Why would god make me gay
ALEXANDRIA, Tenn. (BP) &#; &#;Why doesn&#;t God love gays?&#; a teenager asked during our youth ministry time the other night.
It was sort of out of the blue since the discussion was on the give back of Jesus, but clearly it was on the heart of at least one, if not many, of the teens there that night. I appreciate this teen&#;s boldness to ask!
It&#;s a question this generation has had to wrestle with that previous generations did not. In evidence, the speed with which the topic of homosexuality has come to dominate the social and political conversation is staggering, aided by what pastor Voddie Baucham described as &#;a coordinated, well-funded, well-connected propaganda strategy&#; in a article at The Gospel Coalition.
The movement has become like a snowflake that turns into an avalanche, demolishing any opposition in the widespread arena, and it&#;s still growing.
Without a doubt, many immature people are confused. They&#;re hearing in pop culture and maybe even in their schools that homosexuality is a perfectly legitimate lifestyle that not only should be tolerated but celebrated and
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 bloke and a lesbian. Raised in the midst of LGBT parties and pride parades, Kaltenbach became a Christian and a pastor as a young individual. Today, he manages the tension of holding to the traditional biblical teaching on sexuality while loving his gay 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 superior navigate the complexities of this
The following blog is written by Dr. Greg Coles. Greg is part of The Center's collaboration team and has a Ph.D. in English from Penn State. He's also the author of the recently released: Single, Gay, Christian.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a good conservative Christian boy who realizes he’s gay will spend years in agonized and fervent prayer asking God to make him straight.
At least, that’s what I did.
Beginning at the age of twelve, I measured my spiritual life according to my progress towards heterosexuality. I tried to notice girls. I tried not to notice guys. I invented “crushes” and told people about romantic desires I didn’t actually have for my female friends. I even tried to lust after a picture of a scantily clad lady once, just to see if I could do it. (In retrospect, not my best noun. Cut me a break. I was twelve.) But by the grace of God, I never did manage any lust over that picture. I might as well own been staring at an office supplies poster.
I tried and prayed and tried and prayed, and I failed on all counts. If loving Jesus was suppos Some Christians respond to this argument with what seems to be the only alternative: by saying that those who identify as gay choose to be gay. This response is usually met with so much derision—“With all the homophobia in the world, who would choose to be gay??”. . . “Did you choose to be straight??&#;—that it’s seldom helpful. In one sense, of course, it’s correct. If by gay you mean “a person who engages in homosexual behavior,” then God doesn’t make someone gay any more than he makes someone an adulterer, a fornicator, or a man who has relations with just his wife. God doesn’t make people engage in any sexual behaviors. We freely choose all our moral actions—that’s why we can be held accountable for them. But when most people utter , “God made me gay,” they’re talking about attractions (which they consider part of a God-given identity) rather than behaviors. Although, this implies that they’re also talking about whether it’s okay to act upon those desires, since it seems self-evident to most people that we can act according to how we’re made.
&#;God Made Me Gay&#;