GUEST: JUSTIN PETERS, evangelist and preacher
It can be confusing and even destabilizing when a pastor or Christian leader who has been orthodox in his teaching for decades says something that seems to compromise God’s Word.
Such occurred recently with revered pastor Alistair Begg. Begg, who is from Scotland but leads Parkside Church in Cleveland, is the Bible teacher on the popular radio ministry, Truth for Life. In an episode in September 2023, Truth for Life host Bob Lepine was interviewing pastor Begg about his new book, The Christian Manifesto, which seeks to help Christians live out Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6) in a 21st century brave new world context.
Begg brought up the example of what he said to a grandmother who had contacted him about whether to attend her grandson’s “wedding” to a “transgender” person (the quotes being added because God defines a wedding as between one man and one woman and no one can “trans” their gender).
We’ll play the audio of pastor Begg’s response, but in short, he suggested the grandmother attend the ceremony and buy the couple a gift with the purpose to keep the lines of engagement and gospel-witness open with her grandson.
Those in theologically conservative circles collectively choked on his response while theological liberals said “this is the way”.
The important question is: What is God’s will for Christians with an issue like this? It is a matter of right vs wrong or an issue of personal conscience?
Preacher and evangelist Justin Peters will join us this weekend and point to key passages of Scripture that help us make wise, God-honoring decisions.
