Recently a iend asked me to read God and the Gay Christian by Matthew V. To add my thoughts to the discsn, here are ten thoughts about V' approach to the issue of homosexualy his popular book God and the Gay Christian.
Contents:
- ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?
- GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN – THE MATTHEW V BOOK
- GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN? A RPONSE TO MATTHEW V
- REVIEW OF MATTHEW V' GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
- 10 THOUGHTS ABOUT “GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN” BY MATTHEW V
ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?
Matthew V is a 22-year-old gay Christian who believ beg gay is not a s. He me to that ncln after two years of studyg Scripture and the works of dozens of biblil scholars. The Harvard Universy stunt, currently on leave of absence, is now tryg to w over fellow believers not jt wh an emotnal ttimony but wh what he is prentg as biblilly solid arguments. * gay vines to follow *
Edor's Note: This is the first part a three-part seri that will feature both sis of the bate on the Bible and homosexualy. Followg Matthew V' terview will be rpons om evangelil theologians, and fally, gut ntributns om Christians who have chosen not to engage homosexualy and those who don't believe a gay liftyle nflicts wh the Bible. Read Part 2: "Theologians Fd V' 'Homosexualy Is Not a S' This Not Persuasive.
GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN – THE MATTHEW V BOOK
Matthew Ve's 2014 book, God and the Gay Christian, was a follow-up to his famo youtube clip The Great Debate. Havg taken a great tert that vio, I was keen to see what's the book. The troductn and first chapter were ma available onle, as was an outle of the ntents. Ive read a few reviews of… * gay vines to follow *
| (Photo:)Matthew V is a 22-year-old gay Christian who believ beg gay is not a s. "There is no ntradictn between beg Christian and beg gay, " he told arguments – maly agast six Bible passag that are monly ed by Christians to nmn homosexualy – are gag populary as evinced by his YouTube views.
In six months, an over hour-long vio of V meticuloly challengg what he lls the tradnal terpretatn of Scripture has garnered nearly 400, 000 an terview wh The Christian Post, V ma clear that he believ that Christians who believe homosexualy is a s are wrong.
"Lovg, same-sex relatnships" are not addrsed the Bible, let alone nmned, he distguish between ltful, sual homosexual behavr and lovg, "natural" same-sex relatnships, argug that is only the former behavr that the Bible speaks Wicha, Kan., rint has already changed some Christians' stance on homosexualy, cludg that of his vout Christian father, whom he me out to jt a uple years has stated that he was raised a lovg, Christian home – never molted or abed – and a church muny that holds the tradnal view of homosexualy. He exprsed optimism that the acceptance of gay Christians will soon is a transcript of the What were the scholarly works or people you talked to that led you to velop your view on Scripture and homosexualy? V: I beme more terted unrstandg the issue when I me to meet gay people for the first time high school bee when the issue is jt an abstractn, then is much easier not to talk about very much.
GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN? A RPONSE TO MATTHEW V
But when you have gay people your life that you re about, mak you want to nsir thgs more once then I cid to really study the scriptural issu pth, what I did was, there are dozens of works of scholarship out there now on this subject om all perspectiv, and so I started buyg different books that seemed to be regularly referenced. There is a book lled Homoeroticism the Biblil World by Martti Nissen.
So havg many different nversatns wh fellow Christians about the issue, and also many different nversatns wh gay people about the issue, I feel that that was what was most fluential to me – this amalgamatn of experienc and studi rather than any other one work or In the vio, you give an explanatn about the scriptur that addrs homosexualy and how you believe they have been misunrstood by a lot of mastream church. A misunrstandg about sexual orientatn, bee very few people percentage-wise are gay, is very easy for people who are heterosexual to project their own experienc onto those of everyone else's; and then to end up margalizg and excludg gay people bee they don't really unrstand that they are not simply misbehavg by actg a different way and by pursug same-sex relatnships, but they are fundamentally different, have a different sexual orientatn. It jt looks different bee they are type of misnceptn n arise bee gay people are few number.
REVIEW OF MATTHEW V' GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN
And I do believe that homophobia is fundamentally of the world, and then therefore the church is tated by acceptg somethg that is worldly rather than godly. God and the Gay Christian is a book that seeks to teach rears that the Bible ndon livg a monogamo homosexual liftyle. 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.
2 And April of this year, V ma news once aga wh the release of his new book God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships. As we broke down his arguments ncerng the creatn orr, we realized that God and the Gay Christian was not the typil progrsive attack on the thory of Scripture.
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. Are There “Gay Christians”? And so, by analogy, V believ that his “orientatn” to homosexual behavr is jt part of who he is.
10 THOUGHTS ABOUT “GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN” BY MATTHEW V
His book’s tle hts at this belief, as refers to “the gay Christian.
” 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). 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. Even g “gay” or “lbian” as a sendary tegory of fg a Christian troduc nfn.