Debating the Leader and the Victim

The Pharisees – The Enemies of God

When you engage in apologetics whether online or in person, you need to know the caliber of the enemy you’re dealing with. This has a major effect on how you then communicate. Do you ask more questions? How much charity do you use? What arguments do you use? Even that last question is answered by whom you’re debating.

Recently, I’ve dealt with homosexual “Christian” writers. The two that I’ve dealt with are Matthew Vines and Kristen Scharold. I see these two very differently. One is a leader in the movement and one is simply a victim of the system. The victim of the system is Kristen Scharold. I reviewed her story in the last post. The leader of the movement is Matthew Vines. He has been a spokesperson for the homosexual “Christian” movement since 2012 when his first YouTube video came out.

It should be pointed out that Matthew Vines was a victim of the system originally. He found himself having same-sex attraction and wondered how this affected his religiosity. Almost immediately after this realization, he sought out every piece of revisionist literature he could find. When James White did a five hour podcast responding to him and pretty much refuting all of his points, he didn’t repent but instead sought out more revisionism in the person of James Brownson.

We have these two categories of opponents and I’m sure that intermediate stages do exist but it’s important to analyze both of these movements. In the case of Vines, I attack him head on. His book, lectures, and conferences are destroying souls and offering no hope to those who suffer from same-sex attraction. He tells them to embrace this lifestyle instead of combating it and choosing God.  This is just as Satan would want.

Remember when Christ was attacking the Pharisee leaders. He gave them no quarter in the slightest. Matthew 23:15 in my opinion says it the best.

We read:

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.

This statement shows that these men are the true problem and not their low level converts. If you read the whole chapter, you see how Christ deals with these people. Even though the new convert might be twice the child of hell, Christ doesn’t deal with them harshly. Christ deals with the Pharisees in many other parts of the Gospels where he simply asks questions and quotes Scripture to help them draw a fair conclusion.

This is why I wasn’t as harsh on Kristen Scharold as opposed to Matthew Vines. She is only a victim of the system. Perhaps one day she may be a leader of the movement like Vines became but until then we have to treat her with compassion and charity and make sure to ask her the right questions.  I do believe that there is hope for her and many other victims like her.