The followg blog is wrten by Greg Col. Greg is part of The Center's llaborative team and is the thor of the book Sgle, Gay, Christian. “Is God anti-gay?” Many people expect the answer to this qutn to be a simple bary, eher y or no. If you’re a nservative ( the totalizg sense of the word), the answer is absolutely y: God mt be anti-gay, bee
Contents:
10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS
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. * god and gay men *
The term “homosexual” didn’t exist until 1892. 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.
While the Bible rejects ltful same-sex behavr, that’s very different om a nmnatn of all gay people and relatnships. 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.
WHAT DO GOD THK ABOUT GAY PEOPLE?
The Bible vers aren't about nmng homosexuals, gays, lbians, or transgenr people. Rather, read God's lovg warng and grace for those who have strayed om His will for sex * god and gay men *
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. Pope Francis was recently asked about his views on homosexualy. Persons wh homosexual tennci are children of God.
Crimalisg people wh homosexual tennci is an jtice. This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has shown himself to be a progrsive lear when to, among other thgs, gay Catholics.
As a biblil scholar, I would suggt that church lears who e their cultur and theology to exclu homosexuals don’t read Scripture refully. Those who would exclu homosexuals om God’s kgdom choose to ignore J, turng stead to the Old Ttament – most particularly to Genis 19, the stctn of the ci of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their terpretatn of the story is that is about homosexualy.
20 GAY GREEK GODS
Levic 18:22 and 20:13, for example, are not about “homosexualy” as we now unrstand – as the rg, lovg and sexual relatnship between people of the same sex. Christians – no matter which church they belong to – should follow Pl and extend to the heterosexual-homosexual distctn.