By Ken Ham

Yes, you read that title correctly: the British Broadcasting Company will be airing a radio Easter message that compares the treatment of practicing homosexuals to the Crucifixion of Christ. (Read more about the announcement at this link.) The host of the program will be Benjamin Cohen, the founder of the gay UK publisher PinkNews.

Now, Cohen has written an article titled “Like Jesus on the cross, the gay community know what it is to be abandoned.” He explains his view of the Crucifixion and how he believes it relates to the gay agenda. As you’ll see, his reasoning shows a complete lack of understanding of the Bible’s atonement message and why Christ came to earth as a man:

The story of Jesus is one that is inextricably tied up with the notion of him being an outcast and being both abandoned and rejected by his own people, the Jews. Jesus was abandoned because of something he said he couldn’t help, being born the son of God, the messianic figure for the redemption of the Jewish people and ultimately of mankind. Yet he was persecuted for it, treated as a traitor and ultimately executed.

One of the problems with Cohen’s statement is that the gospel accounts of Christ’s earthly ministry don’t center on rejection and abandonment. They are concerned with Christ’s purpose for coming to earth—to offer salvation to sinful man through living a perfect life, dying in our place, and rising again three days later.

What’s more, Christ and His disciples called people to repent and believe. You see, Scripture tells us that homosexual behavior is sinful—so Cohen’s comparison isn’t remotely valid. (For more on what the Bible says about homosexuality, read Pro-Gay Theology: Does the Bible Approve of Homosexuality?) Cohen continues:

Jesus in the Gospel is confronted by the Temple authorities because of his claims of being the son of God. In Mark, the High Priest asks Jesus: “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”, a question from Jesus’s perspective he had to answer in the affirmative. This led to the acquisition [sic] of blasphemy, subject as it happens to the same punishment as homosexuality in Temple times, execution. How different a situation is this to the questions and ultimatums given by some parents and some faiths to young gay people? Could Jesus have escaped his crucifixion by denying who he believed he really was? In my view, religion should be about bringing families together, not tearing them apart. Families and faiths should accommodate gay people not rejecting them or trying to paint them as deviants.

You know, the irony in all of this is that just about the only time secularists are willing to give credence to Christ’s claims that He was the Son of God is when it serves their own agenda. Cohen completely misunderstands Jesus’s attitude toward the sacrifice He was about to make for man’s sin, as he seems to believe that Christ unwillingly went forward with His Crucifixion. However, Christ wanted what the Father wanted, as demonstrated in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus Christ, speaking of laying down His life, said, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:18). Jesus Christ rejoiced that through suffering He would redeem us, as Hebrews 12:2 testifies that “Jesus, the author and finisher of ourfaith . . . for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.”

Another problem with Cohen’s thinking is that none of it is based on the Bible—it’s all from his “view.” The changing opinions of people cannot be the basis for what we think. The Bible has to affect our thinking in every area. Sadly, Cohen is trying to use the Bible, specifically Christ’s atoning work on the Cross, to justify sin. That’s the work of an unbelieving, rebellious heart.

I sincerely urge you to pray that Cohen and others who hold his viewpoint repent of their error and believe the gospel of Christ before the day of judgment.

And pray for the potential millions of viewers who will watch this shocking program that they will not be led astray by those  who treat God’s Word like those in 2 Peter 3:16: “ . . . which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

I thank Steve Golden for his assistance in composing today’s blog post.

Further reading

• THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY IS DIFFERENT
• BRIEF WORD ON THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY
• HOMOPPRESSION IS AT LEAST AS BAD AS HOMOPHOBIA