It's important to me for my belief, attitude, and action to "jive". Otherwise, I feel like a little boat with no rudder, moving around in circles.
When I say I believe there are gay Christians, I'm saying that I have brothers and sisters in God's kingdom who are gay. They pray with me, fellowship with me, and if the opportunity presented itself, I'd share bread and the fruit of the vine at the table with them in the name of Christ.
In addition to all this, I'll assert that I don't believe God ever EVER changes His mind about what sin is. I believe without a doubt that the same things that are sin now have always been sin. So, it's either always been possible to be a divorced and remarried (even *shudder* 3 times) Christian or it's never been possible at all. I believe it works the same with being gay.
In my thinking, it comes down to intent. I believe there's a TON of stuff going on in our world today that is contrary to God's original intent. The biggest change in my belief about being gay and being Christian is that I used to believe gays couldn't be Christians because God didn't intend folks to be gay in his original design. Now, this same way of thinking is the very reason I've changed my mind. I still don't believe that God originally designed folks to be gay. I also believe that he designed us so that the most optimum way to live is with one other person of the opposite sex in a commitment that lasts till death.
But, because sin entered the world, God's original intent for everything....and I mean everything, got screwed up. Some gay folks take great offense at this notion because basically I'm saying that they are a product of sin. Well, I am saying that. But I'm also saying that I'm a product of sin. My sexuality, in and of itself, is laced through and through with sin. In the Old Testament days, it was vital for folks to follow long lists of dos and donts in order to remain holy in God's sight. And even then, they needed the blood sacrifice, another list of stuff to "do", to keep their place in God's kingdom. I think God went through all of those examples with the children of Israel for a reason. They are an example to us of how God works with folks within their sinful state of being. So many of those great heroes of the Bible struggled in ways that were contrary to God's original intent. In fact, there are very few of them who don't have some sort of "black eye" of sin. Yet they continued to turn their hearts toward God. God tolerated all sorts of things back then that would never make it with today's Christian Right.
I'm not saying that Christians who are gay don't have some changing to do, but in the end, they don't have any more changing to do than I have. I believe that they can turn their hearts toward God and He will take care of changing what needs to be changed. I believe that when Jesus said to lust after someone in your heart is the exact same thing as committing adultery, he meant it. Literally. This means that sin takes place in your heart, not in your actions. Yes, there are certain actions that are impossible to commit unless your heart is turned from God. However, there are situations when those actions could be committed with a heart that IS turned toward God.
I struggle with sin. Real LIVE sin. It weighs on me heavily at times. Right now, I'm struggling mightily with not coveting things that other folks have. When I see a family together or even hear my friends talking about what they did over the weekend with their husband or kids, I struggle a great deal with not coveting those things. The Holy Spirit has made me aware of this sin and I'd actually appreciate your prayers with me to overcome it. There is no difference between me struggling with this sort of sin than if I were struggling with sexual impurity. Absolutely none. If there is a difference, in fact, it is that the coveting of my neighbors' family life is actually something more real and dangerous to my life in God's kingdom than sexual impurity simply because of the possibility of its occurrence being so frequent. Fortunately, I don't have good-looking men bolting through my door trying to seduce me on a regular basis. In fact, that's never happened! haha!
I also don't have James Dobson decrying my existence, politicians comparing me to terrorists, or an entire industry dedicated to "saving" me from myself. It's just me with God, figuring this stuff out as I go along. Basically, I believe there are Christians who are gay because I'm a Christian. I figure if He'll let me in, there's gotta be a way for every one else.
love and grace,
pam
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