Do christians accept homosexuality
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 dude and a sapphic. Raised in the midst of LGBT parties and movement parades, Kaltenbach became a Christian and a pastor as a young senior. Today, he manages the tension of holding to the traditional biblical instruction on sexuality while loving his male lover parents.
Kaltenbach’s unique story is detailed in his new publication 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 surpass navigate the complexities of this
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible Tell About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Research Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible say about attraction to someone of the similar sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even coined until the sdelayed 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can bounce into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a concise but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible
Homosexuality
Discourse around homosexuality, which is sometimes referred to as “same-sex attraction” and more frequently understood today as lesbian, gay, or attracted to both genders identities, remains divisive and hard for churches to discuss. Whilst Christians over the centuries include often come to uneasy compromises on other notable theological differences, it is sexual identities that are not heterosexual which maintain to cause disagreement all over the world today.
In the last forty years, there has been a seismic shift in legal reforms around the world. Whilst these have not been universally adopted, many countries have decriminalised homosexuality; acted to prevent discrimination of employment, healthcare, and housing to lesbian and gay people; and some have introduced legislation for same-sex marriage.
Such developments contain often received a mixed reaction from Christian denominations, and there continue to be lived-out tensions as clergy and lay people struggle to “love God and love your neighbour” when their disagreements often feel insurmountable.
Much of a contemporary Chr
The Bible and same sex relationships: A review article
Tim Keller,
Vines, Matthew, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same Sex Relationships, Convergent Books,
Wilson, Ken,A Letter to My Congregation, David Crum Media,
The relationship of homosexuality to Christianity is one of the main topics of discussion in our culture today. In the fall of last year I wrote a review of books by Wesley Hill and Sam Allberry that take the historic Christian view, in Hill’s words: “that homosexuality was not God’s original imaginative intention for humanity and therefore that homosexual train goes against God’s communicate will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.”
There are a number of other books that obtain the opposite view, namely that the Bible either allows for or supports same sex relationships. Over the last year or so I (and other pastors at Redeemer) hold been regularly asked for responses to their arguments. The two most peruse volumes taking this position seem to be those by Matthew Vines and Ken Wilson. The review of these