Rosaria Butterfield gives advice for witnessing to gay friends, advises against celibacy
'LGBTQ+ is the reigning idol of our day'
Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian activist who repented and became a Christian, recently offered advice regarding how to witness to individuals struggling with same-sex attraction and gender confusion.
Speaking during a recent interview with Pastor Jamie Bambrick that went viral on X earlier this week, Butterfield maintained that the Evangelical church "has just been completely co-opted by bereft, mushy Gospel Coalition-y kind of language."
Rosaria Butterfield answers the question: If you get a chance to witness to a 'gay' friend or family member, what should you say? And importantly, what have Christians NOT said on this topic that they should have? pic.twitter.com/40WplshFg8
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Butterfield, who has written multiple books about personal and cultural battles over sexuality, went on to contend that the Church's common solution that same-sex attracted people should remain celibate is not a biblical or sustainable solution at all, and that such an admonition is contributing to the culture's destruction.
She said that Christians floated "life-long celibacy" and "a gay bowling league at church" to her when she was attempting to leave the lesbian lifestyle, which she said "was really not good."
"The fear, I think, has to do with not presuming God's calling for another person," she said. "You want to be careful with that. But again, the creation ordinance is for everybody."
"And let's be clear: a world that grows in singleness and homosexuality is under judgment," she continued. "So if you have a theology that helps people grow in their homosexuality or their singleness, you are actually promoting a theology that brings the Church under judgment. So think about that."
Butterfield went on to claim she has "never met anyone called to singleness," and explained that many same-sex attracted people must ultimately resolve their own self-loathing and unwitting covetousness.
"I've met a lot of people who are single and have been single their whole life because of providence, but the first order of business is teaching someone how to hate your sin without hating yourself," she said. "That's key. And that's Romans 7."
Butterfield went on to explain that "just because your sin is unchosen and not acted upon, that doesn't mean it's not a morally culpable sin," referring especially to the 10th Commandment against coveting, which she noted is a commandment that forbids an attitude, not an action.
"The prohibition is against coveting, the sin is in coveting," she said. "So the first thing is: learn how to hate your sin without hating yourself. The second is: believe the Gospel. Believe that if the Apostle Paul could go from murdering Christians to becoming one of our greatest theologian apostles, that you, too, can change."
She also referenced the story of Mary Magdalene, who tradition maintains was a prostitute who was ridden with demonic spirits before she followed the Lord and became one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection after anointing His feet. John 19:25 notes she remained with Jesus during His crucifixion.
"The sentiment is to see Mary Magdalene worshiping the Lord Jesus," Butterfield said. "Do you think that woman didn't have trauma? Do you think that woman doesn't have body memories? I mean, goodness gracious. Think about what her life was like. OK, you have those things too. Got it. Look at her worship of Jesus."
Butterfield finally noted that "relationships take timing," and recounted how a young man suffering with same-sex attraction came to her for counsel, and that she advised him to renounce the gay culture entirely if he wanted to experience healing.
She also said the Apostle Paul's praise for singleness in the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians has been widely misinterpreted and has devolved into a "works righteousness" non-solution for people who struggle with homosexuality.
"So all these ... gay Christians that say, 'Well, I'm living in purity. I'm living in celibacy.' But you're not repenting of your sin. You're adding a works righteousness, and that's now two sins," she said.
"So don't try to be more merciful than God. Don't do that. Just stop where you are and repent of your sin, and I understand you have to do it 1,000 times before breakfast. I do understand that. Celibacy is never the answer. Now, are you to live a chaste life in singleness? Yes. But singleness is a matter of providence, not a matter of calling. It is a complete misreading of First Corinthians to say it is universally better to be single."
Butterfield suggested that gay-identifying Christians who adopt a celibate life have not adequately dealt with their deep-seated "indwelling sin pattern," and that they have effectively put their sins "on Pedialyte." She advised anyone dealing with such issues to read The Doctrine of Repentance by Puritan author Thomas Watson, who she said lays out six steps of truly repenting.
Butterfield later said that "LGBT+ is the reigning idol of our day," and acknowledged her own role in manifesting that, but also hit out at Evangelicals for muddying the issue.
"And yet the clear truth is that homosexuality is found in the flesh, forbidden in the law, and overcome in the Savior," she said. "And yet, broad Evangelicalism and its parachurch ministries have been promoting a kind of nonsense that makes it almost impossible for people like the person I used to be to just go to church, repent of your sin, and be done with being gay. What an idea!"
Butterfield also blasted Russell Moore and David French for "promoting a pluralistic, supposedly evangelistic curriculum — the 'After Party,' possibly coming to a church near you. Flee if that happens."
Bambrick, who serves as associate pastor of Hope Church Craigavon in Northern Ireland, made international headlines earlier this year when he went viral for a video he made in response to the 60-second Super Bowl ad from the "He Gets Us" campaign, which featured a slideshow of people washing other people's feet.
Many Evangelicals took issue with the undertone of the images, which included left-wing protesters, a priest washing the feet of an apparent homosexual, and a woman washing the feet of a younger woman outside an abortion clinic while pro-life protesters in the background ignored them.
Bambrick cut his own version of the ad, which highlighted various individuals who repented of sinful behavior, including Butterfield. He told The Christian Post at the time that he hopes his video shows "the heart of Jesus" and reflects the love Christians have for those who remain enslaved to their sins.
"Jesus doesn't just get us," his ad concluded. "He saves us. He transforms us. He cleanses us. He restores us. He forgives us. He heals us. He delivers us. He redeems us. He loves us. Such were some of you."
