What the Bible Says About LGBTQ: A Gospel Response to Today’s Culture

By guest author Pastor Rich Bittermen

The bell tower threw a long shadow across the quad.Flyers flapped on a corkboard…movie nights, climate rallies, and three printed rainbows promising “safe space, no shame.” A freshman in a hoodie stood there for a moment, thumbing through his phone. A headline blinked up from his screen:“1 in 5 Gen Z now identify as LGBT.”

He didn’t flinch. He just shouldered his backpack, tucked the leather Bible deeper inside, and kept walking.

A New Normal That Isn’t

According to Gallup, 7.2% of all U.S. adults identify as LGBT. But among Gen Z, those born after 1997, that number has surged to 19.7%. Almost one in five. Not claimed in passing, but embraced, published, and pressed into every layer of public life.

These are not secret sins or silent struggles. These are banners now, waved from classrooms, streaming platforms, and TikTok timelines. What once whispered from shadows now demands celebration in the streets.

But the Word of God has not moved. It sits where it always has, solid and unblinking, like a stone in a river while the current rushes past in protest.

So we must speak. Not with outrage, not with distance, but with urgency and tears.

Behind Every Number, a Name

A young man once sat across from me in the quiet of the church office. He stared at his coffee but never drank it. The Styrofoam cup trembled slightly in his hand.

“Pastor,” he said, “do you think I’m ruined?”

That’s what this conversation is really about. Not Gallup charts. It’s about souls. Souls who wonder if the gospel is big enough to reach them. Souls who are being catechized by a rainbow-washed world that says: “This is who you are. This is your truth. This is love.”

We must be clear: not every person who feels this temptation commits this sin. And not every person who struggles in silence has been discipled in truth. But everyone, everyone, needs a gospel strong enough to save, and a church willing to sit with them long enough to show them Jesus.

Temptation Is Not Identity

Let’s make this unmistakably clear: Temptation is not identity. Inclination is not destiny.

To feel a pull is not to be condemned.To practice the act is to disobey God.

The Bible defines sin not by what we feel, but by what we do. Homosexuality, like adultery or drunkenness or greed, is a behavior that God condemns…not a personality trait, not a quirk of biology. Some are more inclined to it, yes. Just as others are more inclined to rage or addiction. But no one is born bound to sin. The gospel breaks every chain.

The World Redefines; God Restores

A culture that removes sex from covenant and morality has nowhere left to stand.

Once sexual desire becomes a consumer product, no more meaningful than choosing carrots over Brussels sprouts, then marriage collapses, families fracture, and civilization forgets how to blush.

Rome fell that way. So did Babylon. So, quietly, are we.

When God’s design for sexuality is abandoned, what replaces it is not freedom but confusion. Not joy, but a restless ache that success and slogans cannot touch.

The Ache Behind the Applause

You’ll hear it said that the LGBT community is vibrant and strong. That they’ve found their place. That they’ve claimed their pride. But I have seen too many behind closed doors, long after the parade has ended, to believe it.

They carry the ache of being misunderstood. The shame of wanting what they know to be wrong. The fear of growing old and being alone. What looks like celebration is often a cry for belonging. What sounds like confidence is often the soundtrack to an identity that will not hold.

Romans 1 tells us plainly that when men and women trade God’s design for their own passions, there is judgment, but not just judgment in the future. The judgment begins now, in the form of confusion, futility, and the darkening of the heart.

They are not just sinning.They have been sinned against.

Such Were Some of You

And yet this is not the end of the story. Paul writes to the Corinthian church:

“Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality… will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you.But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”-1 Corinthians 6:9–11

Some of them had been practicing homosexuals. Others had been caught in adultery, drunkenness, covetousness. Paul doesn’t separate them into levels. He simply points to the blood of Jesus and says: Washed. Sanctified. Justified.

That is what the gospel does.It doesn’t sweep your past under a rug.It scrubs it clean.It doesn’t leave you nameless.It gives you sonship.

That young man in my office? He’s not ruined. He’s redeemed.

Friendship Is Not Fornication

One of the great lies of our age is the confusion between intimacy and impurity. The world cannot imagine two men being close without being lovers. It cannot picture two women walking through sorrow and joy without assuming sin.

But the Bible gives us David and Jonathan, a friendship so deep, so loyal, so bonded, that David would later write:

“Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.” -2 Samuel 1:26

Not a hint of sin. Just God-given friendship.We must recover that category in the church.

Deep, holy, covenant friendships that fight loneliness without fueling lust. Real companionship that welcomes a third person into the fold instead of shutting the door to protect hidden sin.

When two walk together in Christ, and a third comes bearing the same heart-they are welcomed. That is friendship.When a third comes and is resented, resisted, and feared-lust may be lurking.

Repentance Means Quit

The message of Christ is not tolerance. It is transformation. The call is not to manage our sin.The call is to kill it.

“Cease to do evil. Learn to do good.”-Isaiah 1:16–17

Repentance means quit. Quit now. Quit forever. Not by might. Not by therapy. But by the Spirit of the Living God.

Do you feel powerless? Good. So did the man with the withered hand. Jesus said, “Stretch it out.” And when the command came, the power came with it. So it is with every sin. The moment you decide to obey, Christ supplies the strength.

Avoid the places. Cancel the subscriptions. Confess to someone in the church who will hold you up with truth and love. Step into the light and let the light burn clean.

For Parents Who Are Afraid

To the mother reading this with tears…To the father who’s too broken to speak…You are not alone.

Your child may be caught in this storm, but God is not blind and He is not finished. Do not compromise. But do not stop praying. Do not cut off the phone calls. Be the one who always answers. Be the one who keeps a chair at the table. Truth and love are not opposites. In Christ, they are inseparable.

For the One Still Struggling

If you feel the pull of same-sex attraction and wonder if there is a place for you in Christ-The answer is yes.If you have committed the act and wonder if grace can still reach you-The answer is yes.If you have fought the same temptation a thousand times and failed again-Come to Christ. He knows temptation. He felt it. He did not yield. And now He gives mercy to the tempted.

“We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.” -Hebrews 4:15

He knows the exact shape of your ache.He knows what your tears taste like.And He’s not ashamed to call you His.

A Call to the Church

Do not flinch. Do not soften what Scripture has made clear. Do not smirk when others weep. Do not grow distant from those who struggle.

The harvest is full of strugglers. The pews are not pure. We are all people being saved from something. This is not the hour for moral pride. It is the hour for gospel courage.

Eternity Is Not a Theory

One in five Gen Z now identify as LGBT. But behind that number is a soul. And that soul will live forever.

The rainbow will fade. The slogans will age. But the Word of God will still be open. And the blood of Christ will still be enough.

So we preach. We counsel. We cry. We repent. And we welcome.

Because we were washed. Because we were sanctified. Because we were justified.

And now we walk together toward the throne.

© Pastor Rich Bitterman

Originally published at https://richbitterman.com on September 3, 2025.