This weekend I had the privilege of speaking at a church for the 5^th year in a row. I love investing in these people! Speaking of Biblical sexuality, the theme of my message was on being equipped. I made the point that to be equipped we need to seek clarity and understanding. These are complex issues, which require nuanced answers and applications. I gave several examples of assumptions and false dichotomies we sometimes believe about LGBTQ individuals, which can harm our witness and ministry to them.

I also joked that if I had a dime for every time a Christian came up to me and proclaimed why they believe people are LGBTQ—my ministry would be fully funded, because I would have a lot of dimes. Many of the statements made are ignorant at best—and full of pride and arrogance at worst. I believe part of the problem is that we all want to feel less chaos, by believing that *I* have it all figured out.

Having literally just finished giving this message about seeking clarity and understanding before we pretend to have the answers, a man came up to me and gave me the follow proclamation: He claimed that he knows two men who are gay. In both cases their mothers (I have no idea how he knows this) took anti-nausea medication when they were pregnant. Therefore, he had concluded that being exposed to anti-nausea medication while in utero led to men becoming gay. He has now been warning pregnant women to not take anti-nausea medications, because if they do then their sons will be gay.

I really wanted to tell him that he owes me a dime…

Christians, please do not do this. Statements and conclusions like this are somewhere on the spectrum of ignorance to arrogance. I’ll let you be the judge in this case. Maybe a little idiocracy thrown in there too.

“A person who answers without listening is foolish and disgraceful” (Proverbs 18:13)

Before we come up with conclusions, assumptions, and overly simplistic answers, do this: Listen. Learn. Become a student of the culture. Gain and understanding of the human heart and what is involved in our sin nature. Study God’s Word. None of us can be an expert at everything. But we can be “equip the saints for the work of the ministry” (Eph 4:12) by seeking clarity, understanding, and doing much more listening than we do speaking.