It’s Just My Opinion… Debating with the Ungodly.

It’s just my opinion, but…

I once heard someone say that Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones would not debate theology on radio or in the media. His rationale for this was that he was not called to be a philosopher or to enter dialogue with ungodly people, but to preach the Gospel to sinners, so that God would be glorified, sinners brought, by the work of the Holy Spirit to conviction of sin, and eventual regeneration. I have always believed in the rightness of that position, and no less so in recent days, when Christian truth and biblical standards are under attack from almost every quarter.

Recently the Lord Mayor of Belfast, (Mr Robinson,) was invited to take part in a debate (sic) in connection with the Belfast Gay ‘Pride’ event. I don’t know the Lord Mayor, but he seems like a decent soul, who wants to be the Mayor for all the people in the city. So, he accepted the invitation and went to the debate, where, it now appears, he was the only person in the venue to take a biblical position on marriage. The audience seems to have been unanimously hostile to his position. His fellow panellists (prominent politicians) were all pro gay-marriage, and the chairman was none other than William Crawley, a BBC presenter whose stock-in-trade is to take a pro-gay stance on every occasion and to join in on the gay side of issues. Mr Crawley on Sunday Sequence pointed out that he ‘moderated’ the debate, and then played a clip in which he questioned Mr Robinson on Jesus’ supposed views on homosexuality, reinforcing the points put by the pro-gay audience. It was a classic example of Christ’s warning about what would happen if we ‘cast our pearls before swine’ – they will turn upon us and rend us.

Mr Robinson’s defence was spirited and biblically faithful, and his valour and desire to fulfil his mayoral brief are commendable, but he was from the outset destined to be defeated, for the debate was numerically skewed against him. It seems from the Radio Ulster excerpt that every single panelist on the debate opposed him, as did the floor and the chairman.

What would Lloyd Jones have done in such circumstances? It’s hard to say, for he would not have been in Mr Robinson’s position, but he certainly would not have gone to such an event to debate morality with people who have no understanding of biblical truth. If he had gone, he would have done so for one reason only, to declare the Gospel. To tell sinners that they are lost and need the Saviour, and should repent of their sin.

I admire Mr Robinson’s courage, and applaud the stand he took. With hindsight, I think he’d have been better advised to decline the invitation. I only heard a small part of the overall debate on radio, but I do hope that Mr Robinson had some opportunity to share the real good news.

Jesus said, ‘Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you‘. Matthew 7:6