AB 2943: Love Greater than Fear
California Assemblyman Evan Low’s decision to not send his bill for a final vote is a marvel of love, the love that casts out fear (1 JN 4:18).
Christians of all stripes came together gently, lovingly to uphold the truth of how we see reality: God made humanity in His image as male and female. We must be true to God our Creator and His will which frames LGBT+ reality as disorder; in the same breath, the faithful are true to our Redeemer who beholds all persons—including LGBT+ activists and politicians–with eyes of mercy and always invites the lonely into families where disordered ones can be loved into wholeness.
In every conversation and gathering, I had about 2943, Christians, especially the many pastors who took a stand, exhibited an unflinching heart of truth through the face of compassion. Down-to-earth, prayerful, and ethnically diverse saints endured with kindness the mockery of LGBT+ activists in order to ensure that their Christian consciences would not be outlawed by AB 2943. These are disciples who look out, not for themselves, but for the interests of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2: 21).
So Christians conveyed unchanging truth with deep compassion. That love overcame fear. Evan Low, a ‘gay’-identified politician, feared that these pastors were small-minded, autocratic moralists who wanted to close the horizon for LGBT+ persons. Courageous and just, he stood on trembling legs and listened to a number of these pastors who made a case for churches to have choice regarding sexual identification. Low heard them, and despite differing opinions, he realized that the Christian view was neither controlling nor manipulative. Freed from unfounded concerns, he concluded that AB 2943 was an inadequate bill.
Would you please pray for Evan Low in this season? He is under fire from his LGBT+ support base for withdrawing a bill that would have passed. He deserves our respect and our prayers.
Keep in mind that this marvel of love is not perfect. Low still wants to stop all clinical efforts to overcome gender identity issues, and I am concerned by the CA Christian leaders who threw their counseling friends under the bus by agreeing with Low on this point. Evan’s concerns will re-emerge in 2019 in another bill. We will be ready, conveying truth-in-love that casts out fear.
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