David Platt’s Co-Pastor Compares Jesus To TRANSGENDERS?!

Fight For Truth

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

00:05

Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So David Platt has, in recent history, been one of the most popular pastors in Evangelical Christianity.

00:17

Many people have read his book Radical, it's very popular, and he has been the pastor of McLean Bible Church in Virginia for some time now.

00:23

One of his co -pastors there named Eric Saunders made a video last year about transgenderism that sort of slipped under the radar.

00:30

The title of that video was, quote, How to Love My Transgender Neighbor, end quote. And before I give you my critique of that video, let me establish something and make it clear.

00:39

I am not suggesting that David Platt and this Eric Saunders gentleman are false teachers who are bound for hell.

00:44

I have absolutely no reason to say such a thing. I simply have a serious Biblical concern about the teaching of McLean Bible Church with regards to transgenderism, and these concerns need to be made public because the video that caused them is public.

00:58

David Platt has said some good things, and I'm sure Eric Saunders has too, and I'm not saying that it's sinful to listen to these men.

01:04

I simply think that there are places out there where you will get a more well -rounded and Biblical approach to issues like these.

01:10

Check out my video on 10 pastors I recommend, it's in the description. Just to be clear, I'm not calling these men unsaved, but I am suggesting that you get your

01:18

Bible teaching from someone else. So with that said, let's watch the video that Eric Saunders made about how to love your transgender neighbor, and let's compare this to Scripture.

01:27

Watch this. So to that, I would say in order to love your transgender neighbor well, just like anyone else,

01:35

I would advertise that we would show two things. We need to show compassion, and we need to give hope.

01:42

So I'll spend some time unpacking that. So believe me, the first statement made here really sets the tone for the overall video.

01:48

Eric says that our only method of interacting with transgender people and transgender ideology is to, quote, show compassion and give hope.

01:56

And as you will see over the course of this entire video made by David Platt's Church Network, there is absolutely no condemnation of transgenderism as sinful.

02:04

There is no statement made against transgenderism, there is only compassion and hope.

02:10

And most importantly, might I add, there is no call to repentance at any point in this video, and nor does

02:15

Eric encourage anyone who's watching the video to call transgender people to repent of their sin in this particular area.

02:21

And that is the fundamental problem with this response. I'm not suggesting that these people support transgenderism,

02:27

I'm only saying that they use candy -coated language to talk about it. It's not just the statement that you're going to see him making comparing

02:34

Jesus to transgenders, which is particularly bad, it's the entire system of thought that's going on here.

02:40

Just to be clear, I'm not against offering compassion and hope to people, I'm simply suggesting that the

02:45

Bible is what shows us how to go about doing that. And that seems to be ignored in this video. Also, there is a very clear inconsistency here.

02:52

If you look at the teaching of David Platt and his fellow pastors regarding the sin of racism, for instance, you will see a completely different side of these people begin to come out.

03:01

Suppose someone asked a question about sinful, racist thoughts against other people. The teaching of David Platt's church on that topic is strong, harsh, even angry at times.

03:11

Watch this video for proof. I want to see that the Bible doesn't give us that option, that Amos 5 doesn't give us that option.

03:17

We cannot truly worship God while we stay silent on injustice in all kinds of areas.

03:23

So you see, when it comes to David Platt's church, they are righteously indignant at the idea of racism and injustice, and they don't mince words.

03:31

They call it out. People who are racist may watch David Platt and his fellow pastors teach on the subject, and they will soon find that these men show their compassion and hope in a much different way.

03:41

Racism requires a harsh rebuke, but apparently transgenderism requires a loving and soft approach.

03:46

And if you look at this closely, this reaction perfectly mirrors that of leftist political figures who consistently lambast racist people while they coddle transgender people.

03:56

And might I suggest that many church leaders, including David Platt, are pretty much doing the exact same thing, but with a distinctly

04:02

Christian flavor. Now I'm not saying that all sins must be confronted in the exact same way at all times, regardless of the context.

04:09

Obviously not. The point is that David Platt's church is offering a compassion -centered, one -size -fits -all approach that they usually refuse to apply across the board, especially to sins that they find particularly damning, racism being one example.

04:22

So let's go ahead and watch the next clip. Check this out. There's this sense that one is not at home in their bodies, and it can feel to them as if God's design is not good.

04:32

To our transgender neighbors, it can feel as if, if there is a God, God clearly didn't know what he was doing when he made male and female, because everything within them feels as if he got it wrong.

04:44

There are two statements that Eric Saunders offers here, and these statements are quite often used by people who have gender dysphoria and who see their gender dysphoria in relation to Christian theology.

04:53

According to Eric, they say things like this. It can feel that God's design is not good. And if there is a

04:59

God, God clearly didn't know what he was doing when he made male and female. These statements are clearly and absolutely blasphemous against God.

05:07

Genesis 127 says, quote, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them.

05:16

When someone says that God's design for gender was not good, or that he, quote, didn't know what he was doing, this is a terribly unbiblical statement and an insult to God in his very word.

05:26

Who are we, as puny, created human beings, to tell the Lord of the universe, the Creator of us, that his design for human sexuality was somehow flawed, that God made a mistake?

05:37

Who are we to say that? Remember when Job questioned God? What was God's response? Well, in Job 38, verses 4 through 5,

05:44

God sharply answers Job, saying the following, quote, Where were you when I, God, laid the foundation of the earth?

05:51

Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know, end quote. So let me ask you a question.

05:58

Under Eric Saunders' standard of showing complete and total unmitigated compassion and hope, doesn't that actually negate

06:05

God's response to Job here? Wouldn't his response be considered unloving? Job is utterly suffering at no fault of his own, and still, when

06:13

God answers his suffering questions, he does so by sarcastically questioning Job back and asserting his own sovereign authority over all creation.

06:22

Do you see the difference here? This is something very common in the modern Church. We choose to highlight certain statements, certain attributes in Scripture, and utterly ignore others.

06:30

I'm sure that I've been guilty of it too, and I pray that I would repent of that. But in any case, this is the area in the modern, trendy

06:36

Church where their selective biblical study becomes very clear. When Jesus washed the disciples' feet, for instance, we say,

06:43

Behold the goodness and kindness of God. We're happy to present a story like that to our homosexual neighbors, for instance, because it's not offensive.

06:51

But when God obliterates Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexual sin, we say something else. We say, Oh please, don't tell that story.

06:58

That story doesn't give our homosexual neighbors enough compassion and enough hope. Now am I saying that the one -size -fits -all response to transgenders at all times is to rebuke them sharply?

07:08

No, I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that a sharp rebuke is one of many wise options that any reasonable

07:14

Christian could use depending on their circumstances. The only person advocating for a one -size -fits -all solution in this video is

07:21

Eric Saunders. But as I've been saying, this solution actually ignores many other possible biblical responses.

07:28

Some people might respond to what I've said and say, But Colin, this example in Job that you gave is an example of God Himself speaking, not a mere human being.

07:36

God can say anything He wants, but you, Colin, need to use only compassion and hope. Let's leave all the rebuking stuff to God.

07:43

And to this, I would respond by quoting the example of Paul talking to the Galatian church. Galatians 3, 1 says this,

07:49

Here we have Paul, a mere human being, talking to the

07:56

Galatians, other human beings, and he calls them bewitched fools. So the fact is, when someone tells you that a

08:02

Christian can never offer a rebuke or a harsh statement, that person is absolutely wrong. Let's keep watching the video though and see what else there is.

08:09

Watch this. So Christians out of anyone should be able to speak with kindness and compassion and empathy and understanding to the general feeling of not being at home here.

08:21

So here Eric says this, Christians out of anyone should be able to speak with kindness, compassion and empathy and understanding to the general feeling of not being at home here.

08:32

But what about the possibility, Eric, of responding with distaste, disgust, or hard truth regarding the general idea that a man could somehow be trapped in a woman's body?

08:42

Well that kind of response is not allowed because it's simply not loving. But isn't Christ the ultimate example of love?

08:48

And what did Christ do when He encountered someone who was sinning sexually? Well He had a variety of responses.

08:54

But let's take the case of the woman caught in adultery. In John 8, 11, Jesus says, Go, and from now on sin no more.

09:01

He calls her out of her sin and to repentance. Suppose someone told a transgender person the gospel and then made a very clear point to say go and sin no more.

09:10

Well under Eric Saunders' standard of being only compassionate and giving hope, that kind of thing just doesn't seem to be allowed.

09:17

In fact, in the entire video, there is not one mention of the sinfulness or wickedness of the transgender ideology.

09:23

There is not one time that acting on transgender ideas was called sinful in that video. And that's where the compassion and hope, one -size -fits -all strategy actually gets you.

09:33

It gets you to a place where you can't call things what they are. And a significant amount of valid biblical responses to the transgender issue are deemed unloving and unavailable.

09:43

So next, ladies and gentlemen, let's get into the statement you've all been waiting for, the comparison of Jesus to transgender people.

09:49

Watch this. 1 Peter 2, 24 says this about Jesus. It says, I want you to think about this.

10:05

Jesus, the sinless and holy son of God, perfect in all of his ways, he bore our sins in his body.

10:13

And in doing this, listen, Jesus experienced something completely foreign to his understanding of who he is.

10:19

What did he experience? The holy son of God experienced sin in that moment. You could say in that moment that he experienced a kind of dysphoria.

10:29

He did that for what? For us. So the important statement offered by Eric here is this, quote,

10:36

The holy son of God experienced sin in that moment. You could say in that moment that he experienced a kind of dysphoria, end quote.

10:44

Now if I could offer a word of caution to my audience. Some people have reacted to this video and said that Eric Saunders or David Platt or their church are suggesting that Jesus himself was a transgender, or at least they're implying that at some level in the video.

10:58

And I can assure you that that is not true, and it's not a fair characterization of Eric's comment at all.

11:03

So no, he was not in any way saying that Jesus was a transgender, but I think this statement is still unbiblical for one important reason.

11:11

It is true that Philippians 2, 8 says, quote, Yes, Jesus took on sin that was previously foreign to his being.

11:24

That is true. But the reason this comparison is irresponsible and unbiblical is that we're not comparing like things in an honest and biblical way.

11:32

To say that a man is trapped in a woman's body is an unnatural lie. But Jesus taking on our sin, well, that's a gospel truth.

11:39

I fundamentally disagree with Eric's language of saying that Christ experienced any kind of dysphoria.

11:44

I don't like that word being used, but let's just assume that that kind of language is acceptable just for the sake of the argument.

11:51

The central problem still remains. The first example Eric gave, the one about transgender people, is dysphoria based in a disgusting and wicked ideology.

12:00

And the other example, the one about Jesus, is dysphoria that reflects the true sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.

12:07

Jesus experienced this theoretical dysphoria willfully and righteously. But a transgender person experiences their dysphoria by indulging in fleshly lies and wicked ideas about God's creation.

12:18

To compare the sinful confusion of a transgender person to Jesus willfully taking on our sin is completely irresponsible and completely unbiblical.

12:27

In your quest to offer compassion and hope, you've actually offered a false comparison and a dreadfully reckless statement.

12:34

That is the problem here. So let's go ahead and take a look at Eric's closing statement as well. Watch this.

12:39

So we encourage in this way, not from a distance on Facebook, not with a bullhorn, but we do this up close, in friendship, patiently walking alongside our transgender neighbors, because this is what

12:53

Jesus does for us. So in this last segment, Eric says, quote, so we encourage in this way, not from a distance on Facebook, not with a bullhorn, but we do this up close in friendship, patiently walking alongside our transgender neighbors, because this is what

13:08

Jesus does for us. End quote. Now notice again how there's no option to rebuke or correct anybody.

13:15

He says that we, quote, encourage in this way. And there's another statement here about only offering your

13:21

Christian perspective within the bounds of friendship and intimate relationship with the person who is sinning.

13:26

But let me assure you, this is absolutely not the exclusive biblical standard at all. Eric seems to be indicating that his way of going about this is the

13:34

Christ -like way, the only Christ -like way. No bullhorns allowed, no publicity, just walking alongside these people as friends.

13:42

But the question is this. Is it the case that Jesus always approached delicate social and sexual issues with only an individualistic friendship model of encouragement?

13:53

No, that's absolutely not what he did, at least not exclusively. Take a look at Jesus' statement on divorce, for instance, in Luke 16, 18.

14:01

Here Jesus speaks before an entire crowd of people, saying this, quote, "...everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

14:13

End quote. It's helpful to remember that there are biblical caveats that allow for divorce. That's not the point of this video.

14:19

I think we can all agree that divorce is a very personal and delicate issue that is also related to sex.

14:25

But Jesus does not correct false teaching about divorce with individual friendship and encouragement. Here we have

14:30

Jesus, out in the public square, like Facebook in some ways, speaking before a crowd of people, like one does with a bullhorn almost, calling certain people's behavior adulterous and sexually immoral, which can hardly be classified as encouragement.

14:45

So modern pastors like Eric Saunders will tell you to be Christ -like in how you deal with these issues, and to that I will say yes and amen.

14:52

But to suggest that your inoffensive and personalized tactics are the only Christ -like option for Christians is simply not biblically accurate, and it really doesn't tell the whole story.

15:01

I agree, we should be Christ -like. But let's actually study the whole example of Christ's behavior if we're going to do that.

15:08

Sometimes, the best way to love someone is to correct them. And on the issue of racism, I'm sure David Platt and his fellow pastors would agree.

15:15

But of course, when it comes to transgenderism or homosexuality or any other culturally sensitive issue, there must be a different approach taken.

15:23

And I ask you, the viewer, is this different approach really coming from Scripture? Or is it coming from a desire to pander to the culture?

15:29

I think the answer is fairly obvious. So in conclusion, David Platt's fellow pastor Eric Saunders responds to the issue of transgenderism in this video.

15:38

But nowhere in the video does he call any aspect of transgenderism sinful. It's not called unnatural.

15:43

It is not called a denial of the image of God. It is not called a lie about God's creation. Yet all of these things would accurately reflect the

15:51

Bible's teaching on the matter. But those statements are forbidden and considered unloving and un -Christ -like.

15:56

And to top it all off, in an attempt to welcome transgender people, Eric compares the sinful confusion of transgenders to the loving sacrifice of Jesus taking on our sin.

16:06

And all of this comes as a result of hyper -fixating on only one aspect of Jesus' character and only a few passages of Scripture.

16:14

So please join me in praying that David Platt and his fellow pastors would more accurately reflect the teaching of God's Word on cultural issues, instead of trying to be politically correct and inoffensive.

16:24

Let's have true love and true courage, and speak the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching.

16:31

If you liked that video, please like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss another one.

16:37

If you didn't like that video for any reason, then I invite you to watch my Frequently Asked Questions video, link in description, where I deal with common objections and define the purpose and goal of my channel using

16:48

Scripture. This channel is funded by generous donations from my amazing patrons. If you'd like to help us put out more videos just like this one, hit the link in the description or go to patreon .com

16:58

slash colinamiller. You can donate to my ministry there and earn tons of rewards just like these.

17:03

And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open. Thank you and God bless.