“Side B” is not compassionate. It is evil because it waters down the cross and calls people to celibacy as the answer to their struggles rather than to the freedom that Christ has called us to. Christ offers so much more than a placating sentiment that says, “That sin is who you are—just don’t do it!” Such a position is just one step away from fully embracing homosexuality, which I predict “Side B” will soon complete the slide into.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)

The Bible commands us to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness,” which, in context, include sexual immorality—and yet many in the church are bending over backward to find creative ways to accommodate sexual immorality to “lower the entry bar” for unbelievers or the discipleship hardships for professing believers, especially those who identify as LGBTQ. And one of those “creative” methods for skirting biblical teaching is what’s known as “Side B Christianity, which may at first glance seem compassionate and just another way to encourage sinners to “come as you are,” but remember that Jesus invites all to come as they are—but he never calls them to stay as they are.

A recent op-ed in The Christian Post uses a definition of “Side B” from late pastor Dr. Tim Keller (who certainly didn’t take Genesis 1 literally as AiG does) in a refutation of this ideology:

People attracted to the same sex, though remaining celibate in obedience to the Bible, still can call themselves “gay Christians” and see their attraction as part of their identity which should be acknowledged like one’s race or nationality.

Dr. Rosaria Butterfield (a former lesbian activist, now Christian, who is speaking at our 2026 Answers for Women conference) has described it this way:

Celibate gay theology [Side B]—which claims to uphold a traditional biblical view of sexuality—has become the default compromise in churches and parachurch ministries. It embraces homosexual orientation and identity but disallows gay sex. It categorizes homosexual desire as a morally neutral temptation.

So instead of fully embracing LGBTQ lifestyles (as “Side A” does), “Side B” proponents acknowledge that homosexual acts are sinful but claim the identity is not. What nonsense! How can any Christian identify themselves by a temptation that the Lord hates and that their regenerate hearts should equally hate? As Dr. Butterfield put it,

How can any of us fight a sin that we don’t hate? Hating our own sin is a key component to doing battle with it. At the same time, we need to separate ourselves from the sin we hate. This can be a very challenging issue for a Christian who experiences SSA [same-sex attraction], an issue that becomes exceedingly more challenging if one assumes the social identity of “gay Christian.”

We must maintain that we who repent and believe stand in robes of righteousness as beloved sons and daughters of God, even as we do daily battle with any [and] all sexual lust and unbiblical desire that claims our affections. We are not our sin, and we ought never to let it define us.

To that I say, “Amen!”

Now, going back to Keller’s definition, consider the comparison he makes: Sexual “orientation” is the same as “race” or nationality. Now, there’s no such thing as “race”—we’re all one biological race—so I’ll use the term ethnicity here. Ethnicity is a set thing, given to you by the God who “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26).

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