Can a Christian Attend a Homosexual/Trans Wedding?

Justin Peters

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Welcome to the program, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Justin Peters. I hope that this finds you and your family doing well today.

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I want to thank you so much for joining me for this podcast. First, real briefly, you might notice, those of you who follow my channel, that things look a little bit different, and that is because Kathy and I have moved from Bozeman, Montana, to just outside of Billings, Montana, and so I'm still getting my new office set up here, so that explains that.

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Now, on to the more important matter here, the subject matter that I want to deal with today, and that is probably all of you who follow this channel by now have heard of the comments that Alistair Begg made in reference to whether or not a

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Christian should attend a homosexual -slash -transgendered wedding ceremony.

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For those of you who may not know who Alistair Begg is, he is the pastor of Parkside Church in the

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Cleveland, Ohio area, and he has been a faithful preacher of the gospel for many years, is reformed in his soteriology as a high view of God's sovereignty and salvation, and has been much loved and much respected, and I have appreciated

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Alistair Begg over the years. I've only met him once, about, oh, as of right now, maybe about 14 months or so ago,

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Jim Osmond and I were in the area there doing some filming for the American Gospel film, and we got to meet with him briefly then.

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Very gracious guy, very nice, he spent some time with Jim and me, and we had a very nice conversation with Alistair, but that is the only time

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I've ever met him, only time that I've ever had any conversation with him at all, and it was just, you know,

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I don't know, 15 or 20 minutes, about 14 or so months ago. So all of that as background,

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Alistair has said, to the surprise and shock of many of us, myself included, that basically it is okay for a

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Christian to attend a homosexual and or transgendered wedding.

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Now, I want to be completely fair in this, and dear friends, please do watch the entirety of this video, shouldn't be too terribly long, but some of the most important things

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I'm going to say will be towards the end of this video, so please do watch it all, I'll try to put some timestamps there so you can navigate this a little bit more easily and quickly.

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He did say these things, I want to show you the clip, or at least the audio clip of him saying these things, but I also want to show you a video clip of an interview where he dealt with the same issue, not the wedding ceremony specifically, but the homosexual issue, and you've heard the term conversion therapy.

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And so I want you to watch this video first, he was, I believe this was aired in June of 2023, just a few months before the more infamous interview that is getting everybody's attention.

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So watch this from June of 2023. I'm going to ask you a controversial question now.

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If there was a conversion therapy ban in place in Ohio, where you are, and it was very broad, and it meant that by urging an individual in your church to embrace the

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Christian sexual ethic, you would be breaking that law, what would you do, Alistair? Well, I think that that would be absolutely straightforward.

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That, you know, the exception clause, if you like, you know, judge for yourselves whether it's right for us to pay attention to you or to obey

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God. We don't want to be hauling that out every 15 minutes. But in an instant like this, instance such as that, it wouldn't even be a question for me.

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I mean, I'm facing that right now in many ways. I mean, because the material that I've just done in the second half of Romans 1, you know, goes out on the airwaves.

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And I'm amazed or perhaps disappointed that it hasn't actually reached into the realm about which we're talking.

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And we've been protected from that. But I'm of the conviction that eventually, unless this thing turns around, some pastor, and hopefully it'll be a sensible soul, will end up having to go to jail for violating the commands of the state.

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And of course, the Scots, as you know, have a very long history of doing that, especially against kings and authorities and not always desirable.

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But nevertheless, no, it's not controversial to me. It's not even a question. The Bible is the

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Bible. Amen and amen. I agree with every word that he said.

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He said, basically, when it comes to this, that's not even a question. You don't even have to think about it.

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The Bible is what it is. The Bible says what it says. And even if that means us going to jail over that.

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If that's what it means, so be it. We go to jail. Amen and amen.

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Praise God for those comments. Which makes those comments, what we're about to hear anyway, makes what we're about to hear so hard to understand.

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Because what I just showed you was in July of 2023. And what you're about to hear was from an interview that he did, or at least was aired in September of 2023.

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But it didn't make any waves. Apparently, nobody really heard about it. Someone apparently found it and posted a clip.

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And I guess it went viral, to use that nomenclature, and here just a week or so ago. And it really started making the rounds.

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So, yeah. So I'm going to let you listen to this interview that he did that's causing all the controversy and then we'll discuss it.

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And in very specific areas, this comes across. I mean, you and I know that we field questions all the time that go along the lines of.

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OK, dear ones, just a quick interruption. I stop here just because he said, you know, we're faced with questions like this all the time.

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So what you're about to hear is not an off -the -cuff comment. This is something that he has thought about and thought through.

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My grandson is about to be married to a transgender person and I don't know what to do about this.

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And I'm calling to ask you to tell me what to do, which is a huge responsibility. And in a conversation like that just a few days ago, and people may not like this answer, but I asked the grandmother, does your grandson understand your belief in Jesus?

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Yes. Does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can't countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life?

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Yes. I said, well, then, OK, as long as he knows that, then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony and I suggest that you buy them a gift.

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Oh, she said, what? She was caught off guard. I said, well, here's the thing.

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You're not going to, your love for them may catch them off guard, but your absence will simply reinforce the fact that they said these people are, what

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I always thought, judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything. And it is a fancy, it is a fine line, isn't it?

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It really is. And people need to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. But I think we're going to take that risk.

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We're going to have to take that risk a lot more if we want to build bridges into the hearts and lives of those who don't understand

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Jesus and don't understand that he is a king. Dear friends, that is a terrible, terrible answer.

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I want to walk us through a few things here. Number one, I do not believe in homosexual or transgender marriage, however that would work.

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And when I say I don't believe in it, I don't merely mean that I disagree with it, which clearly

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Alistair Begg does disagree with it. That's abundantly clear. But I don't simply mean that I disagree with it.

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I mean that I don't believe in it like I don't believe in the tooth fairy. I don't believe in homosexual marriage like I don't believe in square circles.

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There's no such thing. Marriage is God's creation. He gets to define it.

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Not you, not me, not any court, not the United States Supreme Court.

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2015, the United States Supreme Court codified into law what it calls homosexual marriage, but it's not marriage.

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God defines marriage, not the United States Supreme Court. And God defines marriage as a committed union for life between one man and one woman.

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And anything outside of that is not marriage, not by God's definition, which is the only definition.

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So there's no such thing as homosexual marriage. Homosexuality is an abomination before God.

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If you die in that sin, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. 1

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Corinthians chapter 6 is very clear. Now, it is not the only sin that will send you to hell, but make no mistake about it.

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It absolutely will send you to hell. 1 Corinthians 6, read

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Romans chapter 1. The Bible is not unclear that homosexuality is an abomination before God and merit to call a union of two homosexuals or transgendered, whatever, to call that a marriage or to call it a wedding.

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That is to mock God. That makes an open mockery of marriage.

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It is it is open mockery of God himself. And there is no scenario in which a

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Christian in good conscience could attend a ceremony that is a deliberate and intentional mocking of God and stay silent.

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There is no way for a Christian to do that. No way for a Christian to do that. Romans 14, verse 22 says,

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Blessed is a man who is not condemned by what he approves. Dear friends, we are condemned not only by our own actions, but also the actions of others that we give approval to.

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And I understand that Alistair said, well, as long as the transgendered person understands that you don't agree with what he's doing, he or she, whatever, you don't agree with that, grandson,

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I guess, as long as he understands that your faith in Christ prohibits you from agreeing to that, then it's

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OK to go to the ceremony and to even give a gift. Dear friends, to attend a ceremony that is an abomination before God is tacit approval to that ceremony.

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You cannot attend that ceremony and remain silent about it. And not see that as tacit approval of it.

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It absolutely is. And then, as if it couldn't get any worse, then he says, give a gift to them.

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Give a gift in honor of a ceremony that makes a mockery of marriage and makes a mockery of God himself.

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To give a gift in honor of that? Dear friends, that is approval.

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That is tacit approval. There is no way to put lipstick on that pig.

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It is hopelessly incongruous to say, I don't approve of this, but I'm going to attend it, not object to it, and even give a gift in honor of it.

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But I don't approve of it. That is hopelessly incongruous. What if your child or your son or your grandson were to come up to you and say,

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I'm going to run this online scam, and I'm going to swindle old people out of their money with one of these online scam things, you know, where I sell them gift cards and get their bank account number and all that.

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You've probably seen some of that. What if you were to say, well, son, I don't approve of that.

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I don't think that's right. That's wrong. But I will sit right beside you at your computer and watch as you do it.

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No, of course not. Of course you wouldn't do that, because to sit there in silence and watch your son do it is to give tacit approval to it.

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What if your son said, Dad, I'm kind of short on cash, and I'm really strapped right now.

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I'm going to go rob a liquor store. Would you say, well, son,

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I don't agree with that. There's better ways, an honest way to make your living. But I don't agree with what you're doing, but I'll drive to get it for you.

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Would you drive to get a way car? No, of course not. What if your son were to say, Dad, you know,

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I feel like a woman and I'm going to go have gender reassignment surgery.

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And, you know, would you say, well, son, I don't think that's a good idea, but let me drive you to the hospital?

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No, no, you wouldn't do that. That is hopelessly incongruous. Blessed is the man who is not condemned by what he approves.

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And Begg says that if you don't go, then that will just entrench them in what they believe about Christians, that they're closed minded and judgmental.

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But if you do go, you might catch them off guard with your love. Dear friends, that is not love.

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Standing there, sitting there in the pew or whatever, as this abomination before God, this mockery of God goes on and to sit there, that is not showing them love at all.

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The most loving thing you can do for someone in that situation, in any situation, is to tell that person the truth.

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You tell them the truth and you trust God with the results, whatever those results are.

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Being there and sitting there in silence is not love. In fact, dear friends, the

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Bible defines love for us, does it not? First Corinthians chapter 13, verse 6 specifically says, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.

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Giving a gift in honor of something that the Bible explicitly condemns is the definition of rejoicing in unrighteousness.

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It is not love. And some people might say, well, what if you go to the homosexual wedding and you go in hopes of speaking the truth to someone?

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You go in hopes of evangelizing them. I would say, no, not under any circumstances do you do that.

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A, you don't have to go to a homosexual wedding, quote unquote, to find someone to witness to.

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You don't have to do that. Walk around your neighborhood and you can find someone to witness to.

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You don't have to go, to give another example, you don't have to go to a nude bar to find lost people, right?

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I mean, walk out your front door, you're going to run into a lost person in pretty short order. You don't have to do that to be a witness.

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The only way that I would ever attend the ceremony of a homosexual wedding would be as if I knew with 100 % certainty that there would be a time in the service where whoever's doing it would say, if there's anyone here who has any objection, any reason as to why these two people should not join themselves in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.

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You may have heard that line. Preachers used to say that. I don't think they even say that anymore. But if I knew with 1000 % certainty that that would be said,

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I might go just to have the opportunity at that point to stand up and say,

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I object. Here's why I object. This is an abomination before, I would say it in front of everybody.

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This is an abomination before God. And then I would give the full crystal clear gospel and call everyone there, including the couple, to repent.

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And then I would walk out if I'm not thrown out first. That is the only conceivable scenario.

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But you have no way of knowing that you would have that opportunity in all likelihood. You're not, because I don't think preachers even say that anymore.

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I think that's something they said in a bygone era. I don't think they do it anymore. So you'll never have that opportunity.

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So in other words, don't go, don't go. There's other opportunities to share the gospel without attending something that is an abomination before God.

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And speaking of the desire to be a witness, the desire to share the gospel, what does it say not only to the couple, but everyone else in attendance at this ceremony and everyone in a wedding ceremony?

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I mean, you're there for a reason. You're there because you know that couple, right? You're either a family member or you're a friend.

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That's why you're there. And so when everyone else at the ceremony sees you and they know you profess to be a

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Christian, but you're just there kind of mingling and attending and not saying any, not one syllable of protest, they're going to assume, well, here's a

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Christian and he and he or she is there right here at this homosexual, transgendered wedding.

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What kind of testimony is that? It's a horrible, horrible testimony.

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And what about our witness to God? Dear friends, how can you attend something that is an abomination to God and sit there silently?

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What does that say to him? I could no more attend something like this and sit there silently.

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I couldn't do that any more than I could attend the execution of a brother or sister in Christ who's being executed simply because of their faith in Christ.

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I couldn't sit, stand by idly at that, silent at that, not in a million lifetimes, and I could no more sit silently at a homosexual wedding than I could sit silently as one of my brothers and sisters in Christ is being executed simply for their faith in Jesus.

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You know, the only measure that we have of our love for God is our obedience to God.

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Our love for God is not measured by feelings and emotions because feelings and emotions come and go, they ebb and wane.

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If you want to know how much you love God, ask yourself this question. How much do I obey

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God? Jesus said, he who has my commandments and keeps them, obeys them, he is the one who loves me, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

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So if you want to get an idea of how much you love God, just take some spiritual inventory, look at your life.

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How much do I obey him? How much do I obey him? Not when it's easy, but when it's hard.

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And then to give a gift in honor of that, I wouldn't give a gift to the men who burned

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Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley at the stake in Oxford, England, in 1555, these men were burned at the stake simply because they stood on the gospel and stood against the

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Roman Catholic church and all of its heresies. They stood on the gospel salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

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I would no more give a gift in honor of a homosexual wedding than I would present a gift to the men who burned

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Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley at the stake. Several days ago,

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I wrote a letter to Alistair Begg. As I said, at the beginning of this video,

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I've only met him once. I don't have his phone number. I don't have his email address.

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I don't have any of his contact information. All I know is where his church is. So I wrote a letter and addressed it to Alistair Begg, care of Parkside Church, and addressed and mailed it.

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And there's been enough time now. He certainly should have received it. Whether or not his eyes have seen that letter,

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I have no idea, but I was going to wait and give him time to see if he would respond to me in some way.

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I gave in the letter, I gave my cell phone number and email address and all that. I lovingly begged him to rethink this and come out and clean up his mess and apologize.

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Because this is not just a matter of conscience. This is a sin issue.

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I believe his advice, I truly believe, is sinful advice. And I asked him to please rethink this and come out and publicly repent of this.

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In hopes that maybe he would. But then just yesterday,

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I saw the story where the American Family Association and the

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American Family Radio, which is the AFR, American Family Radio, is the radio branch of the

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American Family Association. And they carry Alistair Begg's program. And his program is carried around,

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I think, about 1 ,800 different radio stations nationwide through AFR, however that works.

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And so they contacted him. Now, from what the article says, in fact,

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I'll put a link down below in the article. You can read it for yourself if you haven't already. It's from what

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I gather from the article, they were not able to talk to him personally, but AFA, the higher ups at AFA, did talk to some of Alistair Begg's staff, and they asked, begged

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Alistair Begg to recant this. And he's not going to.

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There is agreement between AFA and Alistair Begg that a homosexual wedding is a sin.

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Homosexual marriage is sinful. I would say it doesn't even exist, but they agree that it's sinful.

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But he apparently is standing by and doubling down on the advice that he gave, tragically, sadly.

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And so when I saw that, I then realized it really doesn't matter whether or not he sees my letter, it doesn't matter because he's already been confronted.

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And I am sure he has been confronted by many, many others as well, because a lot of people, a lot of people have been shocked by this.

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He knows that it's caused an awful lot of controversy and confusion, and yet he apparently has no plans on changing.

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He's only doubled down. So if he wouldn't repent after being confronted by AFR and having his radio program dropped from 1 ,800 different stations, then he's certainly not going to change his mind if he ever sees my letter and whether or not he's seen it.

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I have absolutely no idea. So, dear friends, those are my thoughts.

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I think this is horrible advice. It's unbiblical advice, profoundly, profoundly disappointing.

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And because of this, it breaks my heart to say this. Because of this, I cannot in good conscience recommend

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Alistair's ministry. And that pains me to even say that, but I can't.

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This is egregious error. This is sinful advice.

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And there's no way I can at this point, nor could

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I in good conscience sit under his preaching. So I hope and pray that at some point he will come out and he will repent of this.

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I truly hope and pray that he does. So as we conclude, dear ones, let me throw out a couple of other scenarios dealing with weddings.

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Some people might have these questions. What, can a Christian attend a wedding ceremony of two non -Christians?

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Yes. Yes. Marriage is one of those things. You can call it a common grace of God, but whatever term you want to give to it.

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But marriage is God's institution. He defines it one man, one woman. And when two non -Christians get married, they are in fact married.

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It's not the ideal marriage, of course, because they're not believers, but they're married nonetheless.

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So when two Muslims get married, they're married. When two Hindus get married, they're married.

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Two Mormons get married. They're married. Will they inherit the kingdom of God? No, not if they don't repent before they die, they won't, but they are married.

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So I could attend the wedding ceremony of two non -Christians.

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I could do that. Could I attend the wedding ceremony of a committed professing

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Christian to someone who does not claim to be a

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Christian? No, I could not. I could not do that because the

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Bible is clear. We are not to be unequally yoked. As a Christian, you are free to marry whomever you wish to marry as long as that other person is a fellow believer in Christ.

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But if you're a Christian and you knowingly marry someone that is not a

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Christian, this person does not profess to be a Christian, then biblically you cannot marry that person in good conscience.

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So if it were say, let's say you have a son and your son definitely professes to be a believer, but he's been dating this girl who is not a believer, and then they get engaged and your son says, dad,

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I proposed to Sally Sue and we're going to get married. Our wedding is going to be in three weeks.

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We want you and mom to be there. Could you be there? No. What I would counsel you to do is say, son, you can't do this.

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You're a Christian. You're a believer. You cannot marry an unbeliever. You'll be unequally yoked.

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And if your son says, well, dad, I'm in love with her. We're going to get married. Then if you've confronted your son and he chooses to remain in that sin and chooses to, with forethought, go down this sinful path and marry an unbeliever in violation of God's word, then in good conscience,

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I do not see how you could attend that wedding because your son would be knowingly with forethought sinning against God, and that's not something you could give your blessing to.

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And it would be a reason for you to see your son as an evangelistic prospect because if he goes through with that, that's forethought, sinning with forethought, and that's not a good indication that he is actually a believer.

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So he himself may be a false convert. So you want to see him as an evangelistic prospect. All right, dear ones, one final thought, one final thought when it comes to witnessing to homosexuals, some of you have heard me say this before.

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I witnessed to homosexuals the same way that I witnessed to anyone else. I give them the gospel.

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I don't have to drill down on their homosexuality. I've witnessed to a lot of homosexual people.

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I mean, most of the, not all the time, most of the time you can tell, but I share the gospel with them the same way that I would with anyone else.

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Will their homosexuality send them to hell? Yes, but they've got 10 ,000 other sins that will also send them to hell.

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And so you don't necessarily have to drill down on the homosexuality. You just give them the gospel. And if God saves that person through the gospel, then guess what goes away?

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The homosexuality will go away. They will move from first Corinthians chapter six, verse nine to first Corinthians chapter six, verse 11.

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When Paul says, such were some of you, you were those things. You were an idolater. You were a fornicator.

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Excuse me. You were a reviler. You were a swindler. You were a drunkard. You were all these things. You were a homosexual, but you're not anymore.

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You were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified. So those things pass away.

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The only time I would drill down on homosexuality when I'm witnessing to someone is if that person professes to be a

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Christian and also admits to being a homosexual at the same time. Then I drill down on it.

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There's no way a Christian can attend a homosexual wedding in good conscience. Stand your ground.

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Don't go on any level. Do not go. And you know what?

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If by God's grace, he saves one or more of those people involved in that wedding ceremony, if he saves them later and they're made new creatures in Christ, then they're going to remember, you know, my grandfather who wouldn't attend my ceremony, my wedding ceremony.

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Now I get it. That's going to be a powerful testimony to those people.

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And that's what we should pray for and want. All right, dear ones. This is one of those videos

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I never thought I would have to do, but I hope it has been helpful. And I know a lot of people out there have been wondering, well, what's

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Justin think about Alistair Beck? Because I see a lot of comments and I've received some emails, you know, what do you, what do you think,

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Justin? What do you think? I haven't done the video. I have not done this video because I was hoping to hear a response from Alistair.

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But at this point, since he's doubled down with AFA, AFR, it's a moot point.

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It doesn't matter. So I wanted to do this. I didn't want to, but I needed to.

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Felt like I owed it to you and wanted you to know where I stand. All right, dear ones.

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Thank you very much for watching until our next time together. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of his