Okay, the first thing I can hear everyone saying is “that headline misrepresents the truth.” But does it? No, it really doesn’t. One Reformed pastor has been teaching that not only is it okay for Christian men to kiss other women, but they should be doing so.

Now, this sounds a little odd. I get it. There must be some context for this … right? Yes, there is context to this. The context is a question directed to Pastor Mike Reid of Grace Fellowship Church by Tony Miano regarding the expression that Paul uses multiple times throughout his epistles to greet one another with a “holy kiss.”

Mike Reid argues that because Christians are a part of the “holy nation” called out by God, that Christians have a special “affinity” for one another, that is it perfectly acceptable to be able to kiss each other and he argues that to not allow this is to bind one’s conscience. While Tony Miano posed the “devil’s advocate” argument that to practice this, for example, a man kissing another man’s wife or daughter, may lead to sexually immoral thoughts, or even worse. Reid continued to defend his stance, comparing it to speeding and street preaching, saying that just because some people can’t get in a car without speeding doesn’t mean that nobody should be able to drive.

Reid argued that if one becomes sexually aroused during a “holy kiss,” that they should cease the practice. You can listen to the snippet of the Q&A session below.

Another pastor has been relentlessly opposed to Mike Reid’s defense of this teaching, arguing that Reid’s position of being able to kiss people, even on the lips, is “perverted” and “dangerous,”

and that his attempts to “cover up” his words and actions can’t change it.

Mike Reid has defended himself against the allegations, calling O’Neal’s allegations “slanderous” and “lies.” Reid has a defense posted on his church’s website that stats,

We, the elders of Grace Fellowship Church, do categorically deny the false accusations and slanderous tweets and posts made by Chuck O’Neal. This page is a response to Chuck O’Neal’s slanderous postings on Twitter. These postings are full of outright lies and deceptive editing designed to paint a picture of Mike Reid and Grace Fellowship Church that is the opposite of the truth. 

You can read the entire statement here. However, to sum up, Reid denies that his church he or his church has ever acted in the way O’Neal describes, “No one in our church has ever kissed another man’s wife on the lips, nor will that behavior ever be tolerated.”

O’Neal denies that any of the clips were altered in any way, and denies that the accusations are slanderous. O’Neal has a series of videos and clips that can be seen here.

*Note: This article will continue to be updated as information is uncovered. This article is intended to be objective.