Joe Thorn is the founding and Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, IL, which is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The author of the books Note to Self: The Disciple of Preaching to Yourself and Experiencing the Trinity, he has contributed articles to the ESV Men’s Devotion Bible, The ESV Story Bible, and The Mission of God Study Bible.
Along with writing at Joethorn.org, he’s been a regular contributor to For The Church and Ligonier, and has been featured on Founders Ministries and The Gospel Coalition.
This past summer, Thorn’s daughter, Katherine, ‘married’ her lesbian partner in a courthouse wedding.
Despite previously stating his opposition to homosexual ‘marriages’, Thorn and his family were in attendance, celebrating the event and taking pictures of the nuptials.
While Thorn declined to elaborate (at least on the record) his specific motivations and justifications for attending the wedding, he did tell us regarding his theology:
“My views haven’t changed since 1990. I believe marriage is, by God’s design, for one man and one woman. Same sex marriage isn’t biblical, and sex is designed to be experienced in the context of real marriage. This is my position and the position of our church.”
Notably, along with attending the wedding, several of Thorn’s children have been publicly celebrating the relationship, either by “liking” social media statuses of the couple hugging and cuddling, or commenting on it directly with statements like “Lgf” (“Let’s F****** Go” or “Let’s Freaking Go.” While their approval has been prolific, here are a few examples.
It’s not just his children getting in on the action, however. Thorn himself has “liked” several images related to the couple celebrating their romantic affection for each other.
And more:
And more:
Thorn declined to comment on questions regarding his motivations for ‘liking’ these posts.
Editor’s note. Our view at Protestia is that attending a marriage gives tacit approval, support, and celebration of the union. As a result, Christians should never attend.
Put another way, if you wouldn’t attend a wedding between two incestuous brothers, or a man and his 11-year-old child bride, you shouldn’t attend this type either.
34 responses to “Is This Hypocrisy? SBC Pastor Joe Thorn Attends Same-Sex Wedding”
In one word……….yes. I can’t comprehend how difficult that would be to have a child enter a life of sin like that and keep compounding it. But it is wrong. And there is always a masculine and feminine person is these same sex relationships. Always can tell who has what role. Either way it is a sin in God’s eyes who ordained sin to be between a man and a woman for procreation.
But then I don’t expect much from someone who is obviously worldly and tattoo’d on almost every part of his body. I can’t respect someone looking like that up as a church leader. Sorry.
“37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” – Jesus (Matt 10:37)
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but …
…also approve of those who practice them.”
RUN from this so-called “pastor” ! And he needs to be put out of the church until he repents !
Congratulations to the newlyweds!
Well you tried, but it turns out the scripture still hasn’t changed one iota.
Who says I was trying to change Scripture?
Who says I was trying to change it?
What you’re trying to do is troll, trigger, bait, and agitate.
And you’re wasting your time.
What I’m trying to do is wishing these women happiness. If you feel triggered by that, that’s on you.
They are not newly weds……. That’s reserved only for one man and one woman…… I hope this helps you.
Well,… at one time our father Jacob was newly wedded to his wife Leah, and also newly wedded to his wife Rachel.
😁
Of course that is a very different matter. It still fits within the creation order.
This same sex relationship does not, and Thorn has badly compromised himself by celebrating it.
Justaman <— anti-Christian atheist trolling this site
Wishing happiness on those women is trolling for you?
I’m not anti-Christian. Or a troll, for that matter.
Why do you think that? They support gay “marriage”, sure, but that doesn’t mean they are anti-Christian or even atheist.
In this context it does. It certainly means he’s not himself a born again Christian. And to post that here, as he did, like some sort of activist agitator, does indeed betray an anti-Christian animosity. If he wants to politically support perversion of marriage, but he doesn’t hate Christians, then he can do that elsewhere. But to come here and do it betrays a rebellious and attitudinal motive.
I just wished them happiness. It’s not that deep, bro.
Also also, I’m not anti-Christian. I oppose Trump, who this site seems to adulate a lot, but if you’re a Christian, as long as you’re not harming anyone, I don’t mind which creed do you follow.
And the reason I chose this site to congratulate the newlyweds is because it was here I learned of it, and I wanted to have a little change of pace from the hateful comments.
You are calling God hateful, mean, and unloving.
“2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:2-3
Well, if the shoe fits…
And I’m not calling God hateful, mean or unloving, I’m calling you guys that.
You don’t clean fish before you catch them. If you are relationship building with someone, you try to go where they and their friends are, within reason.
“within reason” meaning without sinning, justifying sin, or perverting the grace of God into a license to sin.
In this case, the entire event is a matter of sin worship and celebration of sin. It is a place a born again Christian should never go.
If you want to witness to them, you can find a better place and time, and do so in a manner that isn’t sinful. Otherwise, you’d only be bearing witness to a false gospel (an extremely false gospel, in fact)
“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” – Prov. 17:15
In this particular case, especially. It’s his own daughter. If she’s rejected Jesus that much already, he’s certainly not going to win her by participating in her sins.
You don’t go wallow in the pig pen along with the prodigal child. That’s what you don’t do. You stand firm and wait for them to repent.
I believe if he didn’t show up to his daughter’s wedding, all it would do is push her further away from him and from God. She wouldn’t repent, she would just move on without him.
It might push her away from himself. But not further away from the Lord.
He has to decide how much he loves her …
God doesn’t need us to do His thinking for Him. Go read 1 Cor. 5, 2 Tim. 3:1-5. If God says to have nothing to do with them, then you can be absolutely guaranteed that’s what’s best for them, it’s the most loving thing to do, and it’s the best way to direct them toward the Lord.
God is not a liar.
It is not our job to draw people to ourselves. Our job is to point people in the direction of the Lord. We must first love Him and follow Him ourselves.
Right now, he’s created a conflict between himself and the Lord, because he has not first loved the Lord. He’s drawn her to himself, but pushed her farther from the Lord.
The Holy Spirit draws them. Not us. Our job is to stay out of His way.
There is only one Savior, Lord, and Master. And we are not Him.
What I meant to say was that if Joe Thorn didn’t show up to his own daughter’s wedding, whatever chance there was that his daughter would come back to God would probably disappear with his relationship with her.
What I meant to say was that, if Joe Thorn didn’t show up to his own daughter’s wedding, whatever chance there was that his daughter would come back to God would probably disappear with his relationship with her.
Book, Chapter and verse please…… I’ll be waiting…..
For those of you throwing stones at this pastor, I sure hope to goodness that you have never sinned. Should pastor Thorn have attended his daughter’s wedding? No, but that could be easier said than done. He is an imperfect human being as are his children. She is his child and he love her. I am sure that he is heart broken and his heart’s greatest desire is for his daughter to see that she is sinning against God and to repent and ask for God’s foregiveness of that sin. God can still use him in her life and that of her partner to bring her to repentance and to God, but if he destroys his relationship with her she will not trust him. Pastor Thorn and his family need our love and prayers.
Going to your own daughter’s gay “wedding” is obviously not “within reason”. Thorn has had his daughter’s entire life to “build a relationship” with her. This is insane!
If he had his entire life building a relationship with his daughter, why should he tear it down now?