Pastor and radio host Alistair Begg doubled down on remarks he made in a podcast, advising a grandmother to attend her grandson’s LGBTQ wedding. Begg, 71, said he is “not ready to repent over this” in a sermon last Sunday at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio.
Begg, who serves as senior pastor at Parkside, is known for his radio ministry, Truth for Life. The program has more than 220,000 subscribers on YouTube and is carried by more than 2,000 radio stations worldwide, according to the ministry’s website.
Begg’s controversial advice stemmed from a months-old episode that recently went viral on social media. In the episode, Begg advised a grandmother to attend her grandson’s wedding to his transgender fiancé. As long as the grandson knew his grandmother was not “affirming” of his life choices, then Begg recommended the woman go to the ceremony and buy the pair a gift.
The pastor explained that attending a same-sex wedding was a matter of personal conviction. However, by attending the wedding, the grandmother would build a bridge to continue sharing the Gospel with her grandson, he said.
Begg’s advice received backlash after the comments resurfaced on social media in recent weeks. The controversy ultimately led to American Family Radio (AFR), the radio ministry of the American Family Association, to “no longer air” Begg’s radio program, according to a Facebook post by the organization.
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While AFR had aired Truth for Life for more than a decade, the organization said that Begg’s remarks were “unbiblical.”
“We believe it to be an act of unfaithfulness to God to attend a ceremony that celebrates any union outside of the biblical model of marriage as being between one man and one woman,” AFR wrote in the post. “Members of our leadership team held a call with Alistair Begg’s team and were unsuccessful in convincing them of his error. As a result of this, we will no longer air Pastor Alistair Begg’s Truth for Life program.”
This past Sunday, Begg addressed to the controversy while giving a sermon on the prodigal son at Parkside Church.
Begg contrasted the proud attitude of the older brother in the parable to the attitude some Christians display towards nonbelievers. He argued that some Christians are not living out Jesus’s command to “love your enemies.”
That “is the context” for the advice he gave to the grandmother, Begg said. He was primarily concerned about this woman maintaining a relationship with her grandson, he added.
“If I was on the receiving end of another question about another situation from another person at another time, I may answer absolutely differently,” Begg said. “But in that case, I answered in that way, and I would not answer in any other way no matter what anybody says on the internet.”
However, he acknowledged that there has been dissension over his comments, even among his own pastoral team.
Despite this, the pastor stood by his advice and pushed back against critics who called on him to repent.
“If people want me to recant and to repent. . . I repent daily because I say a lot of things that I shouldn’t say,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is, I’m not ready to repent over this. I don’t have to.”
Begg continued that his advice for this particular situation was more about “wrestling with biblical principle” than giving a piece of catch-all advice for any situation.
“We can disagree about whether I gave that grandmother good advice or not. . . but at least let’s acknowledge the fact that what we’re doing is wrestling with Biblical principles,” Begg said. “And when the principle, for, let’s say, holiness of life, comes up against the principle of love for your enemy, how are you going to put that together?”
Begg explained that homosexual people are either reviled or affirmed by Christians. Christians, however, are called to neither revile nor affirm them, he argued.
“The Christian has to say, ‘We will not treat you in either of those ways. We cannot revile you, but we cannot affirm you,’” Begg said. “‘And the reason that we can’t revile you is the same reason why we can’t affirm you, because of the Bible, because of God’s love, because of His grace, because of His goodness.’”
Begg, a Scottish native, has been in pastoral ministry since 1975, according to his ministry’s website. He said that for his whole career, he has taught a biblical definition of marriage and sexuality.
More backlash has popped up on social media and online regarding Begg’s Sunday sermon.
Jeff Ling, a pastor and counselor, responded with support to Begg’s decision to double down.
“What a gracious response to our own church ‘cancel culture,’” Ling wrote in response to a video of the sermon posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “God, give us more leaders who wrestle with the intersection of holiness and love in true humility.
However, Not The Bee opinion writer Harris Rigby argued in an article that Begg’s latest remarks are wrong and that the pastor “needs to repent.”
“Alistair is a solid Christian teacher, a faithful expositor of God’s Word, and usually unflinching in his commitment, Rigby wrote. “However, he has made a grave mistake.”
Freelance journalist Liz Lykins writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.
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38 Responses
May God grant us more Christian leaders to wrestle like this. Alistair Begg understands nuance in the application of biblical principles. I’m Thankful for him
Amen. Listening to the entire 46-minute sermon (thanks to link) gives needed context. In it Mr. Begg mentions such nuance, wrestling, and principles.
I agree with Pastor Begg. No one would question a missionary bringing the gospel to a far-off pagan island filled with homosexuality and perverse sins, right? Then why be upset over a grandmother attending her grandson’s same/sex wedding.
Let’s win people for Christ and let Jesus clean them up!
May God grant us more Evangelical Christians to wrestle like this!
While I respect Alistair as a fellow Christian Pastor and Expositor of the Word, I respectfully disagree with him on this subject. We have a fallible understanding about what love is and how it is to be extended in this modern culture. Why would we think the Grandmother is “unloving” if she chose not to attend the so-called “wedding” of her Grandson? Why wouldn’t her convictions and value be enough to lovingly say “no” to an event that does not honor God in any way? It is my belief that she could say “no” and still love her Grandson very much! Many Christians are confused, unfortunately. I would NEVER attend a perverted wedding that God has “NOT PUT TOGETHER”.
You hit the nail on the head, Wayne
Let’s also own that there are plenty of straight/heterosexual couples God has not put together. They decided to marry for all the wrong reasons, yet because they are the “right genders” we act like their decision is blessed by God. Umm…no. There are plenty of heterosexual unions people rushed into for worldly, selfish reasons thinking God will bless it on the back end because the ceremony was in the church and included a reading of 1 Corinthians 13.
Are we to bless that because they are the right sexuality and gender?
Of course there are many straight couples who get married that probably shouldn’t, but that’s not what this article is about.
But when the logic is used of not attending a wedding that God has not put together – that isn’t just same sex couples, right?
Shouldn’t we be consistent?
“Whataboutism” here. The question Alistair is challenged by is regarding attending a same-sex marriage. Clearly God finds this offensive. It is contrary to God’s design from the very beginning.
To attend and not speak up would be wrong- the same as missionaries going to the lost and saying nothing.
Some are offended by marriage only between opposite genders. They are likely also offended by the pro-life movement, restrictions on children allowed to have surgeries to change genders, etc.
Hopefully believers contemplating marriage have access to a Pastor that can provide biblical counseling and guidance. I thank God my wife and I were able to take advantage of this over 40 years ago.
You can call it a “whataboutism”, I call it being consistent with what was said. If one refuses to attend a wedding under the logic that God has not put them together (and I agree with this; I do not attend weddings merely as social gatherings, but as a way of blessing, agreeing, and praying for a couple God has brought together), then one must be open to the fact that there are heterosexual couples God didn’t put together as well. So it would be consistent and integrous to not attend those weddings either.
Just a note, when they are your family, the wedding day is one day. Will you ever have them over for dinner or Christmas or any other day? You belong to a broken world. Look beyond the walls of your perfect church to understand who you are worshipping.
I appreciate that this was a very fair article. Having followed the firestorm since it broke out on the Internet, listening to Alistair’s podcast remarks and the last Sunday night message, having both wrestled with this myself before God and brought him before the throne as well, I come down on his side. Jesus did not mince words but He also did not come to condemn but to save. We are as well told to speak the truth in love. And guess what the grandmother’s gift was: a Bible. That alone might cause some of the Internet commentators to repent themselves of an uncharitable attitude toward Begg. It’s one thing to disagree, but another to do it in what amounts to blatant self-righteousness. Thanks again for this article.
People are typically invited to attend wedding ceremonies to WITNESS the wedding and to BLESS the wedding…. not certain how biblically, an evangelical can BLESS a same-sex marriage ceremony.
Unless of course, one is saying the U.S. evangelical movement is basically corrupt…. as according to the Barna Group only 4% of Americans now hold to a biblical world-view… so I think that what we are saying that the evangelical movement is pretty much over as we cannot determine what marriage is anymore….
“Should anyone present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
How should a Christian sitting at a homosexual “wedding” respond to this question?
@To Dr. Cynthia
I do not think a Christian should attend a same-sex marriage ceremony.
If they do, then they obviously do not have a problem with same-sex marriage.
I do not believe in making a “scene” so as to prove a point. People attending a marriage know the “couple”, so if they are attending then they are there to “Bless” and “Support” the couple and everything that goes with supporting a very blessed couple. Then the evangelicals can go over to the couples house and describe how wonderful of a couple they appear to be, and that the couple is so blessed.
Given the current state of the U.S. evangelical church, most evangelicals probably would have no problem attending a same-sex marriage. The excuses would be to build “bridges” or to give a positive “witness”.
Of course, if evangelicals no longer know what marriage is, then they probably do not know the “nature of salvation”……… Ichabod
What does Paul mean when he writes this:
“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
So the question at hand is does this Grandmothers grandson “a brother” within the congegation? And does he consider hemself a faithfully practicing Christian. If so then yes she must not associate with him. If not, then she is obligated to be “salt and light.” That is what the bible says.
Jim, please allow me to rephrase “the question at hand.”
The question is whether Mr. Begg needs to repent or recant over one comment (and whether doing so is a reasonable condition of his radio program being broadcast). Christians may respectfully agree or disagree on whether the advice given was wise or biblical, and online we find a variety of opinions from other pastors. But Mr. Begg has not preached heresy against the fundamental doctrines of the faith, nor is he living in flagrant sin. Public exhortations that he repent from “error” are not, in my opinion, justified.
Jesus loved and interacted with sinners and if he had not we would all be damned. Does anyone think Jesus would attend a homosexual wedding and partake in the celebration of it?
No one knows whether Jesus would attend a same-sex wedding. It wasn’t an option in His time on earth in Judaea. Anyone who offers an opinion is speculating.
Evangelicals do seem to enjoy shooting their own. Pastor Begg is being kicked off a channel over a disagreement over advice regarding simply attending a wedding? Church attendees are shrinking every year and yet folks still want to divide over non-creedal matters of conscience?
The purity death spiral continues.
What if the grandmother attended the wedding and sought repentance thereafter?
That is entirely biblical.
Ridiculous for Christians to voice their polar opinions over this.
Cast your net, spread the gospel, deny no one the Good Word and let Jesus do the sifting.
As Christian’s we are called to be salt and light to an unsaved world. We are to live with,share our lives with, and love unsaved people, even our enemies as Jesus did. Attending a wedding is an act of affirmation for those getting married. We as Christian’s would never affirm stealing, telling lies or a person having many sexual encounters because someone might say “that’s the way God made me, I cant be monogamous”. There is such a thing as satanic weddings, should a Christian attend one of those to keep a relationship with an unsaved person? Anything other than one man and one woman getting married is not a marriage in God’s eyes. I have been in this position and the person allowed me to continue to love them and have relationship with them even though I can’t affirm their so called marriage. As Jesus said in Matthew 10: 34-36 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”. We must not separate our contact with the unsaved but sometimes they will separate from us. Pray for pastor Begg, he most certainly is a child of God and I can’t imagine the pain he is going through right now. God with love, mercy and grace corrects the thinking of all believers or we would never have been saved or grown in Christ.
I understand what you’re saying there, Mark, but none of us sitting in the pew is in complete harmony with others sitting next to us. When you look across the congregation Sunday morning, do you truly think everyone there is in complete agreement with the pastor? Some might be visiting for the first time and may not be a Christian. Attending the same service together does not mean you both affirm what is being preached.
I’ve been to weddings b/c they were family but not necessarily b/c I agreed they should be getting married my attending did not affirm their union.
The grandmother wasn’t asked to perform the wedding or to stand and bless it with a prayer. Only to keep the lines of communication open between her and her grandchild. Christ telling the rich young ruler to go sell all he had and follow me, was case sensitive. Perhaps for you or I Christ would have asked us to remove the plank in our eye, or feed the orphans, or whatever we need to do. Alistair doesn’t condone gay marriage, he made that clear, but we can’t plant the seeds if we don’t go to the fields.
All this hullabullah about Mr. Begg giving reasonable advice, and no one gives a rip that Tim Mackie, creator of the Bible project, denies substitutionary atonement. Add Michael Heiser to the list as well.
Would it be OK for Evangelical Christians to throw a baby shower for a woman who had a baby out of wedlock?
Yes, but I my experience, Evangelicals are too busy pointing fingers to find a reason not to help others.
Jesus is very clear on protecting the children, not causing, or allowing harm to come to them. He does not place a restriction based on how the child came to be. We may not approve of the woman’s behavior/choice of lifestyle, but we are to live by God’s standards, not man’s/women’s judgmental nature.
KJV
Matthew 18
Mark 9
Luke 9
A very polarizing issue no matter which side you take. As very evident here. And a difficult one. The bottom line, would be for everyone put in this situation, would be to pray and follow the Lord’s leading. And it’s time to use wisdom whether
every issue has to wind up on social media!!! The consequent firestorm would be very predictable.
By coming to her pastor for advice, the grandmother was confessing she doesn’t know with certainty how to respond to the invitation; her conscience was torn. I was disappointed that Begg *told* her what to do rather than leading her thru a discussion and encouraging her to make a decision. To me, the grandmother’s ambivalence about attending her grandson’s wedding is the answer. Under normal circumstances, no one has to soul search in order to decide whether or not to celebrate a beloved grandchild’s wedding. Since things like one’s held beliefs and conscience are not visible at ceremonies during which one must remain silent (or else be rude) it will appear to the other guests that Grandma has had a change of heart regarding marriage.
Jennifer Eason, you are spot-on.
And it’s not as if it’s a birthday party or another social event so every other comment about “eating with sinners” (and Begg’s endless justification) is irrelevant.
This is about an event called a MARRIAGE.
I feel sorry and actually tremble for people calling themselves “Christians” who have to “wrestle” and “struggle” with this.
Wrestling and struggling almost always happens when one has one foot in the world.
The Bible is very clear what a marriage is, WHAT IT REPRESENTS and why it’s sacred.
I suggest people read Jesus’s words in Mark 10 (where he quotes Genesis), Ephesians 5, 2nd Corinthians 11 and Revelation 19 & 21 (the Marriage Supper of the Lamb) and if they “wrestle” with these passages then clearly they don’t trust it’s actually the Word of GOD and they should “examine themselves” to see if they’re truly saved (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Satan is attacking Biblical marriage, especially in these last days, for a REASON and we are not to allign with him!
“Wrestling and struggling almost always happens when one has one foot in the world.”
Not necessarily. Wrestling and struggling also happens when one is considering relationships and NOT just rules. The grandma could risk alienating her grandson; and if she is the one source of “light” to him, that could break both hearts and an important tie between him and believers.
Legalism doesn’t win souls.
Turning back to the parable of the two lost sons (to borrow Tim Keller’s title for it), the Father is the point of stability, the Rock, the One who does not move or change. Jesus mentioned the creation when He defined marriage as a permanent, monogamous relationship between a man and a woman. There is no need to “wrestle” with what marriage IS.
The grandmother’s capacity to love her grandson is small compared to God’s but by going to the wedding and affirming his choice to move to and to live in the “far country” she is doing something the Father in the parable absolutely does not do. The grandson’s salvation does not hinge on his relationship to his Grandma; his salvation hinges on his relationship to Jesus.
Jennifer –
Thanks for your reply. To be clear, I was referring to wrestling with whether or not to go, not with what marriage is. I stand by my comment that wrestling with whether or not to go is likely about the relationship between grandmother and grandson, as it isn’t always so “cut and dry” and easy to make a decision that will hurt and/or disappoint someone one cares about.
I’m someone who wrestled with whether or not to go to my brother’s wedding to his now-wife. There was nothing Godly about that relationship (yes, that can be the case for heterosexual couples too), and I felt awkward about going to witness and bless a union God didn’t put together. It was through prayer and discipling that I ended up attending – and given many of my family members didn’t show up – my presence IMMEDIATELY changed my relationship with both my brother and his wife – a relationship through which I was able to share my faith, introduce them to a Christian counselor, and witness their baptisms less than a year later.
I know that my attending the wedding was the catalyst; they have both told me so.
So I understand the grandma seeking the guidance of a pastor and wrestling with what to do.
To those of you who find these sorts of decisions simple and easy with a mere quote of scripture, God bless you; please be gracious with those of us who find them hard.
Mr. Begg stated that he gave his advice for this specific situation according to to his reason, pastoral care, and Scripture. I understand the concern of the slippery slope issue, but being kicked off his radio show is a bit overkill. I may not necessarily agree or disagree, but I respect his decision to stand by his conscience. I see it as a grey area at this point, but have not put much thought over this particular issue. I would not kick him off his show.
I completely agree. Mr. Begg did not deserve to be canceled over this. This was not an indisputable matter (questioning the authority of Christ, etc), but one that is very disputable that he backed up with reason, care, and scripture.
I find it very odd that Christians on opposing sides claim they have prayed and sought God’s guidance, but arrive at completely different conclusions. Likewise, when Christian leaders embark on foolish and absurd undertakings, they will claim it’s God’s will. The old lessons we learned in Sunday School and Bible college about discerning God’s will seem to fall flat.
The Father gave his “prodical” son his inheritance probably knowing he would squander it on riotous living. It was after the son had come to realize what his life had become that he returned to his Father. Likewise, a grandmother’s gift was not an affirmation of the lifestyle but rather a token of her love and a hope driven by prayer that he would return to our Heavenly Father
At what point would you not attend? If there was going to be a live sex act at the altar, would you attend? If he was going to wed multiple partners? If he was marrying his brother, sister, mother or father? An anatomically correct doll? Obviously, there’s SOMETHING that would limit your participation in a “marriage.” Common sense has to be exercised.