What is wrong wh gay Christiany? What is Si A and Si B anyway? — Rosaria Butterfield

Contents:

• WHAT IS WRONG WH GAY CHRISTIANY? WHAT IS SI A AND SI B ANYWAY?
• HOW CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS DEAL WH DIRE
• THE JOY-ROBBG FALSE HOPE OF SI B GAY CHRISTIANY

WHAT IS WRONG WH GAY CHRISTIANY? WHAT IS SI A AND SI B ANYWAY?

While grateful for the experience of beg gay, Hartley se his gay inty as somethg that go beyond jt sex — “I never say that I’m grateful for same-sex sexual sire, ” he said — also clus athetics, culture and worldview. As Si B disurse was fdg s way to onle foms, the flagship Christian ex-gay anizatn Exod Internatnal closed s doors 2013 after s of g nversn therapy on LGBTQ dividuals. Many LGBTQ Christians who had been harmed by the ex-gay approach — but still held to tradnal church teachgs on marriage — turned to Si B for a more acceptg muny.

Bridget Eileen Rivera, a celibate gay Christian and thor of “Heavy Burns: Seven Ways LGTBQ Christians Experience Harm the Church, ” don’t e the Si B label.

“When a gay person lands the more nservative, tradnal mp, ’s helpful to distguish them om those who are really theologilly a different place, ” he said.

HOW CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS DEAL WH DIRE

On the flip si, some progrsive crics, who are fewer number, said Hill and Hartley, see Si B as another eratn of the ex-gay movement or a form of rpectabily polics where LGBTQ dividuals reprs their sexualy to w approval om the broar church.

“The ia that Si B is jt the ex-gay movement wh a different veneer ignor or mimiz the fact that Si B people are fleeg ex-gay movements and ex-gay church, ” said Hartley. Th agreed and add that the motivatns behd Si B and the ex-gay movement are entirely different; one is tryg to make gay people straight, and the other is tryg to expand how the church views love and kship. “Si B me out of dissatisfactn wh the simple and easy answers of the ex-gay movement, ” said Hartley, “and so, embracg plexy or allowg plexy is ntrast to that sistence on uniformy.

THE JOY-ROBBG FALSE HOPE OF SI B GAY CHRISTIANY

The unrstandg of “Si B Christians” is siar to the CRC’s posn, tablished by Synod 1973, that homosexualy is “a ndn of personal inty which a person is sexually oriented toward persons of the same sex” and “explic homosexual practice” is “patible wh obedience to the will of God as revealed Scripture. While grateful for the experience of beg gay, Hartley se his gay inty as somethg that go beyond jt sex — “I never say that I’m grateful for same-sex sexual sire, ” he said— also clus athetics, culture, and worldview. The church nmned such feelgs as bad choic and nmned the people (like me) who experienced the feelgs as abomatns, falsely llg homosexual sir a willful choice.

They are supported by the Gay Christian Network, or Si A (which sanctns same-sex marriage and believ that homosexualy is jt one of many forms of diverse sexualy that the church should wele), and the Spirual Friendship ter muny, or Si B (which believ that homosexualy is not a morally culpable issue, although is a nsequence of the brokenns om the Fall; Si B teach agast homosexual sexual practice, but only for the sake of Christian tradn).

E., there is such a thg as a gay person—that gayns scrib who someone sentially is), their theology no way allows for an unrstandg of why homosexualy, even at the level of sire, is sful and needg the grace of repentance. This n be a very challengg issue for a Christian who experienc SSA, an issue that be exceedgly more challengg if one assum the social inty of “gay Christian.