Can Christians be gay? by Bradley Knunen

Contents:

• CAN YOU BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN?
• CAN A PERSON BE GAY AND STILL BE A CHRISTIAN?
• SECTN 2: KNOWG GAYS AND LBIANS, RELIG CONFLICTS, BELIEFS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY
• I'M GAY, BUT I'M NOT SWCHG TO A CHURCH THAT SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE
• CAN SOMEONE BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
• BEG A GAY CHRISTIAN N BE HURTFUL AND GELLG. BUT I REFE TO LOSE FAH
• WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BEG BORN GAY?
• IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
• CAN SOMEONE BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN? IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?
• 10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS
• ARE GAY CHRISTIANS GENUE CHRISTIANS?

CAN YOU BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN?

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. 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.

A spate of books and vios and article and blogs would tell that, ed, that is not the gospel and that the good news of J is that you n follow Him and enjoy a mted, homosexual relatnship too. 4:12-13) we will humble ourselv before the Lord, keepg our foc on J and askg the Father to give His heart for those who intify as LGBT, lettg the unequivol ttimony of Scripture gui , we will fd, what do the Word of God say about homosexual practice? The ttimony of Scripture remas unchanged: The Bible forbids homosexual is clear that the vast majory of those who have changed their views on what the Bible says about homosexualy and now believe “gay Christiany” have done so based on eher their own same-sex sir and attractns or their teractn wh “gay Christians” (or wh any gay or lbian person who challeng their assumptns) other words, they have not changed their thkg based on study of the Scriptur alone sce no new textual, archaeologil, soclogil, anthropologil, or philologil disveri have been ma the last fifty years that would e to read any of the biblil texts another way, is not that we have gaed some new sights to what the biblil text means based on the study of the Hebrew and Greek texts.

CAN A PERSON BE GAY AND STILL BE A CHRISTIAN?

This is the guaranteed path to Word of God, which reprents His heart and will for His creatn, is absolutely clear on the subject, prohibg all forms of homosexual practice. This is so clear that a number of leadg gay and lbian theologians acknowledge that they n only jtify “gay Christiany” by rejectg the full thory of Scripture. First, they claim that the vers have been mistranslated, misterpreted, or mised, and so, realy, the Scriptur do not prohib monogamo, mted, homosexual relatnships.

SECTN 2: KNOWG GAYS AND LBIANS, RELIG CONFLICTS, BELIEFS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY

To the ntrary, was so important that every sgle recipe the book mak no mentn of is exactly the same when to the Bible and homosexualy.

There are a few, very strong, very clear, referenc to homosexual practice—every one of them cidly negative—and then not a sgle reference to homosexual practice throughout the rt of the Bible. Throughout the Word, the only relatnships that were acceptable God’s sight or nsired normal for society were heterosexual relatnships, and so homosexual practice was eher irrelevant (bee had nothg to do wh the God-ordaed relatnships of marriage and fay and society) or, if mentned, explicly give jt one example out of hundreds, when a gay uple reads the Word and they e to Pl’s words Ephians 5:22, 25, “Wiv, subm to your own hbands, as to the Lord.... A man pl a man or a woman pl a woman nnot possibly share the same unn as a man and a woman sce they do not share the sential of fundamental samens and rephrase the famo axm of John Gray, namely, that men are om Mars and women are om Ven, Mars + Mars or Ven + Ven nnot ever equal Mars + the words of a man who has lived as a homosexual all his life (he’s now past 70) but has recently found the Lord, “Even an atheist n unrstand the lack of anatomil plementary and therefore blogil purpose male-to-male or female-to-female sexualy.

I'M GAY, BUT I'M NOT SWCHG TO A CHURCH THAT SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE

”To everyone who profs to be a gay Christian, I ask you to get alone wh God and ask yourself, “Did God create and sign me to be wh the same-sex or the oppose sex? What the biblil thors rejected, we are told, was man-boy relatnships, or male prostutn, or homosexual the sful practic were certaly rejected, but biblil thors like Pl were certaly aware of long-term, male-male importantly, Hebrews 4:13 stat that “no creature is hidn om [God’s] sight, but all are naked and exposed to the ey of him to whom we mt give acunt. ”And are they willg to say that the Lord J, who lerally looked to the hearts and souls of human begs—John 2:25 says that He knew what was man—didn’t unrstand that certa people were “gay?

The gospel brgs good news to homosexual men and theologians tell that the tradnal gospel msage is a “bad tree, ” brgg forth the bad u of prsn, apostasy, and even suici among gay men and the ntrary, the msage of the gospel brgs fivens, eedom, hope, and liverance, as untls thoands of ex-gays n attt, by which I mean followers of J who no longer practice homosexualy. I was simply lookg to be actively volved and bee a member of the church… Bee I was gay, that was sufficient for [them] to turn around and say no. Recent rearch strongly suggts that LGBT people who ntue to intify as Christian experience heightened “homonegativy” – negative and shame-filled feelgs about their sexualy – pared to non-relig, or even formerly Christian, LGBT people.

(Photo: Shane Idleman)Many "Christians" are now suggtg that those who embrace the homosexual liftyle n live harmony wh biblil Christiany. When children stggle wh s, parents should pot them to the those who fend homosexualy, or who say nothg, tly lovg the homosexual, or are they simply seekg to avoid nflict?

CAN SOMEONE BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?

For stance, if they are more worried about beg liked than beg tthful, do they really re for homosexuals more than those who are willg to risk their reputatn, and que possibly their safety, orr to speak the tth love? Homosexuals who rema monogamo are also outsi of God's will bee the entire relatnship is wrong—the unn of two men or two women is not God's plan. At the heart of the claim that the Bible is clear "that homosexualy is forbidn by God" is poor biblil scholarship and a cultural bias read to the Bible.

Although s unlikely that the biblil thors had any notn of sexual orientatn (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even ed until the late 19th century) for many people of fah, the Bible is looked to for timels guidance on what means to honor God wh our liv; and this most certaly clus our sexualy. ” In askg, “What do the Bible say about homosexualy” (or more appropriately stated, “what do the Bible say about attractn to someone of the same sex, ”) our task is to explore what the relevant biblil passag on the topic meant their origal ntext and what they mean for today. The urt found 303’s ADF’s rightwg advocy extends further, however, as the anizatn has donated to more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortn found that the ADF donated $85, 000 to the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, a group which, acrdg to a Poli report, helped Florida Republins shape the state’s so-lled “don’t say gay” law, which prohibs discsn of sexual orientatn and genr inty group has also sued two school districts Florida over issu relatg to the rights of trans youth.

BEG A GAY CHRISTIAN N BE HURTFUL AND GELLG. BUT I REFE TO LOSE FAH

Most Church statements that al wh homosexualy only refer to male homosexualy, but the same prcipl n apply to are great divisns wh the Christian muny on this issue, wh the Roman Catholic Church and some sectns of the evangelil church holdg very siar ma arguments for and agast homosexualyArguments agast homosexualy:God ma male and female acrdg to the Book of Genis to plete each other and to procreate.

WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BEG BORN GAY?

Homosexual practice is forbidn the book of Levic, “If a man li wh a male as wh a woman, both of them have mted an abomatn; they shall surely be put to ath. In some of Sat Pl's letters clud the Bible, he nmns homosexualy as “unrighteo” and claims that men who practice homosexualy will not her the Kgdom of God.

IS POSSIBLE TO BE A GAY CHRISTIAN?

Arguments favour of homosexualy:Simply bee a sexual unn nnot rult children, is not right to forbid any actn that is a physil exprsn of genue love. This is generally terpreted to mean that Christians should show love and passn to homosexuals, but that homosexuals should not engage sexual activy. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1992, paras 2358-9The Quaker view on homosexualy is acceptg:Where there is a genue tenrns, an openns to rponsibily, and the seed of mment, God is surely not shut out.

Majori now say homosexualy should be accepted by society (63%) and that the sexual orientatn of a gay or lbian person nnot be changed (60%). Though the vast majory of Amerins say they know gays or lbians, jt over a quarter (28%) say they know “a lot” of people who are gay or lbian, while 43% say they know some and 17% say they only know one or two gays or lbians. While large majori of almost all mographic and partisan groups say they know someone who is gay or lbian, there are differenc both the number of gay and lbian acquatanc people have and whether people say they have close fay members or iends who are gay.

Millennials are among the most likely of any mographic or partisan group to say they know a lot of people who are gay or lbian: Nearly four--ten (38%) say so, pared wh fewer Gen Xers (28%), Boomers (22%) and Silents (15%).

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

Millennials and Xers are also somewhat more likely than Boomers – and particularly Silents – to say they have close fay members or iends who are gay.

10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS

Fully four--ten (40%) of those who are not affiliated wh a relign say they personally know a lot of gays and lbians, while 8% say they know none. There are also siar — if somewhat more most — differenc across relig groups those who report havg close iends and fay members who are gay.

There are also divis by muny type: People who live urban areas (32%) are more likely to know a lot of people who are gay and lbian than those who live suburban (27%) or ral (20%) muni. About three-quarters (73%) of those who know a lot of gays and lbians – and two-thirds (66%) of those who have gay or lbian close iends or fay members – say they support same-sex marriage. And nearly half (48%) of Amerins wh many gay acquatanc, and 38% of those who have close iends or fay who are gay, strongly favor allowg gays and lbians to marry legally.

ARE GAY CHRISTIANS GENUE CHRISTIANS?

There is far ls support for same-sex marriage among those wh few or no gay or lbian acquatanc, as well as among those who do not have close iends or fay members who are gay or lbian. Jt 32% of those who do not have any gay or lbian acquatanc favor allowg gays and lbians to marry and 58% oppose (30% say they strongly oppose same-sex marriage).

Conflict between relig beliefs and homosexualy is felt particularly strongly by whe evangelil Prottants, about seven--ten (72%) of whom say there is a nflict, cludg 64% who say there is “a lot” of nflict.

Six--ten black Prottants say there is eher a lot (48%) or a ltle (12%) nflict between their relig beliefs and homosexualy, while 53% of Catholics feel that their relig beliefs and homosexualy are some nflict (38% say there is a lot of nflict).