Janelle Monáe — who identifies as “nonbinary” — said this week God “is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.'”
The actor and singer waxed theological during an appearance on “Red Table Talk,” the Facebook Watch series hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris. It was immediately clear Monáe missed Sunday school more than once, to put it mildly.
Monáe previously announced in 2018 she was “pansexual” but now calls herself “nonbinary.”
Listen to the latest episode of the Faithwire podcast 👇
“I just don’t see myself as a woman solely,” explained the 36-year-old celebrity. “I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ And if I am from God, I am everything. But I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with black women. But I just see everything that I am, beyond the binary.”
The most difficult part of sharing her newfound sexual identity, Monáe said, was revealing it to her family, because she was raised in a Baptist and “conservative” home.
“My whole family is church, church, church,” she explained to the very affirming “Red Table Talk” co-hosts. “And I’m just like, ‘Well, what does it mean to go against your whole family, on this thing?’ But I was ready. I was like, ‘You know what, if they don’t love me, don’t call me asking me for no money. You will not get my LGBTQIA+ money. Don’t call me. How about that?’ And I think that’s still — some of them are still, ‘Hmm. But let me be quiet, because I might need something.’ Seriously, you gotta love our people. You gotta love our people.”
Pinkett Smith, 50, said people who resist acting out on their sexual preferences need to “unravel” the principles they were taught growing up “and give ourselves new information, create a new foundation for ourselves to sit on.”
“God loves all people,” she argued. “God don’t make mistakes. And so the more we get comfortable with ourselves, and the more that we can walk in our own skin, we don’t really expect or need others.”
Let’s briefly explore some theology to see what the Bible actually has to say about these subjects.
First and foremost, God “is spirit” (John 4:24), so He does not fit into our finite understanding of personhood. However, when He took on human form as Jesus, He did so as a male. Additionally, God is referred to as “Father” upwards of 170 times throughout the Bible. And God is repeatedly described in the Old and New Testaments using male pronouns. In fact, during His earthly ministry, Jesus said He “and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
According to GotQuestions.org, “The New Testament Epistles (from Acts to Revelation) also contain nearly 900 verses where the word theos—a masculine noun in the Greek—is used in direct reference to God. In countless references to God in Scripture, there is clearly a consistent pattern of His being referred to with masculine titles, nouns, and pronouns.”
And in creation, God created human beings in two forms — male and female — to share His likeness (Genesis 1:27). No human being is truly “nonbinary,” according to Scripture.
God absolutely has a heart for all people. However, while He is a gracious and perfectly loving God, He is also a moral and perfectly just God.
After His resurrection and before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15), and in Revelation 3:15-16, the Apostle John urged uncommitted believers at the Church of Laodicea to live truly godly lives, relaying this message from the Lord: “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”
And in the Old Testament book of Psalms, it is written that God “hates all evildoers” (5:5) and “His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” (11:5). It is because of God’s inability to excuse sin that sinful human beings require Jesus — the perfect sacrifice — to pay the penalty for our wrongdoing.
That is why the Gospel truly is the good news. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***