10 Reasons God Lov Gay Christians | Time

Contents:

• WHY ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’ IS WRONG ABOUT THE BIBLE AND SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS
• GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
• A RPONSE TO ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN: THE BIBLIL CASE SUPPORT OF SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS’
• GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN : THE BIBLIL SE SUPPORT OF SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS
• 10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS
• ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?
• A RPONSE TO ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’
• REVIEW OF GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
• IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
• GOD & THE GAY CHRISTIAN
• REVIEW: GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN

WHY ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’ IS WRONG ABOUT THE BIBLE AND SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS

In March 2012, Matthew V posted a vio on YouTube suggtg that "beg gay is not a s, " and that the Bible "do not nmn, lovg, mted same-sex relatnships. So V sought to arm himself wh biblil scholarship on the affirmatn of same-sex relatnships and strove to nvce his fay and church that they were wrong—that homosexualy is not a s. V's new book, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships, expounds further on the arguments ma his vio.

His aim is not to prent new rmatn, but to synthize gay-affirmg arguments and make them accsible for a broar and younger dience. " V stat that universal nmnatn of same-sex relatnships has been damagg and stctive for those who intify as gay Christians, producg bad u (prsn and suici, for stance).

Unlike others who advote rpectful dialogue on this divisive issue, V charg that those who do not affirm same-sex relatnships are sng by distortg the image of God and are sentially rponsible for the suicis of many gay Christians. One of the ma weakns of God and the Gay Christian is that V's methodology of biblil terpretatn clash wh the high view of the Bible he claims to hold.

GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN

Michael Carn, a ge gay Catholic who dabbl astrology, has wrten on the "homo-erotics of atonement" and ntributed to the Queer Bible Commentary, which draws upon "femist, queer, nstctnist, utopian theori, the social scienc and historil-cril disurs. " Dale Mart, an openly gay man, believ neher that J' rurrectn is a historil fact, nor that the historil J believed he was dive.

V exhorts gay-affirmg Christians to help her a morn reformatn by "speakg the tth, " which for him starts wh personal life stori.

A RPONSE TO ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN: THE BIBLIL CASE SUPPORT OF SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS’

I pletely agree wh V that many gays, lbians, and other same-sex attracted people have stggled to rencile their fah and sexualy whout much help om the church. Other church only talk about the immoraly of , while neglectg to discs how the transformative msage of the gospel is also for gays and lbians. V lims the power of God by actually believg that there is no possibily for gays and lbians to marry someone of the oppose sex.

Christopher Yuan () is -thor, wh his mother, of Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God, A Broken Mother's Search for Hope (WaterBrook Prs). In God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships he is open about his own experience of g to terms wh homosexual feelgs, and of how he found sharg this wh his nservative Christian fay.

Axmatic to V’s argument is that the tradnal evangelil posn on homosexualy has produced such “bad u” that mt be serly qutned. He reunts heart-wrenchg acunts of young gay Christians driven to spair by the posn of church and Christians they have enuntered, some s wh tragic nsequenc.

GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN : THE BIBLIL SE SUPPORT OF SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS

This nvictn then propels him to qutng the church’s sistence on “mandatory celibacy” for same-sex attracted Christians, a wi-rangg reasssment of what the Bible actually says about homosexualy, marriage, and humanns. Are we really to suppose that only good u has e om affirmg same-sex relatnships or enuragg Christians to self-intify as gay om a young age?

What of those of who experience same-sex attractn and yet are mted to the tradnal unrstandg that the Bible prohibs homosexual behavur? What mak God and the Gay Christian such sad readg is s failure to see the goodns of God what Christians have always believed about homosexualy. But wh the publitn of the ntroversial tle God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships by Convergent Books, one of Multnomah’s sister imprts, Christians mt wake up to the fact that the sexual revolutn is not ad.

“If I were mappg a playbook for the gay rights movement, this book is an important pot the strategy, ” wr Andrew Walker, director of Policy Studi for the SBC’s Ethics & Relig Liberty Commissn, his review of God and the Gay Christian. “It has to be wrten orr to troduce nfn wh the evangelil firmament, one of the last remag nstuenci Ameri that has not embraced homosexualy wh gto. There is no qutn about : Matthew V’ book, God and the Gay Christian, and the movement reprents, is threateng to dismantle the church’s tradnal unrstandg of Enic sexualy, the only type of sexualy that is sanctned by God.

10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS

When V, a self-profsg nservative evangelil, admted to his fay and his church that he was gay, he was not ntent wh the passn they showed him. In God and the Gay Christian, V v his rears on the same journey that led nservative Christians his hometown of Wicha, Kansas, to support monogamo relatnships between same-sex upl.

ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?

But now, for the first time, a profsg nservative evangelil wh a high view of Scripture is fendg gay marriage, popularizg liberal biblil scholarship an effort to normalize gay relatnships the church. In God and the Gay Christian, V analyz six biblil passag that are typilly ed by Christians to prove that same-sex relatnships are sful.

By claimg that the Bible stands the way of affirmg gays, V has signaled his goal, which is to terpret Scripture a new way, one that affirms his sir and his preferred way of life, spe of God’s sign for human sexualy. Bee their liftyle is not supported by nservative church, V says that gay Christians are equently tormented by prsn, suicidal thoughts, misery, and self-loathg.

A RPONSE TO ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’

In V’ opn, such bad u is directly ed by the bad tree of tradnal church teachg on sex, which has led to “ranro” and “mean-spired” treatment of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muny. Bee J and Pl had no awarens of an unchangg sexual orientatn that uld be exprsed a monogamo gay relatnship, V says we nnot turn to eher of them for answers. Andrew Walker wr: “If homosexualy — whether orientatn or practice — is nsired a disorred passn, then mment and monogamy are irrelevant.

If V is rrect, then genr differenc are cintal to the marriage relatnship, and sexually-exclive relatnships between both heterosexual and homosexual upl are nsistent wh God’s sign for marriage. If Adam and Eve’s marriage was based solely on pannship and not on plementary, then V is able to make a nvcg se for gay marriage.

Christians and homosexualy is a hotly bated topic today’s evangelil world, and Southern Semary ntu that nversatn this publitn.

REVIEW OF GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN

Matthew V’s new book, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships, argu that homosexual orientatn and mted same-sex relatnships are nsistent wh a “high view” of the Bible and evangelil Christiany. Haton Jr., profsor of biblil theology, addrs the Old Ttament claims; Denny Burk, profsor of biblil studi, addrs New Ttament claims; Owen Strachan, assistant profsor of Christian theology looks at the church history assertns; and Heath Lambert, assistant profsor of biblil unselg, answers whether there is such a thg as a “gay Christian. 213 pag; 22 cmReterpretatns of key Bible texts related to sexual orientatn, wrten by a Harvard stunt, prent an accsible se for a morn Christian nservative acceptance of sexual diversy"First tra paperback edn" issued 2015Inclus biblgraphil referenc (pag 181-213)The Chg Library/Women & Genr Studi py was acquired as part of The Don Kelly Rearch Collectn of Gay Lerature and Culture.

Some morn Bible translatns say that “homosexuals” will not her the kgdom of God, but neher the ncept nor the word for people wh exclive same-sex attractn existed before the late 19th century. Requirg that all gay people rema celibate is at odds wh the Bible’s teachgs on celibacy, which are ground Scripture’s re affirmatn that God’s physil creatn is good. Mastream nomatns like Prbyterians and Epispalians now orda openly gay clergy, and there are seeds of change evangelil church as well.

Matthew V is the thor of God and the Gay Christian and is the founr of The Reformatn Project, a Bible-based non-prof anizatn that seeks to reform church teachg on sexual orientatn and genr inty.

IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?

A growg number of "Gay Christians" regnize that homosexual practice is sful but claim that they are homosexual by inty and orientatn. In sence, they believe that they have been left by God to live wh a homosexual orientatn but are expected not to act on such attractns. There are some who e a "gay" inty as an exce for embracg and actg on homosexual fantasi via pornography and/or masturbatn, or for engagg non-sexual but enmhed same-sex relatnships (Matthew 5:27-28).

GOD & THE GAY CHRISTIAN

Their ntentn that God ma them homosexual or that He has cid not to progrsively rce or change their attractns allows them to jtify ltg after people their heart, or at bt, harborg unhealthy iendships that fuel and perpetuate emotnally arrted impuls and behavrs. And so the "Gay Christian" mak exc for not "prsg toward the mark of the high llg Christ" (Philippians 3:12-16), which is Pl's exhortatn for fah-duced, enthiastic engagement the sanctifitn procs. Our documentary () featur the stori of twenty-six people who once intified wh and practiced homosexualy, but who now intify wh and follow J.

An important part of their healg was that fah step believg themselv to be broken heterosexuals rather than settlg for the false inty of homosexual.

The most important statement our film was ma by a man who promised God that he was gog to follow Him by forsakg homosexualy whether or not God healed him of his same-sex attractns. Feelg the tensn between his unrstandg of the Bible and the realy of his same-sex orientatn, V voted years of tensive rearch to what the Bible says about homosexualy. Unique s affirmatn of both an orthodox fah and sexual diversy, God and the Gay Christian has sparked heated bate, scere soul searchg, and wispread cultural change on the issue of what means to be a fahful gay Christian.

REVIEW: GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN

This book mak signifint ntributns, not only to ongog scholarly nversatns but also to the average person who wants to probe more eply how to thk about God and the gay Christian. A reful scty of the six biblil passag that somehow addrs same-sex behavr leads V to make a pellg argument agast mandatory celibacy for gay Christians.

Matthew V’s well-read and well-argued book serv to be read by all those who have suffered silence, but also by members and misters of Christian muni stgglg wh the regnn and appreciatn of their gay members. Coupled wh his poignant scriptns of the damage done by tradnal exclnary terpretatns, his book is an sential rource for all who seek to fd their beargs the current bate over the Bible’s teachgs for gay people.