Can u be gay and christian
This may not be a huge surprise, but we receive A LOT of questions via email, social media, and in person on Tuesdays. What benign of questions? Well, anything from, Should I acquire back together with my boyfriend or girlfriend? to What should I perform next with my life? to How should I lovingly engage those in the LGBTQ community?
In this blog series “Ask The Porch,” we’re answering real-life questions that we’ve received from you. Disclaimer: our highest priority is always to first respond with biblical counsel from God’s Word. The hardest questions to answer are those in the “grey” areas. So we’ll do our best to share our biblically-informed opinion, but realize that we may acquire different convictions on the non-essentials (vs. the essentials).
Now, let’s dive into the question for this week emailed in from an online listener:
Can a Christian be gay?
“Hey David,
I am a Christian and own struggled with same sex attraction since childhood. I would not wish it on anyone. It’s very hard being alone and longing for someone to hold hands with. I want the chance to love and have someone love me back. I want to live a life for God but I also don’t yearn to live on this earth alone.
Can You Be Queer and Christian?
One late hours I was reading the stories of people who had left the church because they idea 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 own been misinterpreting Scripture when it comes to their salvation? Could it be that there is some new awareness of the Bible that would permit us to affirm committed, same-sex relationships?
If not, does that mean that we tell a 15 year-old girl who identifies as sapphic, “If you long to follow Jesus, you will acquire to be celibate for the unwind of your animation, never enjoying the companionship of a spouse and abstaining from sex for life”? Do we tell her, “If you do wish to be married, you’ll have to find a way to be attracted to men”? Is that the nice news of the gospel?
A spate of books and videos and article and blogs would inform us that, indeed, that is not the gospel and that the excellent news of Jesus is that you can follow Him and enjoy a committed, homosexual connection to
Is it REALLY ok to be LGBTQ? A look behind and beyond the “clobber passage”
There’s a name for what’s happening here: proof texting.
Theopodia defines proof texting as “the method by which a person appeals to a biblical text to prove or justify a theological position without regard for the context of the passage they are citing.”
If you hear someone tell “the Bible says…” run in the other direction. The Bible says lots of things!
Here a several things the Bible says:
That the World was covered in water when created until God formed land (Genesis 1:9) but also that the Earth was completely dry until God brought streams up and watered the planet (Genesis 2:5-6).
That God created animals first and then humans (Genesis 1) but also that God created Adam first, then animals, then Eve (Genesis 2).
That’s right, the Bible contradicts itself in the first two chapters!
“The Bible says” in Exodus and Deuteronomy that if a woman is raped her rapist must either marry her or pay her father (because he’s “damaged” the father’s “property”).
Paul says in 1 Thessalonians that Jesus will give back in his hold lifetime (4:15-17).
So what does the Bible say?
The Bib
How Should Christians Respond to Male lover Friends or Family Members?
Caleb Kaltenbach (M.A. ’07) is an alumnus of Biola’s Talbot School of Theology, lead pastor of a large church in Simi Valley, Calif., and a married father of two. He’s also an emerging voice in the discussion of how Christians should occupy the LGBT community. That’s because Kaltenbach has an insider perspective, having been raised by a dad and mom who divorced and independently came out of the closet as a lgbtq+ man and a lesbian. Raised in the midst of LGBT parties and pride parades, Kaltenbach became a Christian and a pastor as a young senior. Today, he manages the tension of holding to the traditional biblical teaching on sexuality while loving his gay parents.
Kaltenbach’s distinct story is detailed in his new book Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction and landed him on the front page of the New York Times in June. Biola Magazine reached out to him to talk about his book and his perspective on how Christians can improved navigate the complexities of this issue with truth and grace.
In your book you say that it’s time for Christians to own the iss