Being gay and god
How Should Christians Respond to Gay Friends or Family Members?
Caleb Kaltenbach (M.A. ’07) is an alumnus of Biola’s Talbot School of Theology, lead pastor of a large church in Simi Valley, Calif., and a married father of two. He’s also an emerging voice in the discussion of how Christians should engage the LGBT community. That’s because Kaltenbach has an insider perspective, having been raised by a dad and mom who divorced and independently came out of the closet as a gay human and a woman loving woman. Raised in the midst of LGBT parties and self-acceptance parades, Kaltenbach became a Christian and a pastor as a young mature person. Today, he manages the tension of holding to the traditional biblical learning on sexuality while loving his lgbtq+ parents.
Kaltenbach’s unique story is detailed in his new guide Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction and landed him on the front page of the New York Times in June. Biola Magazine reached out to him to talk about his book and his perspective on how Christians can excel navigate the complexities of this
I was baptized a several weeks before my 19th birthday because of the Book of Romans and its assurance that once you come to Christ, your mind is renewed and you are put free from the bondage of sin.
After my baptism, I walked around with my Bible. I told my whole family and strangers about my conversion from atheism. I realize I seemed crazy, but I was floored by the concept of God’s promises and his unfathomable, boundless grace. I could not understand how anyone could deny such excellent news.
I could not grasp how there was ever a time I did not believe.
My newly acquired faith hit me at a time when I did not know which way was up. I was on the verge of dropping out of community college, I could not find a fit socially, I was fighting constantly with my parents, and I had no concept of the future. I believed Christ was the only way to sort out my post-adolescent messes.
I was zealous about reading the Bible, going to church, and praying. I was relentless. And yet, I had not brought to God my biggest obstacle—my sexuality. It was not until I came out to a friend at the church by
The following blog is written by Greg Coles. Greg is part of The Center's collaborative team and is the author of the book Single, Gay, Christian.
“Is God anti-gay?”
Many people expect the answer to this question to be a simple binary, either yes or no. If you’re a conservative (in the totalizing sense of the word), the answer is absolutely yes: God must be anti-gay, because homosexual sexual behavior is forbidden in the Bible. And if you’re a progressive (in the equally totalizing sense), the answer is absolutely no: God can’t possibly be anti-gay, because God loves all people. But the assumption shared by everyone across the board seems to be that we know what the ask means—that a simple answer, yes or no, ought to suffice as a response.
For me, though, the question of whether God is “anti-gay” has never been a simple one. I’ve heard it asked so many unlike times, in so many other ways, by so many unlike people (myself included). And each time, it seems to imply something slightly different. When someone asks, “Is God anti-gay?”, they might mean, “What does God
Is being gay a sin?
Answer
In order to answer the question “Is being male lover a sin?” we demand to challenge some assumptions upon which the interrogate is based. Within the past fifty years, the term gay, as applied to homosexuality, has exploded into mainstream culture, and we are told that “being gay” is as much outside one’s command as “being short” or having blonde hair. So the question is worded in a loaded way and impossible to adequately answer in that develop . We need to crack this question up and deal with each piece separately. Rather than inquire, “Is being gay a sin?” we need to ask, “Is it sinful to have same-sex attractions?” And, “Is it sinful to engage in gay activities because of those attractions?”
Concerning the first scrutinize, “Is it sinful to have same-sex attractions?” the answer is complicated. First, we should probably distinguish between (actively) sinning and (passively) being tempted:
Being temptedis not a sin. Jesus was tempted, but He never sinned (Matthew ; Hebrews ). Eve was tempted in the garden, and the forbidden fruit definitely appealed to her,