Nate scores 23/25 on the Lifeway Bible quiz, then faces the question every Christian gets asked: can a gay person get into heaven?

Pastor Takes Lifeway Bible Quiz — Then Gets Asked “So Gay = Hell?”

What happens when a pastor sits down to take the Lifeway Bible literacy quiz live on air—and the chat immediately starts placing bets on how badly he will do? Nate finds out, and the results are both humbling and hilarious. But the quiz is only the warm-up. The real conversation starts when a caller named Bob asks the question that has kept more people out of church pews than almost any other: can a gay person get into heaven? What follows is a thirty-minute back-and-forth on repentance, celibacy, hell, and whether it is fair for a child rapist to be forgiven while the victim walks away from God. Serious, specific, and unwilling to dodge the hard parts—here is what unfolded.

Can a Gay Person Get Into Heaven? The Biblical Bottom Line

Nate’s answer is careful but clear: the question is not whether someone experiences same-sex attraction, but whether they are living in unrepentant sin. Scripture calls believers to turn from sin, not merely feel bad about it. Nate concedes that attraction itself may not be a choice, but insists that what a person does with that attraction is. The call to celibacy for the unmarried—gay or straight—is not cruelty; it is the same cross every believer is asked to carry. For deeper grounding in these doctrines, explore our Statement of Faith on core biblical beliefs.

When Bob pivots to hell—asking how eighty years of sin can deserve eternal punishment—Nate points out the inconsistency: if God does not exist, hell is not the problem. And if God does exist, the Bible’s warnings are not metaphors to be managed. The same logic applies to the child rapist question: if finite crimes do not deserve infinite punishment, then forgiveness is not unfair—it is the only escape. For a related discussion on God’s wrath and the cross, see our breakdown of God’s love, wrath, and hell.

The Wizard, the Quiz, and the 65% Failure Rate

Before the theology gets heavy, Nate opens with a story about a man dressed as a literal wizard—hat, cape, and staff—attacking TPUSA volunteers on a Texas campus. The observation that magic is not real, so he had to resort to physical assault with his “magic staff,” lands somewhere between absurd and sad. Then comes the Lifeway quiz, where Nate scores 23 out of 25 and still cannot figure out which two he missed. The bigger takeaway: 65% of quiz-takers failed, and Nate’s response is not pride in his score but a reminder that head knowledge does not save anyone.