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A Gay Pastor Explains What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality

by in Christian Issues, LGBT

Unfundamentalist Christians founder John Shore recently shared a letter from a gay Christian who is struggling with his sexuality and faith. Among the many encouraging comments on that post was one from a gay pastor who beautifully explained his understanding of the Bible, Christianity, and sexuality.

This pastor graciously agreed to let me share his comment as blog post here. He wishes to remain anonymous because he is not out to his congregation (though he is out to his church’s leadership), but he describes himself as:

a gay pastor who spent decades running from my true affections. But now, after years of denial and fear, I finally realize that God lovingly formed me to be who I am, in my mother’s womb, and that the Lord embraces me as his loved gay child. The Truth has set me free, and I am free indeed.

Here’s his wonderful response to the letter writer on John’s blog:

May I respond to your concern about Romans 1? Paul was not saying that idolatry turns people gay; rather, he was saying that idolatry led to participation in shameful acts of lust. I believe most of the participants were heterosexuals who were acting contrary to their nature. Let me explain, using Cybele worship as an illustration.

Ten to fifteen years before Paul wrote his letter to Rome, Emperor Claudius permitted the worship of Cybele, a mother goddess, to take place in Rome. There were prominent temples to the goddess in Rome (where the letter was being sent to) and in Corinth (where Paul… [Read more…] about A Gay Pastor Explains What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality

Making Room for the Celibate and Gay

by in LGBT

When it comes to facing down the shrill imprecations of televangelists and street protesters, or the assignment of blame for earthquakes and other disasters, there’s hardly a more longsuffering group of people in America than gays and lesbians. But even some of the staunchest opponents of same-sex relationships have begun to acknowledge that their churches may have room for celibate gays and lesbians. It’s a unique historical development and one that presents the gay community with an important choice—but maybe not the most obvious one.

There’s a popular idea that all major world religions universally condemn homosexuality. It isn’t true, and it’s time to put an end to this destructive myth. On the other hand, there’s an equally popular wholesale rejection of religion by many gays and lesbians. It’s just as shortsighted and unfair. I know because I used to share the view. I left Christianity when I was eighteen. My reasons had nothing to do with its stance on homosexuality, but early on I couldn’t appreciate how meaningful religion could be to so many intelligent, kind people.

But there’s a recent transformation taking place that signals positive change: not only are religious communities opening up to the LGBT community, but individual gays and lesbians are insisting on their place in the pew. It’s a natural and important development for gay and lesbian history. Despite such an encouraging development, the gay community is still largely holding on to one final, related but… [Read more…] about Making Room for the Celibate and Gay

"40 Questions For Christians Now Waving Rainbow Flags"

by Buzz Dixon in Christian Issues, LGBT

The Gospel Coalition website has posted the following questionnaire and commentary from Kevin DeYoung, senior pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan:
“[P]erhaps what’s been most difficult is seeing some of our friends, some of our family members, and some of the folks we’ve sat next to in church giving their hearty ‘Amen’ to a practice we still think is a sin and a decision we think is bad for our country. It’s one thing for the whole nation to throw a party we can’t in good conscience attend. It’s quite another to look around for friendly faces to remind us we’re not alone and then find that they are out there jamming on the dance floor…

“If you consider yourself a Bible-believing Christian, a follower of Jesus whose chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, there are important questions I hope you will consider before picking up your flag and cheering on the sexual revolution. These questions aren’t meant to be snarky or merely rhetorical. They are sincere, if pointed, questions that I hope will cause my brothers and sisters with the new rainbow themed avatars to slow down and think about the flag you’re flying.”

Fair enough, Kevin. I’ll take you at your word that you are sincere in your desire to understand why we believe what we believe.

1. How long have you believed that gay marriage is something to be celebrated?

From the moment I realized that sexual orientation was either innate in most human beings from birth; or… [Read more…] about "40 Questions For Christians Now Waving Rainbow Flags"

Will Someone Please Tell Christians That the LGBT War Is Over?

by in Christian Issues, Current Events, LGBT

View image | gettyimages.com

On March 9, 1974, Hiroo Onoda, a Lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army, at the behest of his former commanding officer, turned over his sword and rifle and formally surrendered to authorities, thus ending his 30-year holdout in the Philippines where he had continued to fight in a war that he refused to believe was over. He was one of the last Japanese holdouts, soldiers who, due to poor communications or misguided loyalty, continued to fight for months and years after Japan’s surrender.

On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court, in its decision on Obergefell v. Hodges, declared that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. But Christians across the country refuse to accept the implications of that decision. Like the Japanese holdouts after Word War II, they continue to fight on, seemingly oblivious to the political, social and theological realities around them.

Here are a few excerpts (reproduced verbatim) from some of the emails received by the NALT Christians Project in just the last 3 days from Christians who have hunkered down in their theological bunkers and continue to take pot shots at anyone who poses a challenge to their beliefs:

While the bible does not mention homosexuality in the majority of scripture, the fact that is in mentioned and clearly defined as sin, is enough.

—————————————————-

u err, and teach others to do the same. which makes u a… [Read more…] about Will Someone Please Tell Christians That the LGBT War Is Over?

A Transgender Christian Loses Her Church but Keeps Her Faith

by Brettany Renee Blatchley in Christian Issues, LGBT

This is a long and difficult road for many of us — queer and straight…

When the “other” kind of person turns out to be someone who is respected, liked, and loved, then who that person is will collide with who that person is assumed to be. This is a God-moment when seeds of reconciliation or rejection are sown.

…God has been leading me to connect with various Christian congregations in my area, growing and developing a godly, sisterly relationship with them. Because I live “simply open” about who and what I am, at some point when our relationship deepens, the fact that I am a married Christian woman of transgender experience will become apparent in natural, relaxed, and even winsome ways — in God’s time…

…Last Wednesday, at an “agape” potluck and Bible study, it was “time” — my status and authority as a transgender person became very relevant to the discussion and I gently made my disclosure, acting in great vulnerability from a position of spiritual strength…

…This Sunday at church was a good time of worship. Much was preached, sung and prayed about how this church, this part of Christ’s Body, was especially attuned and welcoming to people on the margins, the people “other churches” reject. We were admonished that “they will come here for Jesus’ love: be prepared!” They didn’t realize that I had already been among them as an “unpresentable” part of The Body. I was cautiously optimistic…

…Last evening, I again joined the “agape” group with my spouse. We… [Read more…] about A Transgender Christian Loses Her Church but Keeps Her Faith

A Christian Response to the Transgender Discussion

by in Christian Issues, LGBT

Caitlyn Jenner’s public transformation on the cover of Vanity Fair last week forcefully pulled the “T” from the end of “LGBT” and placed it squarely at the forefront of public discourse.

This past weekend at least nine newspapers around the country published front-page stories profiling local transgender residents. On Monday Christianity Today published a seven page story on “Understanding the Transgender Phenomenon.”

As stories about Jenner and other transgender people piled up in my news feed, spread across my television screen and seeped into everyday conversation with friends and coworkers, I realized that something extraordinary was happening.

People were actually talking about transgender issues. A subject previously considered taboo in many circles and the source of awkward jokes in others was now being discussed forthrightly. Honest questions were being asked, challenging issues were being brought out into the open.

Of course the commentary on Jenner ran the gamut that one might expect.

Conservative Christians spewed their typical vitriol:
“For the very reason that homosexual practice is wrong, transsexualism is all the more wrong because it is an even greater complaint against God for the way that one is made.” — Robert Gagnon


“What he [Jenner] most closely resembles is a mentally disordered man who is being manipulated by disingenuous liberals and self-obsessed gay activists.”
 — Matt Walsh


Other Christians planted their flag in… [Read more…] about A Christian Response to the Transgender Discussion

Again: Raping Angels and Being Gay Are Not the Same Thing

by Don M. Burrows in Christian Issues, LGBT

There is perhaps no more abused passage in the Bible for condemning gays and lesbians than the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We’ve discussed other major anti-gay clobber passages on this blog multiple times, including the ambiguous Romans 1 with its mysterious interlocutor, and the equally perplexing 1 Corinthians 6:9 with its invented terms for sexuality.

But fundamentalists return time and again to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, routinely dismissing the conclusions of informed critical analysis and instead presenting this text as a definitive warning of the impending destruction that awaits those who embrace the homosexual “lifestyle.”

They argue for this understanding despite the plain and literal definition of the sin of Sodom in Ezekiel 16:49:
This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
In light of Ezekiel’s explication, it should go without question that hostile, wandering townsfolk violating the ancient premise of xenia, or hospitality, by demanding to rape the guests in your home is in no way analogous to two men wanting to share a last name and a life-insurance policy — yet the absurdity persists.

It persists despite the fact that Lot, held up as Sodom’s model citizen, offers his daughters to the rapists and yet is still spared by the Lord.

It persists despite the fact that there are parallel hospitality myths from antiquity of gods who take the form… [Read more…] about Again: Raping Angels and Being Gay Are Not the Same Thing

A Navy SEAL's life-changing secret

by in LGBT, Movie Reviews

Christopher Beck is a former Navy SEAL who, in the summer of 2013, came out as Kristin Beck — a transgender woman. Beck’s story garnered wide attention through an Anderson Cooper special and a book chronicling her journey, Warrior Princess.

This past fall CNN premiered a documentary about her life, Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story, which was recently released on DVD.

Lady Valor presents an honest, humorous and heartbreaking account of Kristin’s struggles. Kristin is someone who doesn’t have it all figured out, but is nevertheless negotiating life as best she can and is finding hope along the way. Addressing questions about her new identity she says:

It’s hard to explain. People ask me about that, they say “I don’t really understand transgender, and you know, can you explain it to me?” And the only thing I can tell them is I don’t really know what transgender is either. I don’t know — I mean, I know what it is, it’s this — but I don’t know where it comes from or why. It’s not an environmental thing that was pushed on me or some food I ate and suddenly I broke out with “transgender.”

I’m not a gay man. I’m not a drag queen. I am not maybe total dude and not total feminine, I’m not totally female. I’m not really — I think I’m living more in that gray world, and I’m still trying to figure it out, and maybe that’s what everybody else is trying to do too — they’re trying to figure me out. They’re like “I don’t know what that is,” which… [Read more…] about A Navy SEAL's life-changing secret

Are Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians Committing Blasphemy?

by Chuck Queen in LGBT

I believe that Christians who appeal to Jesus as the reason for their refusal to fully accept and affirm our LGBT sisters and brothers in the church are guilty of blasphemy. Why do I believe this? Because Jesus was the great boundary breaker, not the boundary maker. Consider the following:

First, Jesus was the great boundary breaker in the way he broke down barriers between the “righteous” and “sinners.” The meaning of these terms in the Gospels is usually based on sectarian categories (see especially Mark 2:13-17). “Sinners” is a term applied by the “righteous” to those who did not keep the law as the righteous understood and applied it. Sinners were excluded from religious life. Jesus demolished that barrier when he welcomed all “sinners” to eat with him. Eating together meant full acceptance and inclusion. New Testament scholar James D. G. Dunn aptly summarizes:
“Jesus’ practice of table fellowship was not only an expression of the good news of God’s kingly rule. It was also an implicit critique of a Pharisaic definition of acceptability, of a Pharisaic practice which classified many fellow Jews as sinners, effectively outside the law and the covenant . . . What to many Pharisees was a sinful disregard for covenant ideals was for Jesus an expression of the gospel itself. People they regarded as unacceptable, Jesus proclaimed by word and act to be the very ones God invited to his royal banquet.”

[Read more…] about Are Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians Committing Blasphemy?

Back to the ’90s: My Hometown (Again) Spurns the LGBT Community

by Don M. Burrows in Current Events, Fundamentalism, LGBT

Like many others, I was very disappointed earlier this week when my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I was born, went to college, and worked for nearly a decade as a reporter, editor, and columnist, again repealed an anti-discrimination ordinance passed by the City Council.

Ordinance 119 gave legal protection from discrimination to gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals, but a vocal group from outside of the city, led by famous breeders Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, waged a campaign of fear and misinformation and successfully repealed it at the ballot box Tuesday.

For those from Fayetteville, it was history repeating itself.

The very same thing happened in 1998 when the city passed a resolution merely extending a similar policy to its own employees. The religious conservatives would have none of it then either, and spread similar libels, lies, and misinformation, leading to its repeal the following November.

I remember feeling hopeful then, as I did earlier this week, that Fayetteville could prove to the outside world how different it is from the rest of Arkansas on matters of diversity and inclusivity. But ultimately the votes then and now show that while the core of Fayetteville — the University of Arkansas and the downtown businesses that give the town its unique and interesting flavor — often does buck the unfortunately well-deserved stereotypes earned by the rest of the state, there is still enough anti-gay ideology simmering from its many… [Read more…] about Back to the ’90s: My Hometown (Again) Spurns the LGBT Community