Rob Bell on Gay Marriage Support: God Pullg Us Ahead to Affirm Gay Brothers, Sisters

Contents:

• FIVE EVANGELIL PASTORS WHO BACK GAY MARRIAGE
• 3 OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMATNS THAT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE
• MEET THE EVANGELILS WHO CHEERED THE SCOTUS GAY MARRIAGE RULG
• WHERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, OTHER RELIGNS STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE
• 10 QUTNS FOR CHRISTIANS WHO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• MEGACHURCH PASTOR ADAM HATON SAYS CHRISTIANS CAN SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE AND NOT BE HERETIL
• SAME BIBLE, DIFFERENT VERDICT ON GAY MARRIAGE
• MEGACHURCH PASTOR CLAIMS CHRISTIANS CAN SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE WHOUT BETRAYG GOD
• ROB BELL ON GAY MARRIAGE SUPPORT: GOD PULLG US AHEAD TO AFFIRM GAY BROTHERS, SISTERS
• EVANGELILS ARE CHANGG THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE

FIVE EVANGELIL PASTORS WHO BACK GAY MARRIAGE

If you said someone was evangelil you knew pretty much what you were gettg – errancy of the Bible, importance of preachg, a foc on evangelism, warngs of hell and most of all – opposn to gay marriage. While still far om the mastream and the overwhelmg majory of self-scribed evangelils are still opposed to gay marriage, there are a growg list of pastors who scribe themselv as evangelil and yet support same sex upl. 'It has taken untls hours of prayer, study, nversatn and emotnal turmoil to brg me to the place where I am fally ready to ll for the full acceptance of Christian gay upl to the Church, ' he wrote.

In a bate at San Francis's Grace Cathedral 2013, the thor and pastor Rob Bell, already discreded by many evangelils for his book Love Ws, gave a blanket endorsement of gay marriage. An outspoken cric of the Relig Right and print of the Sojourners magaze, Jim Wallis reversed his stance on gay marriage an terview wh the Huffgton Post  2013.

Several of Jen Hatmaker's books have been produced by LifeWay's B&H Publishg, who announced they would no longer work wh her after she changed her stance on gay marriageFacebook / Jen Hatmaker. One of the relatively few proment female voic on the evangelil scene, Hatmaker received a fierce backlash when she said she thought God saw monogamo gay relatnships as holy.

3 OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMATNS THAT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE

In an terview wh Relign News Service she said: 'From a spirual perspective, sce gay marriage is legal all 50 stat, our muni have plenty of gay upl who, jt like the rt of , need marriage support and parentg help and Christian muny. Asked if she would attend a gay iend's weddg she said was an easy answer: 'I would attend that weddg wh gladns, and I would drk champagne. The Southern Baptist church pastor om Los Angel, California, announced 2014 he is 'gay affirmg' and had accepted his son's homosexualy.

'In Augt of 2013, on a sunny day at the beach, I realized I no longer believed the tradnal [church] teachgs regardg homosexualy, ' Cortez said a letter published on Patheos blog. 'And was pecially the ttimony of my gay iends that helped me to see how they have been margalised that my ey beme open to the jtice that the church has wrought. 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.

MEET THE EVANGELILS WHO CHEERED THE SCOTUS GAY MARRIAGE RULG

The former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church publicly stated his views on gay marriage while speakg at San Francis’s Grace Cathedral 2013. In a post on his webse tled “My Comg Out Letter, ” Christian rock mician Trey Pearson told fans that he intified as a gay man, spe beg married wh children.

As she has chronicled on her blog and The Washgton Post, she first spent a long time advotg celibacy for Christians who were gay or lbian.

In one of her old posts, “An Evangelil’s Rponse to Homosexualy, ” she ref to chose a si of the issue but do adm to wonrg if the evangelil church “has wrong. 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.

WHERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, OTHER RELIGNS STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE

In sayg so, he jos a proment group of Christians whose views on same-sex marriage and LGBT issu have popular Christian wrers, pastors or micians, no particular orr, have publicly broken om the tradnal hard-le posn agast same-sex HatmakerEvangelil lear, thor and HGTV star Jen Hatmaker publicly changed her views on gay marriage 2016.

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. Matthew VAfter 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 BellThe former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church publicly stated his views on gay marriage while speakg at San Francis's Grace Cathedral 2013.

10 QUTNS FOR CHRISTIANS WHO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

He scribed "a very narrow, polilly tertwed, culturally ghettoized, evangelil subculture" that he se dyg PearsonIn a post on his webse tled "My Comg Out Letter, " Christian rock mician Trey Pearson told fans that he intified as a gay man, spe beg married wh children. Sce g out, he has wrten about life as a gay Christian and created a mic vio pictg his RodgersAlthough she has intified as gay sce high school, Julie Rodgers has officially supported gay marriage for only a few years.

As she has chronicled on her blog and  The Washgton Post, she first spent a long time advotg celibacy for Christians who were gay or lbian. In one of her old posts, "An Evangelil's Rponse to Homosexualy, " she ref to choose a si of the issue but do adm to wonrg if the evangelil church "has wrong.

It has weled gay people sce 1976, when s General Conventn cid that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim wh all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral ncern and re of the Church. "Those profsed Evangelils who are willg to jettison the Bible's teachg regardg homosexualy n no longer claim to be persons of the Gospel -- Evangelils, " Schwarzwalr wrote.

MEGACHURCH PASTOR ADAM HATON SAYS CHRISTIANS CAN SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE AND NOT BE HERETIL

The Supreme Court lg earlier this year legalizg same-sex marriage natnwi has ntued to raise qutns about how the cisn will affect relig groups – pecially those that rema opposed to allowg gay and lbian upl to wed. ) (not to be nfed wh the Prbyterian Church Ameri, which oppos same-sex marriage) and the Epispal Church have wrtled wh the issue for years, often as part of a larger bate on the role of gays and lbians the church. Schaefer’s se has spl the church, wh some clergy floutg the l and marryg same-sex upl and other, more nservative members threateng to leave if the church do not hold to s current l prohibg gay marriage.

Overall, a solid majory of whe male Prottants (62%) now favor allowg gays and lbians to wed, wh jt 33% opposed, acrdg to a 2015 Pew Rearch Center survey. What arguments would you e to expla to Christians Ai, Asia, and South Ameri that their unrstandg of homosexualy is biblilly rrect and your new unrstandg of homosexualy is not culturally ndned?

Should your brothers and sisters Christ who disagree wh homosexual practice be allowed to exercise their relig beliefs whout fear of punishment, retributn, or ercn?

SAME BIBLE, DIFFERENT VERDICT ON GAY MARRIAGE

In 2014, Oak Lawn affiliated wh Rencilg Mistri Network, a pro-LGBT advocy group seekg to change the UMC's stance on homosexualy and gay marriage. | (Photo: Reverend Ben Anrson David Hensley)Uned Methodist megachurch pastor Adam Haton stated at a Texas gatherg that Christians n support gay marriage and not be at odds wh recent years, the UMC has had tense bate over the nomatn's official stance agast homosexualy and same-sex marriage. Endorsed by a majory of the UMC Council of Bishops, the One Church Plan volv lls for changg the Book of Disciple to remove language labelg homosexualy "patible wh Christian teachg, " allowg church the Uned Stat to perm same-sex weddgs and gay ordatn while lettg clergy and some overseas nferenc reta opposn.

Peterson, a retired Prbyterian mister and award-wng thor, recently exprsed his support of same-sex marriage, proclaimg the bate ncerng gays and lbians the Christian church “might be over. ”"I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lbian, and they seem to have as good a spirual life as I do, ” Peterson said an terview wh Relign News Service.

“He says that he’s known some nice gay people, therefore he now disrds the moral nsens of the entire 2, 000-year history of the Christian church, ” wrote Denny Burk, profsor of Biblil Studi at Boyce College, on his personal blog.

MEGACHURCH PASTOR CLAIMS CHRISTIANS CAN SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE WHOUT BETRAYG GOD

-Christians Debate, ” who is also gay, dismissed cricism agast Peterson as failg to regnize an terpretatn of the Bible wh LGBTQ people md. While liberal Christians argue the Bible should be terpreted as society chang, nservativ argue for a more leral readg, leadg to differenc belief about God and homosexualy.

Homosexualy: In Biblil Terms It's te, says Carmen Fowler LaBerge: You n be a Christian and support same-sex marriage, but, she says, "nobody n say gay marriage is biblil.

Still, LaBerge says, om Levic to Pl's wrgs Romans and First Corthians, homosexual acts are lled vile and ttable, and legalizg same-sex relatnships do not change the s.

ROB BELL ON GAY MARRIAGE SUPPORT: GOD PULLG US AHEAD TO AFFIRM GAY BROTHERS, SISTERS

Reactn In Black Church Homosexual behavr is a flt le spltg Christian nomatns two — Epispalians, Methodists, Prbyterians, Catholics — there's even a wi gulf between young and old Evangelils. The latt rearch on relign and LGBTQ rights shows that, the aftermath of same-sex marriage legalizatn, many people of fah have grown more terted fdg a way to protect both gay upl and relig muni. Addnally, surveys taken over a longer time perd show that people of fah are more likely today than the past to believe their church thks homosexual activy is OK.

“There’s been tkerg around the edg” of nomatnal l, but no major shifts teachgs on homosexualy and same-sex marriage, he biggt velopments volved nmnatns of homosexual behavr, Djupe said. Rather than stemmg om formal policy shifts, people’s assumptn that their church has bee more acceptg of homosexual activy is likely related to fah lears’ growg hancy to discs the topic, Djupe said. “Bee (gay marriage) has bee such a hot-button topic and public opn about as changed so much, nflict-averse clergy are probably leavg some of their opns about unspoken, ” he said.

For example, ’s still unclear whether small bs owners who oppose gay marriage for relig reasons should be required to serve LGBTQ ctomers, spe the fact that the Supreme Court heard a se on the issue 2017.

EVANGELILS ARE CHANGG THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE

In 2016, 62% of whe male Prottants, 61% of whe Catholics, 52% of members of The Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats and 72% of Jews opposed allowg bs owners to refe service to gay upl.