In a sermon on Sunday (Jan. 28), Pastor Alistair Begg of Parkside Church in Cleveland addressed his controversial comments about Christians attending LGBTQ+ weddings.
Begg’s remarks came in the context of a September 2023 interview in which Begg indicated that he advised a woman to attend her grandchild’s wedding to a trans person. The interview just recently began circulating on social media, causing a stir among conservative evangelicals.
In fact, American Family Radio (AFR) pulled the 71-year-old preacher’s radio program, “Truth for Life,” from its network last week in response to Begg’s remarks.
In a sermon titled “Compassion vs. Condemnation,” Begg explained his controversial recommendation by referencing Pharisees, Jesus eating with sinners, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son—with an emphasis on the older son.
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“The absence you see of forgiveness on the part of the older brother reveals something,” Begg said. “It reveals that he doesn’t understand the nature of forgiveness, that he doesn’t understand what it means to actually be forgiven. And as a result of that, he doesn’t have the capacity to forgive others who need the forgiveness.”
As he proceeded to read an excerpt from his book, “The Christian Manifesto,” Begg said:
Now, if I can cross reference the book, which gave rise to the response to the grandmother, which gave rise to the interview about the book. There’s logic in me parlaying to here because what I’m saying is: Unless someone understands the forgiveness of God and how we are so in the wrong with God—whether you’re a religious Pharisee or whether you’re a lost cause, a drug addict [or] a crazy person—the same grace of God is what woos us and wins us and brings us to himself. If we do not understand the nature of our predicament, then we never understand the reality of our forgiveness. And in this book, that’s what I’m actually saying.
Begg shared that, in his book, he challenges Christians, including himself, to love everyone—including one’s enemies—as Christ commands. “To do so is a supernatural action, and it is an action that is proof of our salvation. This is supposed to be an uncomfortable challenge,” he quoted. “It is certainly very uncomfortable to me.”
Begg shared what it would be like for him to live out that command. “I think of people who are behaving in a way that rejects God and his ways, that undermines what God says glues societies and families together,” Begg said, indicating that the “glue” to which he referred is the “reality of conjugal love in a heterosexual, monogamous marriage that produces children.”
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Those who do anything outside of God’s view of marriage, Begg said, are rejecting God “publicly and they do it in a fashion that makes it absolutely clear that they have no interest in it, while mocking Christians as bigots.” Naturally, Begg quoted from his book, “I do not like them, but I am called to the supernatural work of loving them, not ignoring them, not avoiding them, but actively seeking to bless them.”
, Pastor Alistair Begg of Parkside Church in Cleveland addressed his controversial comments about Christians attending LGBTQ+ weddings. ){kind=link}