Posted on 08/14/2019 10:05:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Being a celibate gay Christian means being an object of suspicion. The wider LGBTQ community sees you as shockingly conservative (“You think gay sex is wrong?”), while the wider evangelical community sees you as worryingly liberal (“You call yourself gay?”).
One day, someone will be expressing disgust toward your “fundamentalist” beliefs. On the next, someone else is targeting your “perverted” sexual orientation. Disparate groups see you as an existential threat, and their attacks can be fierce, as recent online responses to conferences like Revoice and ministries like Spiritual Friendship and Living Out would attest.
Researchers Mark Yarhouse and Olya Zaporozhets step bravely (foolishly?) into this battleground with their comprehensive study of people like me: Costly Obedience: What We Can Learn from the Celibate Gay Christian Community. It’s an important book with an academic feel that grows more pastoral as you read on. Yarhouse has written multiple volumes on LGBTQ experience based on careful research from the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity at Regent University in Virginia, where both of the authors teach. I wouldn’t agree with everything he’s ever written, but I thank God for the gracious tenor of his contributions.
This newest book is essentially a listening exercise, based on an in-depth survey of celibate gay Christians. You hear their stories of milestone events and experiences in church life and ministry—as well as research that maps their mental health outcomes and relational challenges.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
If it’s gay first and Christian second, that’s the wrong order to begin with.
Matthew 7:15
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Why does anyone need to know they are “gay”?
They don’t need to tell anybody anything about their sexual preferences and orientation.
Anyone who calls himself “gay” and still manages to defy the temptation to indulge that self-destructive behavior has earned my respect.
Same for heterosexuals who remain chaste.
Christian identify is to be rooted in Christ, not sexual orientation. A Christian might struggle with same-sex attraction but that doesn’t mean their identity is built upon it. If I struggle with the sin of anger, that doesn’t mean I should call myself an angry Christian.
bump
If a homosexual fights the urges and has accepted Christ, who am I to call him less of a Christian?
RE: If a homosexual fights the urges and has accepted Christ, who am I to call him less of a Christian?
We all have urges. Those who are not gay have urges to have sex with women who are not their wife ( or husband ).
Temptation is always a danger.
I would also note the word "practice". It's a behavior being condemned.
I am a Christian who is celibate in his promiscuity, as I suspect are the overwhelming majority of male Christians, perhaps all Christians. Desire is as much a sin as acting on the desire, but as Luther put it in his first of the 95 theses, the Christian life is one of continuous repentance.
Every Gay I have ever met, would mate with a fence post if it was wearing enough makeup.
“I’ve been around gay people all my life, and you guys can’t handle monogamy!”
- Bette Midler
Same observation applies here I’m afraid.
So, does this mean that allowing them to “marry” won’t change their polyamorous ways?
The gay Christian view eliminates the role of the Holy Spirit and of Scripture.
If Scripture says man-woman, the Holy Spirit, if He is at work in a man’s heart, will bring that about. Or the Holy Spirit is going to bring about a pure form of celibacy.
There are no gay Christians. There may be Christians who fight sexual temptations, whether for porn or homo acts or rape or whatever. Sometimes the flesh may flare up and they want to have sex in a way or with someone that is forbidden.
But we are not adultery Christians, or bestiality Christians, or homo Christians. We are just Christians. We are not required to marry and have sex. But if we so desire we may marry a godly spouse and have at it. Them’s the rules.
To imagine you can spend a lifetime lusting after same sex folks without repentance is to delude yourself.
Virtually everyone desires adultery and fornication in their lifetime. In that sense we all deserve your respect.
Sexual temptation is not unique to the homosexual leaning person.
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