How can you be a Christian if you're gay?
It's a difficult thing for a lot of people to understand. We get asked a lot, "Why would you want to be a part of a religion that hates who you are?" So, if that's what you're wondering right now, this page is for you. (People coming from a Christian perspective are probably asking the opposite question. They should click here.)
The underlying assumption in this sort of a question is that we could *choose* to believe whatever we wanted to believe, as if picking out a religion were as simple as deciding what to wear each morning. But we are Christians because we truly believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Annointed One of God, who was in fact God's Son and who died on the Cross to pay for the sins that you and I commit each day. This is what we really honestly believe to be the truth, with all our hearts and minds. My saying, "I believe Jesus is the Son of God," is as straightforward as your saying, "I believe I have $110.18 in my checking account." You could, obviously, be wrong about the amount in your checking account, but if your bank statement says $110.18, and your checkbook says $110.18, then you will probably believe that you have $110.18 in your checking account. If I say to you, "But your life would be so much easier if you only believed that you had a million dollars in your checking account!" that wouldn't make any difference to you, because you know what you believe, and unless there is some concrete reason to believe that you really have a million dollars in your checking account, you will go on believing that you have $110.18 in it, no matter how difficult that might be.
It is the same with us. Each of us has his own reasons for believing that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, but whatever our reasons are, we are all firmly convinced of that fact. For someone to say to us, "Why don't you just believe something else?" is meaningless because we wouldn't really be believing something else, we would just be behaving as if we believed something else. No, it's not easy being gay and Christian, but we cannot deny something we believe to be the truth for the sake of convenience.
This brings up another issue. Does Christianity really teach that homosexuality itself is immoral? Certainly, to listen to most televangelists and conservative politicians today, one would think so. But a careful study of Christian doctrine proves otherwise. The Bible contains no references at all to sexual orientation, though it does discuss homosexual acts in a few places. (For more on this, see Homosexuality and Christianity: different views on a controversial subject.) The Pope himself has acknowledged that it is not a sin to be gay. Why, then, do so many people believe otherwise? Probably because they have heard things without taking the time to check them out thoroughly, and they have formed opinions based on incomplete information. One of our goals as a channel is to educate people about the truth regarding homosexuality and Christianity. Some people, however, simply use Christianity as an excuse for displaying blatantly anti-Christian behavior. Many of us have seen the "God hate fags" signs on television during gay-related events, sometimes even with a Bible verse on them to make them appear legitimate. This is nothing but a deliberate misrepresentation of the teachings of Christ. Even if it were a sin to be gay (though we have seen that it is not), the proper Christian response would be love, never hate. God is never depicted in the Bible as "hating" any person. Jesus demonstrated God's love in the way he dealt with the "sinners" (in quotes because Christianity teaches that ALL are truly sinners) of his time. He was heavily criticized by the religious establishment of his day *because* he went out of his way to spend time with the most despised sinners in the land. He did not condemn, even though he clearly held a very strict code of righteousness.
If all this is true, then there is no conflict between being gay and being a Christian. The question we have to deal with next is, what does God want us to do about our sexuality? Since we have put our faith in God, we believe that it is important to know what He wants from us, no matter how easy or difficult His calling is. However, as regards homosexuality, there are a number of different views on how God wants His people to behave. It is up to the individual to decide what he or she believes to be the truth.
Click here to return to the GayTeenChristians homepage.