The July 19 issue of The Adventist Review clus a lumn by Andy Nash, a journalism teacher and pastor at Southern Adventist Universy, about what he feels is missg om our new documentary film, Seventh-Gay Adventists: A film about fah on the margs.
Contents:
- SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS
- THE MISSG STORY "SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS"
- ANDREWS SEMARY APPROV DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUALYBY ADVENTIST REVIEW STAFFTHE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST THEOLOGIL SEMARY HAS APPROVED A DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUALY THAT HOP WILL “CLEARLY SET FORTH WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACH NCERNG HOMOSEXUAL PRACTIC AND OFFER GUIL ON HOW TO TERACT WH PERSONS OF SAME-SEX ORIENTATN.”THE 21-PAGE DOCUMENT, TLED “AN UNRSTANDG OF THE BIBLIL VIEW ON HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE AND PASTORAL CARE,” WAS APPROVED A UNANIMO VOTE FRIDAY AFTER SIX MONTHS OF PREPARATN.THE DOCUMENT’S TRODUCTN SAYS SEMARY FACULTY MEMBERS CID TO DRAFT THE STATEMENT BEE THEY BELIEVED THEY HAD “A DUTY TO CLEARLY SET FORTH THE TEACHGS OF SCRIPTURE REGARDG THE MATTERS AND PROVI A BIBLIL PERSPECTIVE … RPONSE TO THE GROWG SOCIETAL PRSURE FOR THE CHURCH TO NORMALIZE HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR TERMS OF MEMBERSHIP, LEARSHIP, EMPLOYMENT, CURRICULUM STANDARDS, AND OTHER AREAS.”“THEREFORE, ALTHOUGH MUCH ULD BE SAID ON A RANGE OF ISSU RELATG TO SEXUALY, THIS STATEMENT IS LIMED TO THE ISSUE OF HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE,” SAYS. “IT DO NOT PURPORT TO ANSWER ALL QUTNS RELATED TO THIS CHALLENGG ISSUE BUT SEEKS TO LAY OUT A BIBLILLY BASED POSN WHILE MONSTRATG A RPECTFUL AND RG ATTU TOWARD GAY AND LBIAN PERSONS ORR TO HELP GUI THE CHURCH'S RPONSE TO THIS LITE TOPIC.”JIRI MOSKALA, AN OF THE SEMARY ON THE MP OF ANDREWS UNIVERSY, THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH’S FLAGSHIP UNIVERSY, SAID HE WAS PLEASED WH THE DOCUMENT.“IT’S A VERY WELL-DOCUMENTED, BALANCED STUDY THAT IS GOD-CENTERED, BIBLE-FOUND AND GRACE-ORIENTED,” HE SAID AN E-MAILED STATEMENT.THE DOCUMENT UNRWENT WISPREAD STUDY BY THE SEMARY DEAN’S COUNCIL AND SEMARY FACULTY, WHICH CLUD DISCSN AND PUT OM SEMARY TOWN HALL MEETGS, ANDREWS UNIVERSY ADMISTRATN, THE LAKE UNN CONFERENCE, THE NORTH AMERIN DIVISN, AND THE GENERAL CONFERENCE’S BIBLIL REARCH INSTUTE, THE STATEMENT SAID.“WE NSULTED EACH OF THE GROUPS FOR THEIR IMPORTANT PUT, AND THEIR VOIC WERE TAKEN VERY SERLY PREPARATN OF THE FAL VERSN OF THIS SEMARY POSN PAPER,” MOSKALA SAID. “UNLIKE MOST DOCUMENTS OF THIS NATURE, THIS UNIQUE STATEMENT B BOTH BIBLIL STUDY AND PASTORAL APPROACH.”READ THE ADVENTIST CHURCH’S 2014 STATEMENT ON HOMOSEXUALY HEREADVERTISEMENT VAR DISQ_TLE="ANDREWS SEMARY APPROV DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUALY";VAR DISQ_URL=";VAR DISQ_INTIFIER="ADVENTISTREVIEW-4981"ADVERTISEMENTRELATED STORIES
- A GAY MAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE ADVENTIST CHURCH
SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS
Fah, inty, and sexualy lli this raw and movg documentary about the challeng and spirual journeys of three Seventh-day Adventists who love God and their church and are also gay. Cght the llisn of two worlds, three gay and lbian Seventh-day Adventists wrtle wh how to rencile their fah, inty, and sexualy. One young man spent five years "ex-gay" therapy tryg to bee straight, but now he's fallg love wh another man and wonrg if that n be okay.
Irecently viewed a new feature-length documentary, “Seventh-Gay Adventists, ” which explor “the spirual quts of three subjects who wrtle wh the difficult issue of rencilg their relig and sexual inti.
The msage is clear: gay upl are pretty much like anyone else, and they should be weled and loved by our church, not left out the film’s most inic scene is the weddg of the two young men, wh their lovg but nflicted fay members lookg on. At the screeng I attend, the room was filled wh emotnal people who clearly ronated wh the three stori beg told on I found myself wishg for a fourth story: the one which a gay Adventist lov someone of the same sex, but who lov Scripture even more. In 2009 Wayne Blakely—a gay Adventist who after 37 years a gay liftyle remted his life to Christ and chose celibacy—asked the producers if his story uld be clud the film.
THE MISSG STORY "SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS"
”When I asked the filmmakers why a celibate gay Adventist wasn’t clud, Akers said that they ultimately cid that the film’s foc should be on gay Adventists whose liftyl were nflict wh the church’s posn, bee nflict is what mak a there isn’t enough nflict a celibate gay Adventist whose flh and spir daily wage war? A betiful new memoir, Out of a Far Country, by a gay man, Christopher Yuan, and his mother, Angela, also shouts pury om the shelv of male bookstor. The July 19 issue of The Adventist Review clus a lumn by Andy Nash, a journalism teacher and pastor at Southern Adventist Universy, about what he feels is missg om our new documentary film, Seventh-Gay Adventists: A film about fah on the margs.
ANDREWS SEMARY APPROV DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUALYBY ADVENTIST REVIEW STAFFTHE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST THEOLOGIL SEMARY HAS APPROVED A DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUALY THAT HOP WILL “CLEARLY SET FORTH WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACH NCERNG HOMOSEXUAL PRACTIC AND OFFER GUIL ON HOW TO TERACT WH PERSONS OF SAME-SEX ORIENTATN.”THE 21-PAGE DOCUMENT, TLED “AN UNRSTANDG OF THE BIBLIL VIEW ON HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE AND PASTORAL CARE,” WAS APPROVED A UNANIMO VOTE FRIDAY AFTER SIX MONTHS OF PREPARATN.THE DOCUMENT’S TRODUCTN SAYS SEMARY FACULTY MEMBERS CID TO DRAFT THE STATEMENT BEE THEY BELIEVED THEY HAD “A DUTY TO CLEARLY SET FORTH THE TEACHGS OF SCRIPTURE REGARDG THE MATTERS AND PROVI A BIBLIL PERSPECTIVE … RPONSE TO THE GROWG SOCIETAL PRSURE FOR THE CHURCH TO NORMALIZE HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR TERMS OF MEMBERSHIP, LEARSHIP, EMPLOYMENT, CURRICULUM STANDARDS, AND OTHER AREAS.”“THEREFORE, ALTHOUGH MUCH ULD BE SAID ON A RANGE OF ISSU RELATG TO SEXUALY, THIS STATEMENT IS LIMED TO THE ISSUE OF HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE,” SAYS. “IT DO NOT PURPORT TO ANSWER ALL QUTNS RELATED TO THIS CHALLENGG ISSUE BUT SEEKS TO LAY OUT A BIBLILLY BASED POSN WHILE MONSTRATG A RPECTFUL AND RG ATTU TOWARD GAY AND LBIAN PERSONS ORR TO HELP GUI THE CHURCH'S RPONSE TO THIS LITE TOPIC.”JIRI MOSKALA, AN OF THE SEMARY ON THE MP OF ANDREWS UNIVERSY, THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH’S FLAGSHIP UNIVERSY, SAID HE WAS PLEASED WH THE DOCUMENT.“IT’S A VERY WELL-DOCUMENTED, BALANCED STUDY THAT IS GOD-CENTERED, BIBLE-FOUND AND GRACE-ORIENTED,” HE SAID AN E-MAILED STATEMENT.THE DOCUMENT UNRWENT WISPREAD STUDY BY THE SEMARY DEAN’S COUNCIL AND SEMARY FACULTY, WHICH CLUD DISCSN AND PUT OM SEMARY TOWN HALL MEETGS, ANDREWS UNIVERSY ADMISTRATN, THE LAKE UNN CONFERENCE, THE NORTH AMERIN DIVISN, AND THE GENERAL CONFERENCE’S BIBLIL REARCH INSTUTE, THE STATEMENT SAID.“WE NSULTED EACH OF THE GROUPS FOR THEIR IMPORTANT PUT, AND THEIR VOIC WERE TAKEN VERY SERLY PREPARATN OF THE FAL VERSN OF THIS SEMARY POSN PAPER,” MOSKALA SAID. “UNLIKE MOST DOCUMENTS OF THIS NATURE, THIS UNIQUE STATEMENT B BOTH BIBLIL STUDY AND PASTORAL APPROACH.”READ THE ADVENTIST CHURCH’S 2014 STATEMENT ON HOMOSEXUALY HEREADVERTISEMENT VAR DISQ_TLE="ANDREWS SEMARY APPROV DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUALY";VAR DISQ_URL=";VAR DISQ_INTIFIER="ADVENTISTREVIEW-4981"ADVERTISEMENTRELATED STORIES
He says 's well done and that we are "skilled storytellers", that the tone of the film is gentle, that the people featured the film are jt people who happen to be gay, that their stori are ronatg eply wh dienc, and that many Adventists are startg to wonr how a God of love uld ask people not to have the blsg of a lovg relatnship their liv.
On the other hand, if this is the very bt that the Adventist Church n officially say about s LGBT members, 's no wonr many of them never darken church doorways, and 's no wonr that every sgle gay Adventist who has ever e to one of our story booths has admted to serly ntemplatg or attemptg suici. When LGBT youth are four tim more likely to m suici than other youth their own age, and when that number doubl to eight tim more likely to m suici if they e om a rejectg fay (as opposed to jt a rejectg society or church), we mt hold our church lears and lumnists to a higher standard of re when to choosg how they scribe gay dividuals who are lovg relatnships.
We nnot ntue to sually pare gays and lbians mted relatnships, as Andy appears to do his fal paragraph, to murrs, slanrers, and those who embrace greed, thlsns and heartlsns. " I've yet to meet a gay Adventist, celibate or partnered, who uld easily f those neat labels of “lov self” and “lov scripture”.
A GAY MAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE ADVENTIST CHURCH
Tst me as a storyteller, there wouldn't be a film if gay Adventists didn't value scripture, their church, and their relatnship wh God above all else. " He spends a lot of real tate toutg the webse and platform of Wayne Blakely, whose story appeared the Review a uple years ago, and whose self-scribed "gay liftyle" prised 37 years of promiscuy, brokenns, and addictn that anyone would agree was need of remptn whether he was gay or straight. (About the "gay liftyle" term Christians often bandy about, there is no one gay liftyle jt as there is no one heterosexual liftyle.