Wag Until Marriage: Gay Christians Navigate Fah and Sexualy

Contents:

• AT THE SIGNG OF THE MARRIAGE ACT, THE TWO GAY CHRISTIAN MEN TOOK THE NEXT STEP
• HOW TO BE AN OPENLY GAY CHRISTIAN
• THE 5 DEFIVE PATHS FOR GAY CHRISTIAN MEN
• ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?
• IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
• CAN SOMEONE BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN? IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
• GAYODA
• 10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS
• WAG UNTIL MARRIAGE: GAY CHRISTIANS NAVIGATE FAH AND SEXUALY
• THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
• CAN YOU BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN?

AT THE SIGNG OF THE MARRIAGE ACT, THE TWO GAY CHRISTIAN MEN TOOK THE NEXT STEP

After fdg each other on the OK Cupid datg se and settlg down Wt Virgia, they still felt anx about the future of LGBTQ protectns, pecially after the Supreme Court stck down abortn rights this summer, wh Jtice Clarence Thomas, particular, htg gay marriage was on qutnable legal footg. While grateful for the experience of beg gay, Hartley se his gay inty as somethg that go beyond jt sex — “I never say that I’m grateful for same-sex sexual sire, ” he said — also clus athetics, culture and worldview.

As Si B disurse was fdg s way to onle foms, the flagship Christian ex-gay anizatn Exod Internatnal closed s doors 2013 after s of g nversn therapy on LGBTQ dividuals. On the flip si, some progrsive crics, who are fewer number, said Hill and Hartley, see Si B as another eratn of the ex-gay movement or a form of rpectabily polics where LGBTQ dividuals reprs their sexualy to w approval om the broar church. “The ia that Si B is jt the ex-gay movement wh a different veneer ignor or mimiz the fact that Si B people are fleeg ex-gay movements and ex-gay church, ” said Hartley.

Th agreed and add that the motivatns behd Si B and the ex-gay movement are entirely different; one is tryg to make gay people straight, and the other is tryg to expand how the church views love and kship. “Si B me out of dissatisfactn wh the simple and easy answers of the ex-gay movement, ” said Hartley, “and so, embracg plexy or allowg plexy is ntrast to that sistence on uniformy. If they brg up I Corthians 6:9 or I Timothy 1:10, tell them the translatn of the Greek words "malakos" and "arsenoko" as "gay" is ntroversial, as that meang was rare when the words were most mon.

HOW TO BE AN OPENLY GAY CHRISTIAN

“Challeng” that the hband mt ci if he wants to reprs all homoromantic and homoerotic feelgs or stead engage such feelgs (at some level) may ga by readg my earlier article entled “Gay Hband + Straight Wife = Mixed Bag. ”Thrivg is viewed as peace wh three factors: one’s homosexual or bisexual orientatn, fdg suable ways of nurturg one’s sire for homoromantic and homoerotic relatnships; and enhancg and stag one’s MOM hband’s tribe may error hghts by prumg that sce they experience a sexual attractn to at least one woman, then any gay/SSA man wh a homosexual orientatn may also acquire a sexual attractn to at least one woman. ” Tragilly, gay men believed they uld extguish all of their homoromantic and homoerotic feelgs — if they only had enough fah, willpower, spirual liverance, or followed the sexual nversn unselg method.

THE 5 DEFIVE PATHS FOR GAY CHRISTIAN MEN

Such a claratn st me my unselg may fd fascatg to read my articl: “Pray Away: How I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement;” “I’m a Gay Christian Who Tried Conversn Therapy;” and “Fired for NOT Providg Conversn Therapy”) dividuals monly held a sexual inty as “ex-gay” or “straight. ” And their fn is to reprs and prevent same-sex attractns as they arise, avoid all homoromantic and homoerotic relatnships, and nfs all X dividuals hold a sexual inty of “I stggle wh same-sex attractn.

ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?

”Thrivg for the Si X dividual is viewed as preventg onelf om engagg all homoromantic and homoerotic Si X tribe may error hghts whenever they prume they are more “holy” than the other trib. Si AAround the turn of the century, p gay men (who were reag om engagg anal terurse), pastors, theologians, and sexual ethics specialists ncurred that God endors gay marriag. G., which church the gay man attends), tentnaly datg men, and permtg onelf to have a gay Si A tribe may fall prone to hghts whenever they prume that every gay man needs to embrace the “progrsive tth” that God endors gay marriag.

Beg gay/SSA is hard enough whout havg to “fight” wh one’s lol church or fay might fd beneficial to read the followg articl: “I Kept Changg My Sexual Inty” and “The Straight Relatnship. 1 He garnered natnal attentn aga 2013 when he started his mistry The Reformatn Project and hosted a nference to teach people how to “reform” the church on the issue of homosexualy.

However, I want to turn to exame two of the key assertns on which V reli God and the Gay Christian: the ia that “sexual orientatn” nnot be changed, and the relevance of celibacy to his pot. ” Ined, there are many profsg Christians who have adopted termology such as “gay Christian” as a scriptor for those Christians who stggle wh same-sex attractn (SSA).

IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?

Owen Strachan, assistant profsor of Christian theology and church history at SBTS, wr about the problem wh g the term “gay Christian” to scribe believers who al wh same-sex attractn. Some Christians argue that while inty Christ is of first importance for a believer to grasp, we should also enurage them to mata this other inty as a “gay Christian, ” as a way of classifyg their experience. Many people alg wh SSA will be tempted to say what Matthew V has—that beg homosexual is simply part of who they are—and to treat that as a sendary inty to or as a replacement for their inty as a new creatn Christ.

Moreover, such a msage also ntradicts the Apostle Pl’s msage 1 Corthians 6:11 when he said that Christians have been “washed, ” “sanctified, ” and “jtified” Christ—and Pl specifilly clus homosexualy the list of thgs the believers had left behd.

V’s other key assumptn God and the Gay Christian is that celibacy should only be practiced by those lled to , and the men and women alg wh SSA who are not lled to celibacy should be allowed to fulfill their sexual sir through marriage. Homosexual behavr is s, makg the celibacy discsn relevant only the sense that a profsg Christian has repented of s such as homosexual behavr and abstas om for the rt of his life, even if that means acceptg celibacy and tstg God for the grace to live up to that ll. The re msage of God and the Gay Christian is not to “challenge” or “dispute” the Bible self, or to qutn whether the text is spired and thorative our liv as followers of Christ.

CAN SOMEONE BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN? IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?

Matthew V is not placg his own dividual experience as a gay Christian over the tth of the bible [sic], and he is not even challengg the words of scripture [sic] bee of his personal experience. Christians who stand firmly on the thory of Scripture when to homosexual behavr may want to lash out at people who impugn the Word of God, such as Matthew V, or at church that embrace such a mixture of worldly philosophy wh biblil doctre. Takg on the tle of “gay Christian” and dismissg abstence om sful sexual behavr will not solve his problem, spe the elaborate arguments prented God and the Gay Christian.

GAYODA

He fend tradnal marriage a 2008 Christiany Today article, sayg he wasn’t sure he’d perform a same-sex blsg, although he did exprs support for gay and lbian civil rights. After takg a leave of absence om Harvard Universy to study the Bible and homosexualy, Matthew V gave a speech at his church about acceptg gay Christians that has amassed over 1 ln views on YouTube sce 2012. He also started The Reformatn Project, a nonprof tryg to “reform church teachg on sexual orientatn and genr inty, ” and wrote the book “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships.

10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS

While he said recently that his church, Northland, A Church Distributed, will mata that the Bible prohibs gay relatnships, he now believ nservative church should wele and support those of all sexual orientatns.

WAG UNTIL MARRIAGE: GAY CHRISTIANS NAVIGATE FAH AND SEXUALY

When Colorado passed an amendment a few years ago prohibg special civil rights for homosexuals, Barbara Streisand lled for a boytt of the state, sayg, “The moral climate Colorado has bee unacceptable. If there is no God, then there is no right and wrong, and don’t make any difference what liftyle you choose—the persecutor of homosexuals is morally equivalent to the advote of homosexualy. Jt as an alholic who is dry will still stand up at an AA meetg and say, “I am an alholic, ” so a homosexual who is livg straight and keepg himself pure ought to be able to stand up a Christian prayer meetg and say, “I am a homosexual.

THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.

You might not expect to mentn a topic like homosexual behavr, but fact there are six plac the Bible—three the Old Ttament and three the New Ttament—where this issue is directly addrsed—not to mentn all the passag alg wh marriage and sexualy which have implitns for this issue. The third place where homosexual acts are mentned the Old Ttament is the horrifyg story  Genis 19 of the attempted gang rape of Lot’s visors by the men of Sodom, om which our word sodomy riv. Do not be ceived: neher the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexualy, nor thiev, nor the greedy, nor dnkards, nor revilers, nor swdlers will her the Kgdom of God.

But such an terpretatn is obvly wrong, sce Pl says vers 24 and 27 that the homosexual acts by men were mted “wh one another” and verse 26 he speaks of lbian homosexual acts as well. ” God’s plan for human sexual activy is that is rerved for heterosexual marriage: any sexual activy outsi of the secury of the marriage bond—whether pre-maral sex or extra-maral sex, whether heterosexual or homosexual—is forbidn.

More importantly, we’ve seen that the Bible’s prohibns agast homosexual activy are rooted, not culture, but the God-given pattern for marriage tablished at creatn. Or sendly, you uld try to show that homosexual behavr is wrong by appealg to generally accepted moral tths (ground God) which even people who don’t believe the Bible accept.

CAN YOU BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN?

”[5] Hollywood, Gay Pri celebratns, and the media are relentlsly bent on puttg a happy face on homosexualy, whereas fact is a liftyle wh very real dangers and n be jt as addictive and stctive as alholism or smokg. The clu anxiety, prsn, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, alholism and dg pennce, One tailed study[8] showed homosexuals to be, general, twice as likely to be prsed, to suffer phobic disorrs, to be pennt on dgs, to be pennt on alhol, to have experienced self-harm and to have need psychiatric help than the general populatn, while their happs ratgs were halved.

Currently, figur for overall life-expectancy among homosexuals are hotly disputed, while preventive measur and treatments to improve their life-expectancy nsume huge amounts of money om Health Care budgets.

Th, wholly apart om the Bible’s prohibns, there are sound medil and social reasons to regard homosexual activy as beg wrong due to the damage may flict on onelf or others.