Gay and god
The Gospel for a Male lover Friend
Josh had always recognizable he was different. From his earliest memories, he looked at some boys as more than just peers. His parents knew he was “special,” but they loved him for it. He learned to wear a mask and play the part of a “normal” kid until he graduated from lofty school.
In college, Josh decided it was time to be who he really was. He made friends with other gay people and set out on sexual explorations. Josh initiate a refuge in his gay community and developed bonds that ran much deeper than sexual flings. Though his parents distanced themselves and old friends turned a cold shoulder, Josh felt that he was finally free in his new identity as a gay man.
Josh is no caricature. His experiences and story are factual, and they are common.
What if Josh were your neighbor or your co-worker or your son? How would you give the gospel to him? How would you tell him about the forgiveness of sins, the community of believers, and true persona in Jesus?
In one instinct, there is no difference in the way we’d share the good news with Josh compared to any other person. Just because Josh is sexually attracted to people of the same gender doesn’t make him foundation
The following blog is written by Greg Coles. Greg is part of The Center's collaborative team and is the author of the book Single, Queer, Christian.
“Is God anti-gay?”
Many people expect the answer to this question to be a simple binary, either yes or no. If you’re a conservative (in the totalizing meaning of the word), the answer is absolutely yes: God must be anti-gay, because same-sex sexual behavior is forbidden in the Bible. And if you’re a progressive (in the equally totalizing sense), the respond is absolutely no: God can’t possibly be anti-gay, because God loves all people. But the assumption shared by everyone across the board seems to be that we know what the question means—that a simple answer, yes or no, ought to suffice as a response.
For me, though, the doubt of whether God is “anti-gay” has never been a simple one. I’ve heard it asked so many distinct times, in so many different ways, by so many different people (myself included). And each time, it seems to mean something slightly different. When someone asks, “Is God anti-gay?”, they might mean, “What does God contain to say about same-sex sexual ethics?” They might represent, “What is God’s stance on the politics of
I grew up in Australia and had an amazing childhood with two marvelous parents. I was a very spiritually sensitive person; always asking the deeper questions of experience. But I establish the Christian planet deeply uncompelling. Coming out at the age of 14 and facing the fact that I was exclusively attracted to men – the Church really signified a room that wasn’t reliable for me.
I had relatives who had strong views on homosexuality and would say things that were disparaging. All I really saw was moral codes that I had to live up to – “you have to be this, in request to be standard and loved by God”. I idea, “I’m in this category of people that can’t perform that, and so I hate this religion because it deletes me out of existence.”
I was sitting in a park age 14 with one of my boyfriends, and we were kissing. A man pulled up on a motorbike, raised the visor on his helmet, picked up this large brick and threw it onto my support. I remember this rage and fury within me, at how such homophobia and hatred could exist in our society. I associated my experience of Christianity with that act of throwing the brick against my back. Christianity became the thing that was in the way of progress and of
Learning to Say ‘God is Love’ When You’re Gay
“God is love.”
This is one of those things everybody’s heard. Sometimes you undergo like it’s the most profound thing in the world; sometimes you feel like it’s a stale marshmallow, sweet at first but then dissolving on your tongue into bland nothingness. But as I’ve gotten to understand LGBT people who were raised in Christian families, I’ve started to see how this incredibly common sentiment can damage people’s hearts and lives — because they were taught that the God of love couldn’t admit them.
If you’re an LGBT person who was raised Christian, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve never heard a chief in your church welcome LGBT people, trusting that people fancy you were in the pews and encouraging their faith. You’ve had to try to perceive both your sexuality and your faith in the midst of misinformation and deadly silence.
I’m coming to all this as a lesbian convert to Catholicism. I didn’t grow up in the Church; I was introduced to God and to faith by people who genuinely did not act as though my sexual orientation separated me from God. I do my best to accept Catholic teaching, including in the area of sexuality. I’ve