Is Being Gay A Sin?

by Jim Gordon

I grew up in the institutional church and was always of the persuasion that being gay was a sin. I felt I was pretty open since saying I hated the sin but loved the sinner, I was doing better than most. Yet, either way I was saying being gay was a sin.

I never treated those who were gay in a bad way. I never treated any of my friends or relatives who were gay any different than I treated anyone else. I saw them as normal everyday people….but with a great sin in their life.

Things changed on this subject, and amazingly it was after leaving the institutional church. I started to see that God loves people, all people. There was no ‘I love you but’ when it came to God. I started to read some on the subject (something I never dreamed of doing before). I read Justin Lee and Matthew Vines. I really thought about a God of love and how could that God condemn people for the way he made them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQjNJUSraY

I finally began to see the LGBTQ community for who they really are….people. Take away the labels and you have human beings like everyone else. Just because they were born with different sexual views does not make them second class citizens and does not make them deserving of the awful ways they are treated, especially by the christian world. They are doing nothing more than being themselves the way God made them.

Today I seem to have a special sense of wanting to show those who are LGBTQ that all christian people are not the same. I want to help promote information and acceptance between christians and those who are LGBTQ (1). I know many who are LGBTQ (a few personally but most online) and who are christians who love God and serve him. I can no longer say I believe being gay is a sin. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation by the church and evangelical christians.

I do admit I do not understand the attraction of two men or two women. Of course, that is because I am straight. I bet those who are gay or lesbian do not understand me and my attraction to the opposite sex (well, just one person of the opposite sex, my wife).

I recently read a book by Amber Cantorna called Refocusing My Family. It is such an interesting read, telling of her questions, struggles and hardships in her walk with God and her family. Her traditional christian upbringing and her dad being an employee of Focus on the Family made it extremely hard on her when she realized she was gay. What terrible struggles and treatment she received. It is so hard for me to understand how parents can disown their children, yet I know it happens all the time.

I also believe that the christians who do believe being gay is wrong, they are still handling it all wrong. Whether you agree or disagree, our instructions from Jesus are to love God, love our neighbor and love our enemies. We are to love, not judge and condemn. I have read so many articles about the abuse the gay community takes, beatings, exclusion, disowned by their family, suicides. It is terrible. No matter what stand we take on the issue we are not to judge and condemn. As followers of Christ we are to be known for our love and treating everyone equally.

I personally am tired of the way the christian church has treated those who are LGBTQ. Whether they agree or disagree they should be treating everyone with love. For me I have concluded that being gay is not a sin and I fully love and accept all people just as they are. I hope I can show that love and acceptance to others in some way.

I do not completely understand it but for some reason this topic has taken on a new meaning for me. I am tired of seeing the abuse, the exclusion and the discrimination against those who are LGBTQ. Not sure where this will lead but hopefully, I can be a help by showing love and acceptance to those I meet who are LGBTQ.

(1) https://www.reddit.com/r/LGBTQ_Acceptance/

Which Laws Does God Hope We Follow In The Bible?

by Mike Edwards 

Some rightly may discount the Bible because there are some pretty crazy laws in there. Did God really think rebellious teenagers should be stoned (Deut. 21:18-21)? Maybe we don’t have to figure out if God really commanded such a law or the Israelites were influenced by other cultures in laws written. Justin Lee gives a framework for knowing which laws to follow if a God-follower (Torn: Rescuing The Gospel From The Gays-Vs.-Christians Debate, Chapter 13).

What are laws good for?

It is argued Old Testament laws only served as a guide to establish a moral society until Jesus came along and thus laws aren’t needed anymore. Laws or rules aren’t all bad. Laws help hold the lawless and lawgivers accountable. The wife and I knew we couldn’t smack each other when frustrated, but I felt it necessary to spell it out for the young-ins. I told my kids in no uncertain terms they couldn’t hit, kick, or push each other. Rules have limits though. If their younger sib wandered into the street and a car was coming, I could care less if they kicked their ass to the curb. 

Do we follow the moral laws but not the cultural laws in the Bible?

It is suggested the Bible is divided up into cultural and moral laws with moral laws being relevant for today. The Bible though doesn’t make such a distinction. Most wouldn’t argue God still forbids tattoos (Lev. 19: 28), but in the very next verse the Bible says don’t make your daughter a prostitute which is morally universal forever. Ask any parent including terrorists. The Bible never says some laws are moral and others are only relevant to that culture.

Paul and Jesus in the New Testament hint which laws to follow.

Honoring the Sabbath by not working must have been a big deal because it made the top 10 list. Religious folks freaked out when Jesus said it is good to feed the hungry or help the hurting on the Sabbath (Lk. 6:1-11). Jesus didn’t dismiss the Sabbath, but sometimes laws are meant to be broken. Which ones though?

The Apostle Paul who wrote much of the NT spoke of an instance where the Jews were disturbed when certain dietary laws weren’t followed (Rm. 14). Paul suggested the Jews shouldn’t impose on the Gentiles who weren’t raised like them; Gentiles shouldn’t try to tell the Jews what violates their conscience. Some go to a church building on Sunday; others don’t go to avoid being divisive.

The sniff test – do actions smell of love.  

Jesus said all the laws hang on loving God and your neighbor (Mt. 22:37:40). Loving God is loving your neighbor. The Apostle Paul said the same thing – all laws are summed up by loving your neighbor (Rom. 13:8-10). When Jesus said He didn’t come to abolish the law but fulfill (Mt. 5:17), He didn’t mean throw out all the laws. Don’t kill but sometimes we may need to defend our family. Honor your parents but sometimes we may need to disagree or even break ties. Laws are not written just as rules to follow blindly but to guide us in loving others.

Love rules. Love is more important to follow than the actual law. How do we know when love is better than the law? God’s spirit can guide us. Sometimes we need the help of others to discern God’s voice clearly. Lie if you might save a life from a ruthless dictator. Regardless of whether you think the Bible and God condemns gays (See Here), love rules. If you aren’t loving straight or gay people, regardless of what you personally believe, you are breaking God’s law!

We Follow What We Know

by Rocky Glenn

I’ve written recently how my son’s involvement in marching band the last four years has reignited the love and interest I once had for the sport. During this time, we’ve enjoyed the four shows his band has performed over a dozen times each at multiple football games and competitions. If you were to watch the performances I’ve recorded, despite my best efforts to capture the whole band, each recording contains multiple zoomed in shots of the sideline percussion ensemble my boy has been a part of. With over sixty kids on the field, whether recording the show or not, my focus nearly always remains on my son. It has taken a conscious effort to take my gaze away from my boy and his performance to observe the other performers, including the children of close friends with whom we have had the privilege of sharing the stands. Even when my eyes would drift, it would be only a moment before I would return to focusing on who I knew on the field.

As we’ve attended the various competitions the last four years, we always planned to arrive earlier than our band performed, and generally stayed later, to enjoy the other performances and, in all parental honesty, “size up the competition!” Being a former percussionist, during the performances of the other bands I could not help but focus on the drum line and sideline ensembles. I have an appreciation for the skill a drum line possesses to perform rudiments and visual stick drills in synchronization. When my son was called upon to master the art of holding multiple mallets in each hand to execute chords on a vibraphone, I understood the practice and preparation required to accomplish the task. Due to my conditioning and training, I am rarely able to not fix my attention on the percussion section of each band we observed. This was never more evident than last weekend at the final marching competition of our boy’s high school career as my wife, a former color guard member, leans over to me while watching a competing band and says, “Nice peel-off!” I was so attuned to my beloved former instruments I responded with the ever so elegant, “Huh?” “Color guard . . . nice peel-off?” “Oh, I missed it!” I honestly had no clue what she was referencing!

We focus on what we know and what we’ve been conditioned to follow. This was my life growing up and life as a churchboy. I was taught the requirements of being a Christian and conditioned to behave as a Christian should. Christians don’t drink, don’t cuss, attend church, read the bible daily, spend hours in prayer, pay tithes, boycott movies and organizations opposed to their individual beliefs, and insist their way is the only way and all others are doomed to an eternity in hell. What a load of crap!! All of this and more is done and adhered to not necessarily because you believe it or even because you want to, but simply so you can please God and be assured He loves you. The irony is none of these things, regardless of how closely followed, truly bring assurance of either. It saddens me to admit I followed and focused on such garbage. What an amazing and humbling thing it is to realize we can be reconditioned and unlearn what we have been taught. Reconditioning occurs when old ways or methods are found to be ineffective or no longer applicable. True reconditioning for churchboys happens as their eyes are opened to the unconditional love of God Jesus came to reveal which we did nothing to deserve and can do nothing to lose. With his death and resurrection, Jesus shifted the focus from the conditions required to reach God to simply, “Come.”

One of the friends I referred to in attendance at band events earlier is a former schoolmate I spent three years marching with in high school as part of the drum line. We’ve shared memories, laughs, and critiques over a couple of the last seasons of how “things weren’t that way in our day.” (Our wives have gotten quite tickled at the curmudgeonly old men we’ve become in our early forties!) A former percussionist himself, he was reconditioned to focus elsewhere as his daughter performed as a member of the color guard. Conversations following performances revealed he no longer focused exclusively on his former instrument of his choice as his gaze was now fixed upon a greater source of love and joy.

Such is the life of a recovering churchboy. No longer focused on do’s, don’ts, rules, and conditions, I’ve now been reconditioned by a greater source of love and joy, the unconditional love and acceptance of the Father which is not dependent on anything I may have done or not done or could ever do or not do.