God Didn’t Whisper

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Do you remember when J.D. Greear, the pastor of Summit Church in Durham, talked about certain things in Scripture that he said “God whispered” about sexual sin?[1] He was apparently basing that on Romans 1 and his emphasis was on not letting a person’s sexuality define them.[2] Since then, he has “clarified” his position since many took issue with it. Rev. Mark H. Creech took pen to paper and wrote a very constructive response to Greear’s initial sermon.

Frankly, I don’t see where God whispers about any sin. Sin is sin, as I’m sure we’d all agree. What Greear seems to miss is that in Romans 1, Paul is pointing out the natural downward spiral of society when it begins its descent into fully embracing sins of all kinds. Paul begins in Romans 1:18, pointing out the necessary and inevitable purpose of God’s wrath on societies and individuals who refuse to repent. This often starts when people simply refuse to acknowledge that God exists. This gives rise to many problems, not least of which is the belief that if God does not exist then each person is their own highest authority. Nothing matters at that point. This is in spite of the fact that Paul points out that God has made Himself known through His Creation if nothing else. His power is readily seen by anyone who wants to see it. Of course, it can be fully ignored as well.

Deciding God does not exist opens the doorway to all sorts of sin and abomination. People who are atheistic in their approach to life become hard-hearted and arrogant, often even believing they themselves are a type of “god.” Because of this attitude, they find themselves doing whatever they want to do and cheering others on who also do the same things or worse.

Please note that Paul is describing for us the way a society starts to tank. Eventually, all moral fiber is thrown out and literally anything goes. This ultimately leads to a variety of sexual sins, including homosexuality, lesbianism, and other things as well. The result is a society that is sickened with “29…unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

But all of that is based squarely on the Old Testament. We need to remember that Paul was a Pharisee and took the Scriptures seriously. He was bringing that information into the New Testament church to edify and protect Christians from the problems the world faces due to God’s impending wrath. If we go back to parts of the Old Testament – specifically Leviticus – we learn much more about what God expected from those who promised to follow His lead.

Reading through Leviticus 18 is sickening really. To think that God had to actually tell the Israelites whom He had led out of Egypt via Moses, that many of the things that were commonplace in Egypt, should not be done. It’s actually amazing that people were so depraved at that point in life that God had to explain to them in detail what they could not do any longer as they formerly did in Egypt because they learned it from the Egyptians. Says a lot about many ancient societies, and not just Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, Leviticus 18 and following lays out some fairly clear directives from God on what was good and what was an abomination to him.

Leviticus 18, let’s take a look. In the first five verses of this chapter, God takes the time to explain that what the children of Israel saw (and may have even committed), while in Egypt was in the past. It was wrong and should not be practiced. So that there was no excuse allowing anyone to say, “I didn’t know!”, God takes the time to list things specifically. He leaves nothing out.

In Leviticus 18:6-18, God actually lists specifically what the Israelites should not do when it came to your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle, your sister and your brother. The oft-repeated phrase we read is a warning against “uncovering a person’s nakedness.” This is a euphemism that means to have sexual relationships with that person. So, God had to specifically tell the Israelites that they needed to avoid “uncovering” the nakedness of everyone who was not their spouse.

Now, imagine, God having to tell those folks that a brother could not have sexual relations with his sister, a son could not do the same with his mother, an uncle could not do that with his sister-in-law, etc., etc., etc., until God had covered all the parameters. This even extended to a neighbor’s wife/husband by someone outside the family.

God again takes pains to explain that because other civilizations had done this (not just Egypt), this was the very reason God said the land would vomit them out. It was God’s way of judging those nations by the arm of Israel. The problem was that Israel had to ensure that they themselves no longer participated in any of those things.

Leviticus 19 presents many other moral laws that God decreed were the acceptable way to deal with people. God commanded that people were fair, did not lie or cheat others, acted graciously toward strangers/neighbors and essentially loved others as a person tends to love themselves.

In the middle of Leviticus 19, God goes back to the subject of sexual immorality discussing what would break His laws if a man lay with another woman who was already a concubine of someone else. In Leviticus 19:29, God actually has to tell the Israelites that they should not prostitute their own daughters!

I’ll remind readers that God is NOT whispering here at any point. He is issuing clear directives so that there is no misunderstanding.

In Leviticus 20, the Lord continues with his declarations about the things that constitute sin and/or abominations. Again we read about not uncovering the nakedness of a person that another person was not married to. This was forbidden and an abomination to God. God even again points out that a man who lies with a man as if with a woman, they have both committed an abomination and should be executed. There is no hint of whispering here.

God also did not whisper about the fact that a man or woman having sexual relations with an animal was wrong either. He clearly enunciated the fact that it was wrong, it was an abomination and there were severe consequences for it.

¹⁵ If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

Please, someone tell me where God is whispering about any of this. I’ll wait…

But this is the problem with many in pulpits today, often leading so-called mega-churches. They have to nuance things. They have to be very subtle in the way they explain things so that people in their congregations are not offended and end up walking out the door. It reminds me of another being who approached Eve.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. (Genesis 3:1 ESV)

Interestingly, depending on the Bible translation used, the word that is translated “crafty” in the ESV is either “subtle” or “cunning” in other translations. Many of these mega-church pastors are very cunning, crafty and subtle. Their goal seems to be to couch things in a way that brings no offense, but instead, as Satan did via the serpent, endeavors to capture the hearer with subterfuge. When J D Greear essentially said that God “whispers” about sexual sin, he’s being dishonest at the very least. God does not whisper about any sin, least of all sexual sin because sexual sin is a sin that often involves another person. Many other sins are committed by one person while sexual sins often willingly include a partner.

Having said all that, it is important to also state that sin is sin. God hates all of it. Yet, He seems to have noted in Scripture that certain sins create more of a problem and fallout and are the result of the way a person thinks and designs their life. This thinking stems from a position of atheism that allows and encourages people to live as they wish. They in essence become a law unto themselves and encourage others to do the same. Too many within the visible Church today are trying to embrace people who really have no intention of seeing a need to submit to God allowing Him to change their behavior.

Not all sin is necessarily on the same level because of the ramifications of that sin. Sexual sin – whether adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, prostitution or what have you, involves more than one person. Often, as we’ve seen in society, those in favor of making homosexuality, lesbianism and now even transgenderism seen as normal, do so because they themselves need the affirmation. It is not something they keep to themselves, but it always involves others. The push under the previous Biden administration was to bring everything out into the open and normalize it all. What this ostensibly meant was that anyone who views these things as declaratively wrong and an abomination is either shouted down, censored or pushed to the edges of society so that they can no longer “offend” those who are involved in those abominations.

I agree with J D Greear on a few things, that Christians should always exercise love in reaching out to those who are outside the invisible Church. Our goal should be to express clearly the Gospel and their need for Jesus’ salvation. The idea that a person can continue to be a homosexual, but not a practicing one after receiving Jesus and His salvation is a misnomer. Paul and others make that very clear.

We also need to remember that when a society gets to the point where anything goes and is openly received and accepted (whether it’s homosexuality/lesbianism, beastiality or something else within the sexual realm), it is next to impossible for that society to come back from that. They have sunk way too low and Sodom and Gomorrah prove that. This, of course, is not to say that God cannot or won’t save people out of that lifestyle because He can and does. It is to simply say that by the time a society arrives to that point of believing that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality/lesbianism/beastiality or any other emphasis on sexual sin, it may very well be too late for that society as a whole. The only thing left is for God’s judgment to come to pass.

[1] https://truthscript.com/church/whispers-and-shouts-an-analysis-of-j-d-greears-views-on-homosexuality/

[2] https://jdgreear.com/three-ways-go-wrong-talking-homosexuality/

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/02/04/god-didnt-whisper/