God and Gays

What exactly does God think of gay people, and how should we treat them? 

Certainly, God condemns the practice of homosexuality.  Lev. 18:22 says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”  Romans 1:26-27 says “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”  So, we can be pretty sure since both the Old and New Testaments call this a sin, it was sin before Christ and still is.

If homosexuals are sinners, how is the Christian supposed to treat them?  Christians have been more harsh toward the sin of homosexuality than pretty much any other sin.  We will allow an adulterer or a drug addict attend church with us.  After all, they need the Lord and to repent, right?  But, many churches don’t allow homosexuals through their doors.    

We have all sinned, so why do you suppose homosexuality is treated like a mega-sin?  Maybe because many see it is a sin against nature as well as a sin against God, a kind of double sin.  But, is that biblical?  I don’t see gradations of sin in the Scripture, so a homosexual is no more of a sinner than an adulterer. 

Can gay people be changed by God and become straight?  In 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Paul says “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

So, we see that some of the men at the church at Corinth were no longer practicing homosexuals.  Either they were changed by God or chose to abstain from the practice.

I was on the church’s elder board a few years ago, and we faced this problem. We wanted homosexuals to come to our church and hear the gospel, but at what point are we condoning the lifestyle? We came to the following decisions: 1. If a homosexual repents and ends their relations with other gays as well as abstaining from homosexual practices, they are welcomed into membership of the church. 2. If they are still seeking God, and we can see a change in their lives, they are encouraged to stay. 3. If they continue to attend, but we see no change after several months of instruction, they may continue to attend but not cause dissention within the body. 4. If they do cause dissent or division, they they would be asked to leave.

That moves us to the next natural question, “Can there be gay Christians?” That’s like asking can there be Christian sinners?  You and I sin and are Christians, so I’m sure the answer is yes.  To be a Christian, though, we are to no longer practice sin.  The test of a true Christian walk is if the Christian practices sin, yet 1 John 1:9, written to Christians, says we Christians need to confess our sins and be forgiven.   So, Christians aren’t sinless no matter how hard we try. Some Christians are addicted to a particular sin: drunkenness, pornography, drugs, and more.  They may need help, and there are plenty of ministries out there offering.  It may be the same with homosexuality.  Legend tell us Michelangelo was gay but abstained his entire life because he knew practicing homosexuality was sin.  I think this is evidence of a Christian life.

Michelangelo’s choice to abstain also addresses the question, “What if I was born like this?”  We hear this pretty often.  Well, even if you were born this way, God says to practice homosexuality will keep you from His kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-11).  So a homosexual who wishes to become a Christian is just like anyone else, he needs to repent, confess his sin before God, and ask God to take control of his life.  Like adulterers, thieves, addicts, and all the rest of us, they need to give up the practice of sin.  We were all born with the same sin nature.  Even if being born a homosexual is true, it’s not an excuse. 

Christians aren’t innocent.  Withholding God’s love from those we see as unlovable doesn’t excuse us from God’s instruction to love one another.  Jesus didn’t separate out gays as a group not deserving of hearing the gospel. Paul says in Romans 5:18 that Christ died for all men.  Not all men except gays but for all men, gays included.

Remember all the sin in your life?  Remember how God was able to forgive you and save you from hell?  Homosexuals are also people for whom Christ died.  In that sense, they are no different from the rest of us.  Let’s love more and judge less.  It’s God’s way – the best way.