Rosaria Butterfield | Understanding and Loving Our Gay and Lesbian Friends

Watch Mark Mellinger interview Rosaria Butterfield on the relationship between homosexuality and the Christian faith.

[@thegospelcoalition]

“Don’t presume that the worst sin in your gay and lesbian neighbor’s life is sexuality. It’s not. The worst sin is unbelief.” - Rosaria Butterfield

[@mpshields]

Hey Butterfield, you don't have the power nor the authority to tell anyone that they are sinfull. You have no truth, all you have is just a belief. A belief that millions do not share, nor have to.

[@kcstewart671]

Michael, may I gently point out that you have just made a truth claim that you expect Butterfield and everyone else to live by?

[@mpshields]

KC Stewart Not at all. A sin is a misdemeaner to a deity. Without proof of the deity, all you have is just your human opinion. Hense there is no truth here.

[@kcstewart671]

So your words to Butterfield carry absolutely no ethical weight whatsoever. You are simply making an observation (from your point of view), but you have no moral evaluation or expectation of Butterfield or anyone else. Do I understand you correctly?

[@mpshields]

You seem to be under some bizarre notion that ethics, and or moral should be followed according to the bible? What makes you think morals depend on a 2000 year old book written in the iron age in a backward middle east country by sheep hearders? And what's even more bizarre is that you think 8 billion people look to a bible for these so called morals? Ha! are you serious?

[@lynnjaxful]

I sure appreciate Rosario's grasp of the English language in her ability to communicate complex issues and put them simply so that we can agree right along with her expert knowledge and understanding. What a gift to the body of christ. Brothers and sisters, let's not ever forget to love our neighbors.

[@mollynoneofurbuisness3099]

I seriously just found a hero in this woman, she is awesome, love her sincerity!

[@littleboyforjesus123]

Oh yeah! I found her and Rachel Gilson they’re both such sweethearts

[@mitzibowser4705]

@@littleboyforjesus123 njbnoni

[@johnkim7802]

Rosaria does us so much justice and gifting by telling us the underlying problems behind different sins and behaviors. Firstly, she explains about how both homosexual and heterosexual people in our culture have subscribed to defining their identity according to sexuality and sexual preferences which is actually more condemned in the Bible than whether they choose to be heterosexual or otherwise. The Bible makes it very clear that we must find our identity in Christ and realize we belong to Him alone rather than our desires. This is very contrary to a culture emphasizing individual rights and making choices to the point of worshipping them. Secondly, many people in our culture professing to be Christians have reduced love to be defined by temporary feelings which may or may not last rather than any sort of a long term commitment. Thirdly, she explains how fear is the motivating factor rather than faith for many professing Christians in how they act. So they tend to act out of fear and justify things using the Bible rather than actually examining the factors and being based on a solid foundation of faith-based principles. A lot of fear and dismissal of the L.G.B.T. by many Christians arise from the tendency of people to discriminate and demonize whoever is different. The fear of those who are different motivates them to attack the L.G.B.T. unfairly. She explains the keys and deeper underlying motives!

[@VanessaBasora]

I really appreciate this dialog! God bless you!

[@vantrinh3623]

I like it when she said that: "You have to work hard to be nicer than the LGBT community to these kids"

[@ugommaokorie1660]

Love Rosaria Butterfield. She's just brilliant and breaks these things down so well.

[@nanaallen1208]

Awesome, awesome interview! I’ve watched some parts 5 times!

[@racqfitness7028]

i love listening to this woman.

[@sondrarush1432]

I like when she describes her conversion experience as bitter sweet. That makes total sense to me. I have been a Christian since childhood and would also describe a life of following/submitting to Christ as having bittersweet moments/seasons. Another author once described it as throughout life we experience death and rebirth, death and rebirth. And Jesus tells his disciples to daily pick up their cross and follow him. I know this call to die and I know what it is to live and we cannot do it or experience true life without Christ. All that to say…I appreciate her honesty.

[@reushirleygarcia7352]

Love the teaching!

[@BrunDawgie]

Rosaria, you’re amazing. Thank you so much for your profound words. You both convict and edify me every time.

[@lcdeyoung2755]

Can someone pleeeeeases clean up the audio and minimize the background noise on this? Extremely important points here!!

[@jukes243]

True. The worse sin is unbelief. A matter of the heart.

[@kwall1464]

Thanks for sharing!

[@pearlivory3483]

I love how much sense she makes!

[@susanyurcak1474]

Excellent message ....let us not "throw away the baby with the bath water", no one is perfect. So let us not be distracted by these two good people. The message is the real focus

[@nursep18]

This is excellent

[@markkateley1249]

Love this lady I'd go to her church if I was in NC

[@eatsnot7503]

I can really see how someone who has not truly been loved, in their family, circle of friends, church, whatever, can search for acceptance elsewhere and end up in ungodly relationships, laissez-faire religions, cults, fraternities, lodges, anywhere that gives a sense of belonging or meaning. The most deceptive seem to be groups that are doing "good works" but lacking real faith in Christ. Only God knows the motives of our hearts.

[@fashakinbanke3671]

very true

[@jwrath7]

THIS! Excellent!

[@inimicus100]

Fantastic

[@clasen2013]

God's common grace...interesting. I love Rosaria and first heard her on an interview with Alisa Childers, one of my favorites. Thank you for this.

[@mjds23]

Maravilhosa obra que Deus fez com esta mulher, assim como em qq outro cristão da terra. Traduzam estas entrevistas para o português, please. Deus a abençoe Rosario.

[@scented-leafpelargonium3366]

Interesting title for a video. Maybe one could be done on understanding and loving heterosexuals!

[@TracyTodd2199]

6:05. She's correct on surface sins. This could work or could lead someone into legalism. Legalism kills. The Spirit of the law is opposite and gives life. Unfortunately many people get "saved" thinking their main problem is that they are gay. So...they automatically assume once saved...the main way to get right with God is to STOP the sex (cause that is abomination ). The problem with that shallow thinking is even when you repent of the sex itself...there remains a heart problem. For me it was emotions...and looking for comfort in a person. Therefore many gays fail because they turn from same sex relations to opposite sex (approved by God....apparently). This right there leads a former gay to pursue heterosexuality mainly because it's on God's approval list. And as a New Christian most are aware of God's strict moral behavior and have felt his disapproval and anger towards sin. Most have that fear of Him at the beginning point. So it becomes a futile life of avoiding that sin (gay) and trying to find ways that are right with God. This whole thing leads to strife and trying to achieve a goal that God may not have put there. It's shallow and misses the whole point. Unfortunately most find it a conundrum. Fear keeps you on the path but without understanding what God's true purposes in your life you end up worn out. I remember "trying" to get my life together. I sank like a ship in despair and ended up a big depressed mess of a person.

[@jonathandixxon4773]

[e-mail]

[@lynnjaxful]

Well, it doesn't happen overnight. Hang on. Jesus calls you blessed. Because you mourn for your sin. He will save you. One day, one day soon. Praise him!

[@nataliehazelrigg7784]

I have so much more “ammunition” to love my fellow humans. Thank you.

[@maryfrankralls9985]

AMEN!!!!!!

[@markjames3132]

I hear amazing Grace being sung by the congregation I think

[@alfonsoreynosa8143]

AMEN

[@augsburgbiblechannel9246]

Awesome video. Too bad there is so much noise on it

[@Silverwings2012]

What is up with all the background noise?

[@petermarshall7882]

Rosaria has reinvented herself and found a new audience. Well ok for her but I do not think her theology, now matter how friendly it's expressed, is compatible with the life and teaching of Jesus. There are many theologies in the church and Original Sin is one of them. It appeals to Rosaria and perhaps she sees an opportunity to promote herself by promoting OS as a fact of life. Christians generally need to reflect on the reality that mankind is still engaging with the big question, is there a God/s? To think an individual has the answer, then selects a set of writings, interprets it a certain way, then asserts that interpretation is correct is the highest level of arrogance any individual can live. This is precisely what Rosaria projects to her audience. To anyone tempted to simply take her at her word the best advice is found in the Bible, Test all things, hold fast to that which is true/good.

[@UchihaYoshinori]

Muchos Gracis Senorita!!

[@gracepilditch9388]

This is a brilliant and informative interview but sadly the hymn being sung in the background is a huge distraction even if it is Amazing Grace.

[@wassilykandinsky4616]

As good as this may sound to many people, as the comments show, I as a heterosexual can’t help, to me this smells like hypocrisy. Whose business is ones sexuality if it is not hurting anyone else? An telling homosexuals, that they are hurting themselves acting out their sexuality, who is hurting whom there? Imagine a child, becoming aware of his or her own homosexuality, living with parents and friends who are believing and telling, that homosexuals are not living in accord to their „heavenly design“. „You’re wrong but we love you!“ For me that’s a form of child abuse, even if they say "we are all sinners". According to Mrs. Butterfield "Roman 1 tells you what the roots of homosexuality are." I’ve read that: God punished people who recognized him but didn’t praise and thank him by making them homosexual. (Ideas of the converted Pharisee Paulus.) Can you really believe that! Do you wonder, why Christianity is in decline?

[@barbkeen1221]

Wasilly, the world needs more of you because people like this woman are setting people off from religion. I believe that she wasn't gay at all but just gay curious for awhile. She and the rest of these religious nutters need to go back to the hole they climbed out of. I'm gay and knew it since I was 8 years old and haven't felt different in 45 plus years and it's not going to change. I don't like her because she thinks that we can change but we can't and shes just full of crap. Thanks for the positive post and may you have a great day!

[@karlschmied6218]

@@alandenise You think your believe gives you the right or the obligation to judge your fellow human beings. Does the harm you do to them not affect you? Where is your empathy? In my view you are a hypocrite, a modern Pharisee.

[@karlschmied6218]

@@barbkeen1221 Thank you too! Don't let religious people judge you. There are so many different weird religious notions in this world. Muslims saying Christians go to hell and vice versa. They have been fooled and don't know it. Do I say that they are doomed for eternity? Certainly not. They are caught in a thought system that keeps them manipulable.

[@barbkeen1221]

@@karlschmied6218 You're very welcome. Some people are just cra cra! 😉😂

[@wassilykandinsky4616]

B K . Why are you believing that torturing someone to death is be beneficial to you besides you have been told that it is?

[@cchemmes-seeseeart3948]

Right now, it feels like none of it matters. People see me according to their expectations, not the reality of me, or even the reality of my interaction with them. I was speaking with a niece about love & unity & how God most opposes division, & speaking love... & she kicked me out of her life as if I had done something to deserve that. She was not unloved by family, & was doted on to extreme, according to her wishes, in ways I never was cared for & extreme attention on her & care for her. I am left to feel there is no 'way' to deal with other people with these labels; no answer; nothing that matters or will make any difference. I was abused & harassed myself, for 30 years over this issue, to the point of being stalked & my life devastated over it, despite not living the lifestyle, related to sexual abuse issues as a young woman. People dealt with me in a cruel bully way, & now they are all gone from my life (although some have continued harassment/ stalking despite no direct involvement), but Jesus is miraculously with me daily. So I just have seen no option but to let go of all care what people think of me, in all directions. I have seen Jesus' miraculous presence in my life, & He has told me to let go of care of what people think. I hope to start a hospitality ministry at some point, so appreciate talk on that. Blessings. Peace. Love wins.

[@shorisunagawa382]

background noises always bother me...

[@1Atomtan]

I believe the idea that Christians are losing some battle is a faulty assumption by Mrs. Butterfield. Christians have already defeated hell, death, and sin by Christ covering regardless of their struggle. Christians are called to go against the world and to proclaim Christ. Not try and win the battle of sin in other's life. God will use our going against it as he wills. We have zero to do with the outcome. Our job is to be faithful. Not win a sales job.

[@FlowLai]

Don't be facetious, and she's on the same side as you. She's remarking that Christians are losing the cultural battle within the United States and elsewhere, this is true. Neither of us are saying that this threatens God's providence.

[@maplestreetpictures7454]

What she is saying is does not describe my experience.

[@erinbrinker33]

How so? What has been your experience? I am asking with love.

[@jsigur157]

I have spent the last 15 hours listening to Rosaria Butterfield videos and have heard her testimony from 8 years ago as welll as her evolving testimonies coming closer to this year (2023). I consistent theme within her testimonies is her lesbian lifestyle prior to conversion My problem is there is no information concerning Rosaria that validates her prior lifestyle, no pictures with lesbian friends sporting butch haircuts, and no videos where she offeres her LGTQ world view. Either all the infor has been removed or her claims her fictitious Can anyone point me to a place that shows her prior lifestyle?

[@wnorwood1]

@jsigur157 The New Evangelicals podcast just did an episode on Rosaria and her past. It's very interesting...her experience doesn't seem to be the norm

[@ralphandfrancesreyes369]

For a truer Biblical response to this sin, listen to this great message, first preached approximately 20 years ago by Pastor Joe Morecraft from Atlanta, Georgia called The Crisis of Homosexuality www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=2805221942

[@nataliehazelrigg7784]

How many gay people has this pastor reached? And you too? That’s where the rubber meets the road.

[@chaseiskool5447]

HELP! I am straight. How do you become gay again?!

[@candicearlebemus9278]

Don't you just love know it alls?

[@BSwitzerland]

The part I dont understand is why do I need to have a sexual incounter with a woman I love. I love my best girlfriend but I dont need to be attracted to her sexually. I can envoy all aspects of friend ship! the same goes about my male friends - why go to bed if we enjoy many other ascepts that love, friendship and relationship has to offer. But is it not also true that some of the homosexual tendencies come from being sexually abused by someone as a child or by accidental same sex sexual intercouners that turn into a pattern?

[@soraya1796]

Were you ever sexually attracted to someone? If that's to private for you to answer, no problem!

[@Warhol-jb9zx]

There is alot to unpack here... But I wanna focus on the "I claim this sexuality as my identity"-thing. God gave us sexuality, It's a beautiful thing and it contains more than want get in bed with someone. As christians our identity is in christ...So why pretend that the bible adress loving equal status gay relationships when it dosen't? That I don't fully understand! Sometimes it's ignorance and sometimes with this lady it's a way of speaking to a non affirming audience..speak "their" language so to say...God bless xoxo

[@sandradomazet2042]

Hogwash ,,,,

[@hansmeisterschulz5941]

As a pastor, the term “sexual immorality” seems more loving as it doesn’t target. We put ALL sexual conduct in one grouping. Any sexual activity which is not pleasing to God now applies. Praise Jesus

[@mpshields]

God lived with Dinosaurs 🦕 for 65 million years, until he discovered Spying in Humans' Bedroom Windows to Pass Judgment while they're having Sex is WAY More FUN!!!! Then this self appointment little Spinner PASTOR jumps on the bandwagon!!! 🤣😂😆

[@coppervann9881]

Religious folk are completely nuts. You can't have a rational conversation with this woman until she is free from her religious beliefs.

[@mollynoneofurbuisness3099]

Copper Vann The reason you can have a rational thought is because you were created that way. Did you create yourself?

[@JohnSmith-rv6nf]

You are very arrogant to think you know the cause of homosexuality.

[@danielcoulton4102]

The wisdom for this is not human its spiritual. The wisdom that is imparted by the Holy Spirit is as you very correctly state arrogant to those not saved or dont know God. Also the Holy Spirit imparts lots of other stuff that the world or demonic forces of human intellect cant read or find. Outside of God the human faculties are restricted. But thank you for your post.

[@EvangelismOutreachMinistries]

Isn't it dangerous though to have a homosexual around your kids or a weak believer? How do you go about this without causing others to stumble?

[@barbkeen1221]

Why would be dangerous to have gay people around kids or a weak believer? Huh? Please explain cause I'd live to hear this! 🤦‍♀️🙄

[@C24680]

@@barbkeen1221 He is a homophob that's why he said that! It makes no logical sense, neither does a weak believer because you can't 'catch gay' 🙄

[@barbkeen1221]

@@C24680 😂😂 But Lucy, we "RECRUIT" straight people to become gay, don't we???? 🤷‍♀️😂😂😂😂😂😂 You CAN be gay and a believer cause unlike what the religious nutters say, God made EVERYBODY in his image. Even the religious nutters but they took it a step toooo far. Have a great day m'amm! 🙂

[@C24680]

@@barbkeen1221 you too, To any gay people reading these comments, remember there is nothing wrong with being Gay! you are loved, you are special and very much accepted by many people, just sadly not ALL Christians.

[@barbkeen1221]

@@C24680 👏👏👏👏❤❤❤🏳️‍🌈

[@sarahshlemon480]

Science shows that Adam and Eve could not have existed. And if they did not exist, there is no original sin. And everything that Rosaria is talking about is based on original sin. Do I need to spell it out for the reasoning challenged?

[@givengrace8671]

And the basis of said scientific proof is???

[@phillycrown3116]

the focus of this video is not on the actual cause of tension between the christian and lgbt community. it is not the delivery, it is the content. this woman is misleading the church by insinuating that Christians need to be more understanding of unbelievers and basically stop talking about specific sins such as homosexuality. this is the direct result of the outcry of the unbelieving world into the ears of the lukewarm church. its not the delivery of the gospel that offends the unbelieving world, its the gospel itself. the boundaries are wearing thin and the walls are moving in. to any christian with a heart for Christ, be separate. BTW does the gospel coalition not have enouph men in their churches that they have out women to teach men? to rebuke the church? to change the minds of Christians!!?? we are not in the garden anymore, and for good reason. flee from the lukewarm church.

[@davidbrandtdesign]

+phillycrown311 First of all, this was a part of a women's conference, so in her session, she was addressing other women. Secondly, if you read her other works, or watch some videos of other sessions that she's done, you will realize that she is not saying we shouldn't talk about specific sins such as homosexuality. And might I add -she says, very clearly in the middle of this video that many times you NEED to address that sin. But what she is saying is that many gay/lesbian people have only ever interacted with Christians at a rally, where the language was anything but charitable. Butterfield is saying that sometimes we need to address the larger issue of unbelief, and if a person believes, then allow that to transform their actions.

[@craigamore2319]

Here's the thing, it can be so exceedingly easy as believers to forget what it is like to be enslaved to sin. People struggling with any kind of inborn, habitual sin are as blind as any of us before we were born again. They should be loved by those willing to follow the command to speak the truth in love. Harshness is never winsome. How do we expect anyone to hear the loving call of Christ through our gritted teeth? Listen to her speak on other videos. She unapologetically speaks truth to the sinfulness of homosexuality and that it cannot be affirmed in a Christian context. Our approach to these people, like anyone else who is lost, must be approached lovingingly, or else, reaching them will be impossible.

[@davidprice9792]

If the lgbtq community continues to get there way,the preacher will not be able to preach truth.

[@craigamore2319]

@@danielcoulton4102 , I'm not saying don't offend people. The Gospel itself IS offensive to the unbelieving heart. But you can speak that truth, the sinfulness of that behavior, without being harsh. Speak the truth in love. Paul, carried along by the Holy Spirit, literally put that in scripture for us to take to heart. Sure, people will twist that truth and call it hateful anyway, but how you deliver that truth is often as important as the nature of the truth itself. I read her work. I've watched her give her testimony multiple times in multiple videos. She never minimizes the sin of homosexuality. She merely speaks often about how Christian hospitality was of the utmost importance in softening her heart to receive the Gospel. She's also coming from a place of living in a gay cultural context. She lived in that world for years. I've read her work. She knows these people. Her point is merely that people in that life will more readily respond to the approach she is describing than one that is harsh, blunt, graceless and forgetful of sins we ourselves once walked in. Look, you can hold fast to sinfulness of homosexuality and be kind to the homosexual in the same breath. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[@mpshields]

Hey Handsome, Mark Millinger, we do not resist God, we are indifferent & only question the existance of this invisible, useless, magic sky daddy?