with evil (though they themselves are just as certain about their own associations and beliefs). Unfortunately, the association gets even stronger if someone is (1) trying to interpret motives based on an internet comment, (2) the victim of any real, previous abuse of power that an abuser associated with particular biblical beliefs. For either of those, I’m heartily sympathetic!

          But yes, I’m absolutely sure that Jesus is both an all-loving savior to those who struggle with any sexual temptation, and a holy challenge to anyone who wants to practice any sin (including any sexual sin that contradicts the Creator’s design for marriage).

          “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
          — Jesus (Matthew 19:4–6)

          • Joseph Lu says:

            Thanks to Pastor Burnett’s sharing! God loves repenting sinner, but has great wrath on those unrepentant ones, because He is not only a mercy God, but also a righteous God. We were all sinners, not much different from LGBTQ or other sinner group, before being redeemed and saved by our Lord with His blood. However, with His grace, we were reborn by the Spirit and then truly realized that we were redeemed sinners. With a thanksgiving heart, we are willing to follow God’s law, and, with His guidance and help, we are able to repent from our sins. That is the blessing we received, are receiving, and will continue to receive from the God’s son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God’s love is so great, that we, the receivers of the love, want to share the love to others, including LGBTQ group, the people in other religion, and all sinners so that they will also repent from their sin and receive the blessing but not wrath from the True God! This is the true love to God and to our neighbor.

          • Preach, good sir.

            (I’m not a pastor, though. But I appreciate the compliment.)

  8. […] Some Early Responses to Joshua Harris’s Confession of Apostasy | E. Stephen Burnett, Jul 26 […]

  9. CM says:

    I really appreciate your words. Thank you for writing this!

  10. […] Some Early Responses to Joshua Harris’s Confession of Apostasy | E. Stephen Burnett, Jul 26 […]

  11. […] Some Early Responses to Joshua Harris’s Confession of Apostasy | E. Stephen Burnett, Jul 26 […]

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