Homosexuality in the Eyes of This Bible Believing Christisn

            Regardless of what one believes, the title of this essay almost assuredly made anyone approach it while walking on eggshells.  


A fellow Christian may look at this and wonder which way I am going to take this—a condoning liberal Christian or a condemning conservative one—and hope that my views agree with theirs and test my statements against Scripture.  Nonbelievers on the liberal side of the social spectrum may be wondering if my theology has progressed to “keep up with the times.”  And any homosexuals that read this (and I hope at least one feels led to do so) may be wondering if I will verbally attack them, because perhaps that is all Christians have ever done to them in their eyes.  I am attempting to approach this subject with every ounce of humility that God has given me.  In this generation, I believe homosexuality is the hardest topic for a Christian to handle—at least it is to me.  Christians are called to both stay loyal to the Word of God and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but with such a divisive topic the Church too often either compromises sound doctrine or alienates those who need to hear the Gospel and doesn’t really seem to care. 

            I wrote about this topic for over three hours last week a journal that I have for general life and theological topics (as opposed to personal ones), but I feel compelled to take what I wrote and make it public for those who want to read it.  I believe I could write a small book about all the thoughts and conversations I have had about the topic of homosexuality, partly due to the fact that we seem to have hit another peak in the media coverage surrounding it.  A recent study came out saying that 45% of Christians believe that homosexuality is not a sin (versus 37% who believe it is sinful), a now-former guitarist of one of my favorite bands went on an “anti-gay rant” via Twitter, and in my own life, I interact with homosexuals everyday when I work in the Short North (for those who do not know a lot about Columbus, it has one of the largest per-capita populations of homosexuals in the country, and the neighborhood we call the Short North has quite a dense population of homosexuals).  God laid this subject on my heart and I want to paint a picture homosexuality through the eyes of Jesus.  I do not want to be long-winded, and I am only going to briefly skim over topics that, upon request, I will gladly explain further.  I want this to start a conversation in your heart between you and God, and if you should choose, you and I.

            Christians believe that the Bible is the supreme and authoritative Word of God.  (That is a weighty statement in and of itself, but I do not want any reader to get caught up in this by starting to question the Bible’s authority.  I only want readers to focus on the fact that Christians hold the Bible in that fashion).  As a Christian that holds the entire Bible to this authority, I have come to the ultimate conclusion that homosexuality is a sin and I believe that any statement, by someone who claims the Name of Jesus Christ, on the contrary is heresy.  Both the Old and New Testaments provide unshakable backing of this.  These are two passages that summarize what the Bible teaches:

 “‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.  They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.’” (Leviticus 20:13)

“Do not be deceived…homosexual offenders…will not inherit the Kingdom of God (that is, go to hell).” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; do not mind the ellipses, the meaning of the passage was not altered).

For those who do not know the context of Leviticus, those words are a part of the Law that Yahweh gave specifically to the Israelites, and the punishment is null and void outside of the “Covenant Law” of Leviticus.  Yet, though we no longer strictly enforce Levitical Law, the principle on homosexuality stays the same with Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church: homosexuality is a sin.  It is unavoidable in Christian orthodoxy.

Those two passages are quite frank, and perhaps it is their frankness that, when quoted by Christians, cause their statements to be viewed anti-gay rants.  “And why not?  The first says that homosexuals should be killed and the other says that they will be condemned to eternity in hell!  How can the same book that says “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) say that?”  I do not want anyone to think that I blindly accepted this as truth and did not wrestle with this (as well as the concepts of God’s wrath and eternal separation from God in hell) and I wrestle with it often.  And, even though these words are difficult for me to stomach, I cannot fathom how difficult it is for a homosexual to accept them who faces the most extreme confrontation from those statements and those who speak them.  I would not be surprised if a homosexual thought that a Christian actually would stone him/her if given the chance. 

            I wish I could have painted a prettier picture than I just did.  I fear that most non-Christian readers will not reach this point in this writing, and the grace and humility that I wish to display were not realized by them.  The Bible paints a very grim picture about all sin, not just homosexuality.  I believe a way you can tell if a Christian really loves Jesus is how brokenhearted they are over sin, in their own lives and in the world.  But, I want to paint a picture of hope for sinners in the Gospel, and specifically for homosexuals with this illustration.  I am going to take one of the most beautiful and well-known passages, change only one word, and offer it to anyone that wants it.

This is John 8:1-11, and I replaced “adultery” with “homosexuality.”  Theologically, I feel justified in doing this because Moses says that adulterers must be put to death three verses before he says that homosexuals should be put to death (Lev 20:10) and Paul includes adultery the same verse as he does homosexuality, and also says that adulterers will also not inherit the Kingdom (1 Cor 6:9).  Both Paul and Moses put them as equals, therefore I do not believe that the switch is wrong, and I believe the passage retains the beauty and grace with which my Savior handles the situation

…but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in homosexuality, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of homosexuality. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

There are three things that I want any homosexual or anyone that is vehemently against what Christians have been saying about homosexuality.

            The first is that all have sinned and fall short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23).  I believe most of the flack that the church gets is that we are viewed as self-righteous, holier-than-thou, hate mongers against anyone and anything that threatens our “traditions” or “superstitions.”  Some of the hyper-fundamentalists (such as the Westboro Baptist Church) probably deserve to be called self-righteous hate mongers, but I think that the label has wrongfully been generalized to most well-meaning Christians.  But, the truth is that the hate monger and the saint have one thing in common—they both have sinned.  We fail to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and fail to love our neighbor as ourselves every day.  No one needs to tell a good Christian that they are a hypocrite; they know it already.  When the Jews were caught in their own trap that they set for Jesus, they recognized the fact that they were sinners, and could do nothing but walk away in their own shame. 

            God cannot and will not let hypocrisy and sin go unpunished.  If you are a homosexual reader, take courage in this: every man or woman on earth will have to give an account for every time they called you a faggot or a dyke, every time they looked down upon you in their self-righteousness; every crude gay joke aimed at you; anything and everything that demeaned you as a human being.  If God showed me a count every time I said faggot or any other offensive epithet, every gay joke I made, and every time I decided to avoid a homosexual just because they were gay, I could only weep over my sinfulness.  I believe that every human being that walks this earth has been made in the Image of the Creator, and whenever the image-bearer is assaulted, the Creator is the utmost offended party.  Justice will be done, and anyone who has been offended ought to rejoice, and anyone who has done the offending ought to fear.  I know I have played the role of both the offended and the offender, and I gather that everyone feels the same way.

            The second is that Jesus extends love and grace to everyone, including those who are seen as vile and outcasts.  Jesus did not come to save only white Anglo-Saxon Evangelicals who live comfortably behind their white picket fences in their cozy home with their 2.5 children.  In fact, in the three years that Jesus walked the earth, he built a reputation of being friends with “sinners,” which then built disdain among the Jewish elite of the day (the same ones who wanted to stone the adulteress).  He had an affinity for the marginalized, and if he walked the streets of my city today, he’d do the same thing.  I can imagine the Christian elite in suburban Columbus echoing the Pharisees, murmuring, “He’s a friend of queers.” But, Jesus comes to those who the self-righteous marginalize—even to the point of killing them so they might not share the same world anymore—and puts an end to it.  “Come to me, all you who are weary,” says the Lord “any you will find rest.”  There is no qualifier—one just needs to go to him to find peace and shelter from all that threaten our lives.

             The final thing that I wish comes from this passage is that it is impossible for one to come face-to-face with Jesus and remain the same.  Jesus claimed to be the long awaited Messiah; the Christ; “God With Us.”  Here is a quote from C.S. Lewis about the person of Jesus: “We may note in passing that he was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met him. He produced mainly three effects—Hatred—Terror—Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.” (“What are We to Make of Jesus Christ?, God in the Dock).  Only in our pluralistic Westernized culture do we find a watered-down version of Jesus; one who had some decent things to say but whom we refuse to let have any sort of claim on our lives.  But, Jesus confronts anyone who contemplates him and his words.  He gives each of us a decision to make—to worship him or to worship ourselves; to hate our sin and give it to him, or to love our sin and revel in it.  “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25).

            When we hear such statements (ones that a “moral teacher” would dare not speak) it is easy to feel why we would either come to adore Jesus or hate him.  The adulteress hates her life.  She is caught sleeping with a man who is not her husband and she is humiliated and condemned to die, but in her hatred of the way she is living, and the gracious offer that Jesus makes is one that she takes in a heartbeat, and she will adore him for eternity.  But when Jesus tells us to give up everything for his sake, we can’t help but feel hatred for someone for infringing upon our “rights”—things we feel were deservingly or inherently given to us.  We can say that we earned our wealth, but Jesus tells us says “go, sell your possessions to the poor, and follow me.” (Matt 19:21-22).  We can say that we have the right to hate those who have legitimately hurt us, but Jesus says “love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44). We say that we have the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but Jesus says “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23).  Even if we have earned everything in life that we could possibly desire, Jesus still says “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

            I believe the LGBT community have a question to ask themselves about what they would rather have.  Would they like to have a world where their identity was not despised, where same-sex marriage was fully legal and accepted, where they would be free to love whoever they wanted without feeling judged or condemned, where people wouldn’t question if they could raise children as well as heterosexuals, and the entire Gay Rights Movement would be passé because there would be no more rights to earn?  Or, do they want Jesus Christ?  I do not mean “religion.”  I mean that mangled man on that cross, covered in blood, with pierced hands and feet, hanging for the sin of mankind—do they want him? Do they want the Suffering Servant to have suffered for them?  To have the Great High Priest sympathize with their weaknesses?  To be purchased by the Blood of the Lamb?  To be an adopted son or daughter of God?  To live a life of self-denial for the blink of an eye that they are on the earth, so that they may live in ever-lasting peace when they go to their true home?  Having both is not an option—no one can serve two masters. 

            This was meant to be a catalyst for everyone who decided to read.  I pray overly-tolerant Christians understand that God is not tolerant of sin.  I pray that overly-condemning Christians become more loving to those who have been hurt by the Church and want no part of Jesus Christ because of it.  I want non-Christians to understand what we believe about the severity of all sin and that the good news all these Christians are talking about is that Jesus Christ came to destroy sin’s hold on us.  And, above all, I want to apologize to the LGBT community, whom I have not treated in the way they deserve to be treated, and my lack of love is sin from which I must repent.  But, I cannot alter my beliefs founded upon Jesus because of how I or any other Christian has treated you. 

And, I also know that I am not going to win anyone over by these words.  All I want is for you to look at Jesus. 

I am open to any questions from anyone who has one.