Can i be a christian and be gay

Faithful Christians are already embracing LGBT brothers and sisters. Mainstream denominations like Presbyterians and Episcopalians now ordain openly gay clergy, and there are seeds of change. If by “gay” we mean someone whose dominant sexual attraction is to people of the same gender, then someone can be a “gay Christian.” For more information, see Is God Anti-Gay?

by Sam Allberry, and the site for testimonies of Christians living with same-sex attraction. Struggling with same-sex attraction does not disqualify someone from being a Christian; however, calling oneself a “gay Christian” means choosing a sin to define yourself instead of Christ. True faith requires surrendering all sinful desires to God and finding identity in Christ above all else.

Here are five simple truths that will help separate truth from error and biblical revelation from emotion. (For those wanting a more in-depth treatment, please see my newest book, Can You Be Gay and Christian?) 1. The testimony of Scripture remains unchanged: The Bible forbids homosexual practice. I want to bring into question what it means to be a Christian and how that affects those who are LGBTQ+.

When growing up, I was told insensately, “Christianity isn’t a religion; it’s a relationship.”. One night I was reading the stories of people who had left the church because they thought God hated them simply because they were attracted to the same sex. I was so overcome with emotion that I put the book down, got alone in another room, fell to my knees and wept.

The pain of these men and women for whom Jesus died was palpable and heartbreaking. Could it be that we have been misinterpreting Scripture when it comes to their salvation? Could it be that there is some new understanding of the Bible that would allow us to affirm committed, same-sex relationships? Is that the good news of the gospel?

A spate of books and videos and article and blogs would tell us that, indeed, that is not the gospel and that the good news of Jesus is that you can follow Him and enjoy a committed, homosexual relationship too.

can you be gay and catholic

And some of the authors of these books, videos, articles, and blogs claim to be committed Christians themselves. It is really not that difficult. If we will humble ourselves before the Lord, keeping our focus on Jesus and asking the Father to give us His heart for those who identify as LGBT, letting the unequivocal testimony of Scripture guide us, we will find clarity. Here are five simple truths that will help separate truth from error and biblical revelation from emotion.

For those wanting a more in-depth treatment, please see my newest book, Can You Be Gay and Christian? In other words, they have not changed their thinking based on study of the Scriptures alone since no new textual, archaeological, sociological, anthropological, or philological discoveries have been made in the last fifty years that would cause us to read any of these biblical texts differently.

Put another way, it is not that we have gained some new insights into what the biblical text means based on the study of the Hebrew and Greek texts. This means that rather than interpreting their sexuality through the lens of the Scriptures, they are interpreting the Scriptures through the lens of their sexuality.

This is the guaranteed path to deception. The Word of God, which represents His heart and will for His creation, is absolutely clear on the subject, prohibiting all forms of homosexual practice. They raise two main arguments against the use of these verses. First, they claim that the verses have been mistranslated, misinterpreted, or misused, and so, in reality, these Scriptures do not prohibit monogamous, committed, homosexual relationships.

Yet they cannot offer any new evidence to back this claim since none exists. How important can it actually be? Let us say you buy a new cookbook featuring healthy dessert recipes, none of which use sugar. In the Introduction to the book, the author explains her reasons for avoiding sugar products, telling you that you will find sumptuous, sweet dessert recipes, but all without sugar.

Would it be right to conclude that avoiding sugar was not important to the author?

To the contrary, it was so important that every single recipe in the book makes no mention of sugar. It is exactly the same when it comes to the Bible and homosexuality. There are a few, very strong, very clear, references to homosexual practice—every one of them decidedly negative—and then not a single reference to homosexual practice throughout the rest of the Bible. Yet those are the only kinds of romantic and sexual relationships that God speaks of, and that is only kind of marriage He recognizes or blesses: a man and woman coming together in a lifetime commitment before Him.

Genesis is teaching us that because the woman was taken out of the man the two are now joined back together as one in marital union, each one uniquely complementing the other. And notice: There is not a word here yet about reproduction or procreation, simply about union even if procreation is the presupposed outcome. A man plus a man or a woman plus a woman cannot possibly share the same union as a man and a woman since they do not share the essential of fundamental sameness and difference.

We are told today that biblical authors did not understand sexual orientation and that they had no concept of committed, long-term same-sex relationships. What the biblical authors rejected, we are told, was man-boy relationships, or male prostitution, or homosexual promiscuity.