the 411.pt4.

*This article has been updated and “re-worked” (October 8, 2009)

I have been hesitant to write this post, mainly due to the topic involved.  But in reading some other blogs about this issue, I would like to enter in my two cents.  The issue is a heavy one, but one that I think needs to be addressed: Gay Christians.

Let me start off and say, that this post is not meant to judge the heart of a person (a Christian) but to speak about the fruit of a person (Christian).  God knows the heart of man (Luke 16:15); man does not.  The heart relationship between a person and God is between them and no one else.  Man has no evidence of a person’s salvation, except what is seen through the actions that person lives out.  In other words, one’s salvation / relationship with God is seen by the kind of life they live, or by the fruit they bear (Matthew 7:16-20).  It’s in this light, as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, that we should spur one another on in good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), so that the fruit of God’s children will be seen by many and in so doing the world may know and worship Him as their Creator (1 Peter 2:12).

If a person is a Christian, a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, and they are not living as they ought (according to what God has outlined through scripture), then I believe, as scripture states, we are to call those people out on their actions (1 Corinthians 5:12).  In a sense we are our brother’s keeper.  Are we to judge them and state that because of their sin(s) they are no longer GOD’S children?  NO! Though I do believe that if my friend is struggling in an area, I am to call him/her on it in the hopes of leading them to reconcile their wrong doing and fix whatever is broken between them and God.  I believe this is part of “loving your neighbor as yourself” … loving as Jesus loved us (John 13:34).  Jesus, whenever He encountered a person in need of healing, almost always ended the conversation with a comment like this: your sins are forgiven … go and sin no more.  Jesus brought healing and restoration, and He also brought a command to live differently then before.  As John 15:16 states, “You did not choose ME, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last … This is MY command: love each other.”

It is in this context that I write this post.

To simply state, it is my personal belief that a person who is actively pursuing a gay identity (life) cannot be actively pursuing after Jesus.  Again, this is not to say that they aren’t Christians, but rather I question their desire for and commitment to Jesus.  There is a difference.  One can say they are a Christian and live “like the world” – lie, cheat, steal, have pre-material sex, have affairs while married, etc.  Just because one says that they are a Christian, does not imply that they are living a Christian lifestyle.  Jesus called out many people who claimed to love God and yet lived for themselves.  As Jesus stated in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both GOD and _________ (fill in the blank).”  This verse does not just apply to money and materialism; it deals with anything you put before God.

Now this approach makes some assumptions.  First, that you agree God’s Word is correct and is relevant for today’s culture.  Second, that you are striving to live a Godly life while striving to live a life you want – knowing that it may be sinful.  Third, this statement makes the assumption that you are willingly compromising one to attain the other.  Though these are simply assumptions that I am making, I feel (again based on my experiences and the experiences of others I know) that my assumptions are correct.

Additional assumptions could also be made that either you agree that homosexuality is a sin, but choose to ignore it; you believe that homosexuality is not a sin, and choose to ignore the scriptures that says it is; or you choose to remain neutral in this debate and strive to live both “sides of the fence”.  I think I can safely say, that those who live an openly gay Christian life fall into one of these three assumptions.

A committed Christian – follower of Christ – lives their life not for themselves but for Him who has given them new life (Matthew 16:24-26).  This means believing in and agreeing to live out what Jesus has commanded.  The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.  What God’s Word has stated before is still relevant for today (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Many argue that Jesus fulfilled all the laws in the Old Testament and therefore we don’t need to refer to them any longer.  But this is only half-true.  Jesus came to fulfill the law of the prophets, He came to fulfill the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and came to uphold the moral laws of God (found in both Testaments).  In so doing, we need to do two things: recognize our salvation is in Jesus and not works, and to live moral lives that uphold the standard’s that God set in place.  This is part of being a disciple of Christ – a follower of Him (Luke 6:46, John 14:15, John 10:7-18).

When I was living as a gay man who also professed to be a disciple of Christ, I knew full well that I was willingly compromising what I believed with how I was living.  I disregarded the scriptures against homosexuality – I justified my actions and the scripture.  I determined in my mind that being gay was how God made me, and therefore God wanted me to be gay.  I rationalized in my mind and heart that ex-gay ministries were wrong and that gay Christians were loved by God just as much as straight Christians.  And any scripture that refuted these beliefs, I disregarded as being mistranslated and not relevant for today’s need and time.

I was right about somethings (like God loving gay Christians, as well as Christians who are addicted to porn, gambling, and gossiping), but I was also wrong about a lot of things.  In my struggle to justify my lifestyle with scripture, GOD got a hold of me … and began to open my eyes to His truth.  Could every verse against my gay identity truly be mistranslated?  Out of the entire Bible, the only scriptures mistranslated were the ones dealing with homosexuality.  Could this really be true?  Was the real issue God’s Word, or was the real issue me?  I began to wonder that, if some of God’s word was untrue then couldn’t all of it be found untrue?  And if this was the case, why even profess to believe in Him anyways … it would be easier to live life without Him then to try and balance the two.  Right?  I was left with a big choice to make – live for God, all of Him, or live for myself.  I knew, deep within, that I couldn’t have both.

I suspect that many gay Christians face the same battle.  I suspect that many try to balance both “lives” but in the end only come up short handed because the life they truly want is being conflicted with another one.  The question I pose than is this: can a person be wholeheartedly devoted to Christ, and His Word, and also be devoted to living a gay identity, which knowingly goes against God’s Word?  Can the two lives be authentically lived by the same person?  I don’t believe you can; because within your relationship with Him there is compromise.  How can you be ’sold-out’ to something that you don’t fully trust?  Can you see where the compromise is?

Now, I am not talking about people who struggle with attractions to the same-sex.  I am talking about people who claim a gay identity, have (or are pursuing) a relationship with the same-sex, who call themselves Christian, and who don’t think anything they are doing is wrong.  I firmly believe that a person can struggle with same-sex attractions and also follow hardcore after Jesus – it’s called being celibate.  I fully applaud those men and women!

Jesus said that we are either for Him or against Him … we can’t take the parts we like and throw out the parts we don’t agree with.  A person either fully accepts or fully denies Him.  That’s where your choice comes into play.  This is where a person’s gay identity becomes a choice rather than something inborn.

Again, I am not saying that gay people don’t love God or don’t want a relationship with God.  There is plenty of evidence that they do.  What I am saying is that I don’t believe a person who is actively living out their gay identity can also actively live out their devotion to Christ.  The same can be said for anyone who tries to live out a life that goes against the standards of God – see such stories as Luke 15 (the prodigal son), John 4 (the Samaritan woman), John 8 (the woman caught in adultery), and Mark 10 (the rich young ruler).

God wants His children to pursue Him.  Sometimes that means leaving behind our desires (dreams and wants) in order to follow after Him wholeheartedly.  Following after God means that we all have a cross to bear; we all have something else that is going to tug at our hearts for our attention, getting our focus off of God.  In that struggle, we have a choice to make: live for God or live for ourselves.  six11 ministries strives to help people chose God over themselves.