The Church Needs to Change its Attitude Toward Gay People!

Is homosexuality a sin? Does God hate gays? Why do different Churches have conflicting views on gay marriage? Didn’t God make some people gay?

These and questions like them swirl around the topic of homosexuality. I will attempt to tackle this issue from a biblical and christian perspective in this post.

IS BEING GAY A SIN?

How does the Bible define sin? A sin is anything a human being does, that is contrary to God’s design, will and purpose. This includes thoughts, words, and actions.

Biblically, God’s stated place for sex is between a man and a woman within marriage. Sexual activity carried out in any other way is sinful.

Therefore, the following sexual activities are sinful in God’s eyes. Pre-marital sex is sin. Rape is sin. Pedophilia is sin. Bestiality is sin. Group sex is sin. Adultery is sin. Incest is sin. Prostitution is sin. Homosexuality is sin.

So committing homosexual acts is a sin. But what about being gay? If a person is attracted to members of the same sex is it wrong? Are they sin? No. Sin is an act not a person. Being attracted to children, or animals, or your neighbour’s wife are not sin. Acting on those impulses leads to sin.

A HUGE MISUNDERSTANDING

Many today, both from within and outside, the Church, are living with a misunderstanding of God’s view of humankind. God calls every human being a sinner. We have inherited Adam’s fallen nature. Without God’s help we will all commit a variety of sins. We sin because we are sinners.

None of us gets to lessen our sin by saying “it’s not what I do, it’s who I am.” No one can cheat on their spouse and justify it because they were born an adulterer and have always had a natural desire to stray from their marriage wows. A serial killer does have an excuse because he naturally enjoys killing.

Many people (including Christians) no longer understand a basic Biblical teaching. This teaching is that God DID NOT make any of us the way we are. God made us perfect. Our sin nature makes us what we are.

The Bible tells us every human being sins in different ways. These desires are inborn and manifest differently for different people. One person is born drawn to gossip but abhors stealing. Another is born attracted to the same sex, but abhors hypocrisy. It’s complicated. It is part of the human condition. Expressions of sin come from our nature when we act on ungodly desires. None of us is any better than anyone else. All of us are sinners. All of us need to be saved from sin.

THE WRONG LABEL

Several decades ago the gay rights movement capitalised on this misunderstanding of human nature. Gay leaders started to educate the wider community to see them ‘as being born that way.’

The reasoning was that no one would wake up one day and just decide to be gay. Why would they when it created stigma and rejection. Over time society was conditioned to see gay people as their sin. And since they were their ‘sin.’ It could no longer be sin.

Would this logic hold for any other sin. Let’s try it. I am an adulterer, therefore my cheating is normal and something to be tolerated if not celebrated. No, it doesn’t work. I might be a thief but I must keep myself in check. I am not my sin or my desires. I am a human being first and sinner because of that. Every human being is more than the sum total of their appetites and desires.

CAVING IN TO CULTURE…SHAME ON THE CHURCH

Now that some in the Church have accepted homosexuality as a state of being rather than sin, terrible things have happened.

Firstly we have doubted God’s Word. We have accused our God of being out of touch with the modern world and failing to understand reality. WE have seen fit to twist the Bible to conform to man’s thinking. Now we are in opposition to the God we say we love and serve.

Secondly we have made a category of people God does not recognise. The Gay Christian. No other group in the Church has to suffer a category. Do we have the Rapist Christians? Do we have Murderer Christians. Do we welcome all the Incest Christians who are looking for a fellowship to join our church? We avoid labels so that we will not identify with the sin of our former lives.

By creating the Gay Christian, we have robbed homosexual people from enjoying the wonderful salvation God has for them. Shame on us Church. How dare we. Does God love same sex attracted people less than the rest of us. No indeed. Jesus died to set the captive free, from the penalty of sin and the power of the flesh. Everyone who is born again is a new creature in Christ. We will all struggle with some natural inborn desire that the Lord does not approve of, but by God’s grace we will overcome.

Thirdly (some within the Church) have decided to bless in the name of Christ, something God cannot bless. Allowing same sex marriage in the Church and blessing same sex unions, is sending a damning message to people Christ died to save. If the Church says same sex marriage is good, it communicates that same sex activities are not sinful. This is a recipe to rob people of a relationship with God.

GOD LOVES GAY PEOPLE

God loves the whole world. God loves every human being. God desires to have a relationship with every person on the planet. But God did not make any of us as we are now. Every human being is a sinner in need of grace. No one person or group is any better or worse than anyone else. Outside of Christ we are all God’s enemies and unacceptable to Him. In Christ we are loved and accepted as we are. In fact, in Christ we are made brand new. C. S. Lewis commented that God loved us just as He found us, but loved us too much to leave us as he found us.

ARE SAME SEX ATTRACTED PEOPLE WELCOME IN CHURCH?

Absolutely. God longs to see the Church filled with sinners of every type. He died and rose again to save us all.

Will same sex attracted people struggle with lustful thoughts? Yes. But no more than straight attracted people. Will straight attracted people be encouraged to engage in sexual activity outside of the bounds set in scripture? No more than same sex attracted people. Will child attracted people be set free from their desires the moment they turn to Jesus. Sometimes. Just like Straight people are, sometimes.

WHAT THE CHURCH IS NOT SAYING

Society has chosen to normalise same sex relationships. The Church cannot. That does not mean the Church is saying homosexuals are ‘bad’ people. Or that gays make ‘bad’ parents. Or gay people are not valued members of society who make great contributions.

THE CHURCH HAS A PROBLEM OF OUR OWN MAKING

The Church has kept silent for so long for fear of being labeled weird or out of touch that most people forget Christianity is a religion. Christians have religious beliefs based on the Bible. Our beliefs are not always in lock step with society at large. Yet in a free society we are free to have them.

Take some of our less known (by the world) beliefs that would see us ridiculed. Believing that living together and not being married is a sin. Believing that binge drinking is a sin. Believing that consulting fortune tellers is a sin. But do we think unmarried people are terrible parents? Do we think people who get smashed every second weekend are somehow bad people who are a danger to society? No. Would such people not be welcome on a Sunday. Of course not. Do we want their right to live as they see fit taken from them. Again, no.

BUT…becoming a Christian brings change. It is costly to follow Christ. We must deny ourselves to follow Him. WHEN anyone turns from their old life to the new life Jesus offers they will change. The change is brought about by God’s Spirit from the inside out. The result is that lifestyles will change. So those wanting to live as Christians and participate in the life of the redeemed family of God will have to exhibit behaviour that lines up with God’s Word. This fact is not an easy pill to swallow, nor will it be understood by unregenerate people. Yet it is still fact.

Our job as Christians is not to judge or condemn those outside of Christ. Our calling is to share the God news of God’s grace and forgiveness with anyone who will listen. Our purpose is to love God and to treat everybody else as we would want to be treated. However, as the apostle Paul makes clear (in First Corinthians chapter 5) our responsibility also includes being faithful to scripture and judging our own who fail to live up to scripture.