Growing up, I believed everything my church
said without question. But Tony Campolo once said that even if you
have infallible Scriptures, none of us are infallible interpretersâall churches are
made of fallible people, and that really hit home with me when I realized I was still attracted
to guys despite all my efforts not to be. See, my church had taught me that being gay
was a choice, but I certainly hadnât chosen it. Theyâd gotten that part wrong. And I started to wonder, if theyâd gotten
the choice question wrong, had they gotten other things wrong about homosexuality and
gay people? And so started years of me asking difficult
questions and doing serious Bible study instead of just taking peopleâs word for things. In my book "Torn" and in other videos, Iâve
discussed what I learned from those years of Bible study that changed my mind from non-affirming
to affirming. I started to wonder if maybe there was room
for me to actually be in a relationship. Maybe God hadnât actually said the things my church
said God said about being gay. But when I talked to a respected leader in
my church about my questions, he said to me, âJustin, youâre falling for the Devilâs
oldest trick.â Iâm like, âWhat do you mean? Whatâs the Devilâs oldest trick?â He says, âIn the Garden of Eden, the serpent
comes to Eve and says, âDid God really sayâŚ?â "Thatâs the Devilâs oldest trick. Encouraging people to doubt the word of God. And thatâs what youâre doing: asking âDid
God really say?ââ Heâs not the only one whoâs said this
to me. I was on a panel a few years ago when a conservative
radio host compared my affirmation of gay Christians to watering down Godâs words
on theft or adultery: If we do not believe that God could speak
clearlyâletâs say weâre the Israelites at Mount Sinai, say, yeah, "God did speak plainly, don't steal,
don't commit adultery, but what does that really mean?" That's always the danger. "Hath God really said" the old lie from the
garden. âHath God really saidâŚ?â âDid God really sayâŚ?â The Devilâs oldest trickâdoubting and
watering down the clear words of God. Now, look, Iâm the last person to advocate
disregarding Godâs words, if God really said something. But is it so wrong to ask if God even said
it in the first place? I mean, it sounds pretty damning, doesnât
it? Until you actually read the passage. The quote is from Genesis chapter 3, verse
1. Hereâs the context: God has created the
first two humans, Adam and Eve, and given them a paradise to live in, the
Garden of Eden. The garden is filled with fruit-bearing trees,
and God tells the humans that they can eat from any of them, except for one forbidden tree. Ah, temptation. But things seem to be going well until a serpent,
commonly associated with the Devil, slithers up to Eve and asks, âDid God really sayâŚ?â But wait. Look at the question he actually asks. âNow the serpent was more crafty than any
of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, âDid God really say,
âYou must not eat from any tree in the gardenâ?ââ So wait. Think about that question for a minute. Did God really say they couldnât eat from
ANY tree in the garden? No! The answer to the question, âDid God really
sayâŚ?â was no! God didnât really say that! Only one tree was forbidden! This really is a very crafty question. Because look at what the serpentâs doing. He isnât questioning the words God actually
said. Heâs doing something much sneakier. Heâs subtly adding rules God never made, so as to
make God seem like an unreasonable tyrant. âDid God really say you couldnât eat from
any tree in the garden?! How unreasonable is God? Why bother trying to follow the rules of someone
that unreasonable?â If youâre going to call this the Devilâs
oldest trick, then the Devilâs oldest trick isnât questioning Godâs rules; itâs adding rules in Godâs name to create
an unrealistically heavy burden. And this is exactly what some churches, like
the one I grew up in, have fallen for. Growing up as a gay teen, the message I heard
in church wasnât, âBe responsible with your sexuality,â or, âWait until you get
married to have sex"; it was, âDonât be a sexual being at all,â âDonât be attracted to anyone,â âDonât fall in love,â âDonât even admit that youâre gay.â The best I could hope for was a life alone
or trapped in a loveless marriage to keep up appearancesâ but even that wasnât good enough, because
I was condemned just for being gay, even if I never acted on my feelings. It was an unreasonable burden: Donât eat
from any tree in the garden. So is it any wonder that lots of gay kids
who grew up in churches like mine just decided God was an unreasonable bully and walked away
from the church altogether? Contrast this with Jesus, who said, âMy
yoke is easy and my burden is light.â That wasnât remotely the message I heard
as a gay teen. So next time someone tries to use Genesis 3
and the âDevilâs oldest trickâ to keep you from asking questions about whether
God really said something, encourage them to actually read the passage. Because the only way to avoid falling victim
to âthe Devilâs oldest trickâ is to actually ask the question. Did God really say that? Maybe the answer is no.
Love your vids, man. Your 30 minute nuanced perspective video is one of the best arguments I've ever seen that I can be a sincere, contradiction-free Christian.
You have a easy to follow style and you covered your message well, good work.
I've never heard the phrase before (perhaps it's a region thing?), but it seems somewhat ironic to me, given, as far as I'm aware, that the serpent wasn't originally written to be Satan/the devil, merely a serpent.
It's also rather sad that people will place a loving relationship in the same category as murder, theft, cheating on a spouse... though it does seems a fairly common starting point for many to start questioning conservative beliefs and starting to think for themselves.
Really wonderful video! Thank you. I'll certainly be checking out your other videos. :)