When I started wrg my new book, God and the Gay Christian, I was well aware that Christians who oppose same-sex marriage the church have long ed the Bible to fend their pot of view. As a gay Christian om an evangelil church Kansas, that stat quo has had a damagg impact on my life, which is one reason I'm settg out to change the flty perspective. Here are 10 reasons why God accepts gay Christians.
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
Sam Allberry reviews Matthew V’s ‘God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships’ (Convergent, 2014). * god and the gay christian *
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.
GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
In God and the Gay Christian, Matthew V, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate, Scripture as the basis for his assertn that "same-sex orientatn is nsistent wh God's image." The missn of the Reformatn Project, which V lnched 2013, is to change the church's stance on gay marriage. The release… * god and the gay christian *
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. 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.
A RPONSE TO ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN: THE BIBLIL CASE SUPPORT OF SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS’
* god and the gay christian *
V exhorts gay-affirmg Christians to help her a morn reformatn by "speakg the tth, " which for him starts wh personal life stori.
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.
GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN : THE BIBLIL SE SUPPORT OF SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS
Matthew V’ book God and the Gay Christian, and the movement reprents, is a direct nontatn to the church’s tradnal unrstandg of marriage. If the book falls to the hands of unrmed Christians, who are liable to succumb to cultural prsur and adopt the sexual standards of a secular… * god and the gay christian *
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.
10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS
Is possible to be a gay Christian? Can a te Christian to be a practicg and unrepentant homosexual? * god and the gay christian *
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.
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.
ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?
As a young Christian man, Matthew V harbored the same basic hop of most young people: to some-day share his life wh someone, to build a fay of his own, to give and receive love. But when he realized he was gay, those hop were lled to qutn. The Bible, he’d been tght, nmned gay relatnships. 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. Wh re and precisn, V asked qutns such as: • Do biblil teachgs on the marriage venant preclu same-sex marriage or not?• How should we apply the teachgs of J to the gay bate?• Can celibacy be a llg when is mandated, not chosen?• What did Pl have md when he warned agast same-sex relatns? 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. God & the Gay Christian (9781601425188) by Matthew V * 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. 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.
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.
A RPONSE TO ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’
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.
REVIEW OF GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
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. 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.
IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
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.
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.
GOD & THE GAY CHRISTIAN
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.
REVIEW: GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
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.