Can you be gay if you are christian

“You want to shove those words endorse in and position the lid on. But you can’t. Your child is gay. This goes against everything you’ve been taught. It was not what you had in mind, and you instantly wonder where you went wrong.”

When you become a parent, you recognize to expect the unexpected. But for many Christian parents, nothing can arrange them to catch that their beloved child is queer. This is the child you possess cradled, spoon fed mashed bananas, and dreamed a lovely future for. How could this be? What will the church say? What will your friends say? What does the future hold? You can’t even get your top around this.

If you are a Christian parent, family member or friend to whom your loved one has enter out as male lover or lesbian, then this is for you.

I invite you to sit down, relax, maybe acquire a cup of tea, and soak in what I’m about to relate you. My expectation is to reference you as we walk for a bit through this maze of confusion, to help you find your way to wholeness. In many Christian circles, this is not good news, and you may open to spiral into reflection and self-searching. We’ll get to that. But at the bottom of it all, this is not about you. Most parents’ first mistake is to mak

The Bible and alike sex relationships: A review article

Tim Keller,  2015

Vines, Matthew, God and the Homosexual Christian: The Biblical Case in Back of Same Sex Relationships, Convergent Books, 2014

Wilson, Ken,A Letter to My Congregation, David Crum Media, 2014.

The relationship of homosexuality to Christianity is one of the main topics of discussion in our culture today. In the descend of last year I wrote a review of books by Wesley Hill and Sam Allberry that take the historic Christian view, in Hill’s words: “that homosexuality was not God’s authentic creative intention for humanity ... and therefore that lesbian practice goes against God’s express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.”

There are a number of other books that take the contrary view, namely that the Bible either allows for or supports same sex relationships. Over the last year or so I (and other pastors at Redeemer) have been regularly asked for responses to their arguments. The two most read volumes taking this position seem to be those by Matthew Vines and Ken Wilson. The review of these two books will be longer than usual because the topic is so contested today and, wh

What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?

What Does The Bible Utter About Homosexuality?

Introduction

For the last two decades, Pew Research Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible say about attraction to someone of the alike sex?”

Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even coined until the adv 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.

Before we can skip into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a short but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.

What is the Bible?

For Christians to whom the Bible is God’s very written word, it is widely understood that God produced its contents through inspired

This may not be a huge surprise, but we receive A LOT of questions via email, social media, and in person on Tuesdays. What nice of questions? Well, anything from, Should I obtain back together with my boyfriend or girlfriend? to What should I undertake next with my life? to How should I lovingly engage those in the LGBTQ community?

In this blog series “Ask The Porch,” we’re answering real-life questions that we’ve received from you. Disclaimer: our highest priority is always to first respond with biblical counsel from God’s Word. The hardest questions to answer are those in the “grey” areas. So we’ll do our best to share our biblically-informed opinion, but comprehend that we may contain different convictions on the non-essentials (vs. the essentials).

Now, let’s dive into the question for this week emailed in from an online listener:

Can a Christian be gay?

“Hey David,

I am a Christian and include struggled with same sex attraction since childhood. I would not wish it on anyone. It’s very hard being alone and longing for someone to hold hands with. I want the chance to love and have someone love me back. I want to live a life for God but I also don’t long to live on this earth alone.

How Should Christians Respond to Gay Friends or Family Members?

Caleb Kaltenbach (M.A. ’07) is an alumnus of Biola’s Talbot School of Theology, lead pastor of a large church in Simi Valley, Calif., and a married father of two. He’s also an emerging voice in the discussion of how Christians should engage the LGBT community. That’s because Kaltenbach has an insider perspective, having been raised by a dad and mom who divorced and independently came out of the closet as a same-sex attracted man and a womxn loving womxn. Raised in the midst of LGBT parties and pride parades, Kaltenbach became a Christian and a pastor as a fresh adult. Today, he manages the tension of holding to the traditional biblical teaching on sexuality while loving his gay parents.

Kaltenbach’s unique story is detailed in his new manual Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction and landed him on the front page of the New York Times in June. Biola Magazine reached out to him to talk about his publication and his perspective on how Christians can greater navigate the complexities of this issue with truthfulness and grace.

In your novel you say that it’s time for Christians to own the issu