Pastor and wrer Ben Simpson rponds to a teen's qutn, "Why don't God love gays?" "Love don't jt affirm whatever mak a person happy," Simpson wr. "It seeks the well-beg of s objects."
Contents:
- 10 REASONS GOD LOV GAY CHRISTIANS
- ‘GOD LOV GAY PEOPLE’: FORMER LGBT PERSONS SHARE TRANSFORMATNAL POWER OF GOD
- “7 BIBLE QUOT SUPPORTG GAY RELATNSHIPS”
- WHAT DO GOD THK ABOUT GAY PEOPLE?
- FIRST-PERSON: Y ED, GOD LOV GAYS
- GOD LOV GAYS: THE POPE’S WORDS CONTEXT
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 loves gays *
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.
‘GOD LOV GAY PEOPLE’: FORMER LGBT PERSONS SHARE TRANSFORMATNAL POWER OF GOD
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 loves gays *
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. 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.
“7 BIBLE QUOT SUPPORTG GAY RELATNSHIPS”
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 * god loves gays *
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.
WHAT DO GOD THK ABOUT GAY PEOPLE?
* god loves gays *
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.
FIRST-PERSON: Y ED, GOD LOV GAYS
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.
A mon argument for the acceptance of homosexualy and same-sex marriage is that, if God is love, He would not nmn the love of others. The world and maybe even our own sensivi might say that allowg others to live a homosexual relatnship is to see to their well-beg.
If homosexualy rults a dishonorg, harmful separatn om God’s blsg, then the lovg thg to do is to stay away om .
GOD LOV GAYS: THE POPE’S WORDS CONTEXT
Even if they agree wh the Bible that homosexualy is a s and rolve not to seek fulfillment of their sexual sir, they mt still fd love other relatnships—the self-sacrificg love of agape and the iendly pannship of phileo. Do not be ceived: neher the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexualy, nor thiev, nor the greedy, nor dnkards, nor revilers, nor swdlers will her the kgdom of God.
At this moment history, ntrary to the other ss listed here, homosexualy is celebrated by our larger society wh pneerg excement. As Christians, we believe wh ept scery that the embrace of homosexual practice, along wh other ss, keeps people out of the kgdom of God. This means is an oversimplifitn to say that Christians — or nservative evangelils — are simply agast homosexualy.