How Can the Gospel Be Good News to Gays?

We were having lunch together, and I was praying like mad. My friend had been in a committed same-sex relationship for about 15 years. He was interested in Jesus; attracted to his teaching and message. But he wanted to know how becoming a Christian would affect his gay lifestyle.

I had explained, as carefully and graciously as I could, that Jesus upheld and expanded the wider biblical stance on sexuality, that the only context for sexual activity is heterosexual marriage. Following Jesus would mean seeking to live under his word, in this area as in any other.

He had been quiet for a moment, and then looked me in the eye and asked the billion-dollar question: 'What could possibly be worth giving up my partner for?'

I held his gaze for a moment while my brain raced for the answer. There was eternity, of course. There was heaven and hell. But I was conscious that these realities would seem other-worldly and intangible to him. In any case, surely following Jesus is worth it even for this life. He was asking about life here-and-now, so I prayed for God to lead me to a here-and-now Bible verse. I wanted my friend to know that following Jesus really is worth it---worth it in the life to come, but also worth it in this life now, no less so for those who have homosexual feelings. Yes, there would be a host of hardships and difficulties: unfulfilled longings, the distress of unwanted temptation, and the struggles of long-term singleness.

But I wanted him to know that following Jesus is more than worth it, even with all it entails for gay people. And I also wanted to tell him that I had come to know this not just from studying the Bible and listening to others, but from my own experience.

Homosexuality is an issue I have grappled with my entire Christian life. It took a long time to admit to myself, longer to admit to others, and even longer to see something of God's good purposes through it all. There have been all sorts of ups and downs. But this battle is not devoid of blessings, as Paul discovered with his own unyielding thorn in the flesh. Struggling with sexuality has been an opportunity to experience more of God's grace, rather than less.

Only in recent months have I felt compelled to be more open on this issue. For many years I had no intention of being public about it. I am conscious that raising it here may lead to any number of responses---some welcome, some perhaps less so. But over the last couple of years I have felt increasingly concerned that, when it comes to our gay friends and family members, many of us Bible-believing Christians are losing confidence in the gospel. We are not always convinced it really is good news for gay people. We are not always sure we can really expect them to live by what the Bible says.

As my mind raced that lunchtime God gave me a verse to share with my friend. It demonstrates precisely why following Jesus is worth it, in this lifetime, and even when we have to give up things we could never imagine living without:

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much as in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields---and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." (Mark 10:28-30)

Following Jesus involves leaving things behind and giving things up. For gay people, it involves leaving behind a gay lifestyle.

The Bible is consistent in prohibiting homosexual practice. Jesus himself condemns "sexual immorality" (Mark 7:21, for example). Though Jesus does not directly mention homosexual activity, he does include it. The Greek word we translate as "sexual immorality" (porneia, from which we get the word pornography) is a catch-all term for any sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage.

Paul is more specific, directly referring to homosexual practice in three passages. In Romans 1:24-27 both homosexual and also lesbian activity are given as examples of the "unnatural" behavior that results from turning away from God. In 1 Cor. 6:9-10 "homosexual offenders" are listed among those whose behavior will result in their exclusion from God's kingdom. The word Paul uses literally translates as "men who lie with men" and comes again in 1 Timothy 1:10 (where the NIV 1984 unhelpfully translates it "perverts").

It is simply not possible to argue for gay relationships from the Bible. Attempts by some church leaders to do so inevitably involve twisting some texts and ignoring others. God's Word is, in fact, clear. The Bible consistently prohibits any sexual activity outside of marriage.

As someone who experiences homosexual feelings this is not always an easy word to hear. It has sometimes been very painful to come to terms with what the Bible says. There have been times of acute temptation and longing---times when I have been "in love." And yet Scripture shows that these longings distort what God has created me for.

However much we have to leave behind we are never left out of pocket. Whatever we give up Jesus replaces, in godly kind and greater measure. No one who leaves will fail to receive, and the returns are extraordinary---a hundredfold. What we give up for Jesus does not compare to what he gives back. If the costs are great, the rewards are even greater, even in this life. For me these include a wonderful depth of friendship God has given me with many brothers and sisters; the opportunities of singleness; the privilege of a wide-ranging ministry; and the community of a wonderful church family. But greater than any of these things is the opportunity that any complex and difficult situation presents us with: to learn the all-sufficiency of Christ---learning that fullness of life and joy is in him and his service, and nowhere else.

There is a huge amount to say on this issue, but the main point is this: the moment you think following Jesus will be a poor deal for someone, you call Jesus a liar. Discipleship is not always easy. Leaving anything cherished behind is profoundly hard. But Jesus is always worth it.

Right on!! So when homosexuality is pushed on us, let’s keep quiet lest we be called hypocrites or drive people away!!

Homosexuality is a higher degree of grievous sin :

Leviticus 18:22 (KJV) “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

Since you seem to be lecturing us on driving people away should the church stay quiet? That didn’t help in the 60’s and 70’ did it?

Remember now it is the homosexual agenda that is being pushed onto us? Is your solution to not push back? But that would kind of defeat the purpose now wouldn’t it? Don’t speak out against it because then people will be against Christ and people will be mad at us and vote Democrat, but then being homosexual is against Christ is it not?

No thank you I’ll reject your interpretations and keep up the good fight and not stay quiet and not accept homosexuality :

Matthew 10:22 (KJV) :

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Right on!! So when homosexuality is pushed on us, let’s keep quiet lest we be called hypocrites or drive people away!!

Homosexuality is a higher degree of grievous sin :

Leviticus 18:22 (KJV) “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

Since you seem to be lecturing us on driving people away should the church stay quiet? That didn’t help in the 60’s and 70’ did it?

No thank you I’ll reject your interpretations and keep up the good fight and not stay quiet and not accept homosexuality :

Matthew 10:22 (KJV) :

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Wow. Your post certainly attracted the Viking Kitties. Did you mean to do that?

“...or do we ignore and do no harm?”

May I remind you that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke.

Ignore and do no harm? No sir. I - for one - will NOT ignore the harm that gays do.

“When you damn people in Jesus’ name who Jesus did NOT damn, they turn against you.”

Did you even read the article? The entire point was to treat those struggling with this and all sin that it’s not easy and that all Christians should be supportive in helping those struggling with all sin.

Or did you just see another opportunity to criticize evangelicals under the guise of being the good Christian?

“Did it EVER occur to you that the reason the Left might have so much power in this country is BECAUSE the hypocrisy of Christians have driven them AWAY from the teachings of Jesus that WOULD have reined in their madness and hatred?”

Or did it ever occur to you that the reason the Left has so much power is because Satan is the ruler of the world and tries to influence everyone as much as possible?

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) :

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

I've read the many replies to this article/post. Some are good, some are very good, some are downright inhospitable, some are "just so wrong."

I will say only this:

1st Corinthians 3:1-8, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

And this:

John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."

All we can do is present the Gospel to the homosexual community, the correct, pure and unblemished truth of God's Word. It is the job of the Holy Ghost to draw them to Jesus.

And please, don't call them gay. "Gay" was once a good term used to denote someone as being happy. Homosexuals are not "happy," homosexuality is a perverse lifestyle, one condemned by the Word of God.

That's my two cents worth. Like it or not, deal with it.

Concentrate on defeating the real enemies of freedom. BHO for starters.

There is a reason that the homosexual sex practitioners are a community organized group of useful idiots supporting BHO and it has nothing to do with individual freedom or conservatism.

Get a clue -the promotion of homosexual sex normalcy; the homosexual agenda, is an enemy of freedom.

Though you may suggest to politely impose acceptance of homosexual sex as normal among conservatives while the left imposes it by force of government; there is no difference.

Only leftists think they can create a heaven on earth and in doing so create a hell.

There are many of us that worship Jesus Christ and yet ignore the rest of y’all that seem to want to send our gay s to the gas chamber.

Worship of Jesus and defense of sin are contradictory in nature - and homosexual relations are sin (http://www.peacebyjesus.net/homosex_versus_the_bible.pdf) - and liberty without limits is anarchy.

That said, all have sinned, and all do, and compassion is to be shown to the penitent, and love toward even enemies, and there is room at the cross for all who are of a contrite heart and will come to the risen Lord Jesus for salvation by His sinless shed blood.

Indeed. While I’ll concede that many individual homosexual persons may very well be free-market capitalists who only wish to be left alone by the government, the homosexualist collective movement that blindly worships Obama and the Democrats most certainly does not hold to that view. Check out-

http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm

Thanks. I’m not the author of the article. I just posted it because I found it interesting and thought others would too.

However, I do believe only the Holy Spirit can regenerate the heart of one spiritually dead per Ephesians 2:1-10

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202:1-10&version=ESVUK

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Here’s another helpful one from Christ Himself.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:17-19&version=ESV

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

17 ‘“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’

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