¹⁸ But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. ¹⁹ They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

²¹ Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. ²² Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. ²³ And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵ They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. ²⁶ That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. ²⁷ And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

²⁸ Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. ²⁹ Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. ³⁰ They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. ³¹ They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. ³² They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. // Romans 1:18-32 NLT

Verse 26 and 27 of Romans 1 make it clear that “women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other” and “men did shameful things with other men” in a sexual way.” [BH1] I had to find it in there among all those other sins he described, but it’s there. For those of us who now feel that we have the moral high ground, Romans 2 has news for us. These are the verses immediately following Romans 1:32:

¹ You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. ² And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. ³ Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? ⁴ Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? // Romans 2:1-4

Let’s take a look at Romans 1 again. Paul makes a list of all the things God is mad about. Why don’t we each put a check mark next to the ones that personally define us. Feel free to check your own next to my boxes.

• Idolaters – people who put anything above God in their life. ☒ ☐

• Homosexuals – people who have same-sex attraction and relations. ☐ ☐

• Foolish people – people who don’t make good decisions. ☒ ☐

• Wicked people – those who do not live according to a Kingdom worldview. ☒ ☐

• Sinful people- those who make mistakes on purpose. ☒ ☐

• Greedy people – people who think about themselves first. ☒ ☐

• Hateful people – people who think about or treat people badly on purpose. ☒ ☐

• Envious people – people who are jealous of other’s success. ☒ ☐

• Murderous people – people who kill someone with premeditated malice. ☐ ☐

• Quarreling people – people who stir up issues and strife. ☒ ☐

• Deceptive people – people who lead others to false conclusions. ☒ ☐

• Malicious people – people who intend to hurt others. ☒ ☐

• Gossipers – people who talk about people who are not in their presence. ☒ ☐

• Backstabbers – people who betray people’s trust. ☒ ☐

• Haters of God – people who hate God (self-explanatory). ☐ ☐

• Insolent people – people who are arrogant and insulting. ☒ ☐

• Proud people – people who think they are better than other people. (If you didn’t check this one, you’re not paying attention.) ☒ ☐

• Boastful people – people who celebrate their own wins. ☒ ☐

• Sin inventors – those who find ways to make mistakes on purpose that aren’t listed. ☒ ☐

• Disobedient to parents – people who neglect or refuse to obey their parents. ☒ ☐

• Refuse to understand – stubborn and closed-minded people. ☒ ☐

• Promise breakers – people who break their commitments to each other. ☒ ☐

• Heartless – people who are unwilling or unable to love others. ☒ ☐

• Unmerciful – people who are cruel, not willing or able to forgive. ☒ ☐

Wait, hang on. I thought Paul was talking about “those people.” Not me. But when I go down this list, there’s only three boxes that I didn’t check. Everything else applies to me. This is not good. Paul, that’s enough, you can stop now. I feel bad enough. I was hoping to use these verses to attack someone else, but now I’m realizing that I am the problem.

Paul keeps going though. Romans 1 is just the appetizer. Romans 2 is the main course. Since we judge other people for doing these things, God will also judge us for the things that we do. We do the same bad things as the people we are trying to judge for doing bad things.

Paul does give us a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. He reminds us of how patient, kind and tolerant God is towards us. That God’s kindness is the thing that turns us from our sins – our mistakes we make on purpose.

We may understand this conceptually but not practically. Especially in relationship to gender and sexuality. We know how Critical Theory responds to oppressed groups: destroy, dismantle, overthrow. It’s the same everywhere. The oppressed do not sin in the world of Critical Theory. There’s no room for everyone’s wickedness. Only the oppressor is wicked. If you’re in the oppressed group, the good news is that you’re not wicked. If you’re of the oppressor class, you’re wicked. No ifs, ands, or buts.

This is not Kingdom though. Kingdom always brings us back to the heart. Not the heart of another person but our heart. We can make as strong of a stance as we like biblically on sexuality or gender, but while we’re making that stance, Jesus said this in Matthew 7 .

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. ² For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. ³ And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴ How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” // Matthew 7:1-5

Who is God mad at? Some of us? All of us?