After studying Romans 1:18-32 and being in relationship with a significant number of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Christians, I have changed my view on the meaning of these verses in Romans. Some may want to discount me because my theology differs from theirs. I get that; I was an adherent to the traditional view for almost twenty years. But, the likelihood is, until you’ve invested time into looking into these Scriptures for yourselves with a Bible, concordance and Holy Spirit wisdom, you are probably just repeating what you’ve been told .
I contend that there are severe cultural and fear based biases applied to the traditional view Christians have been taught in the last several decades. We didn’t used to be this mean or focused with venom on the GLBT community. The 1990′s ushered in a new era of homophobia in the church. Bible translations changed the words to reflect “homosexual” and “homosexuality” as the worst thing a person could be. I bought it all, until I got into a close friendship with a lesbian. The rules change when you like someone and I needed to look at the verses for myself.
I cover my interpretation of these verses in Romans in “Romans 1: 26 – 32 | To Whom Was This Directed?”. This post is an appeal to Christians to consider the impact of misapplying those verses. And to parents of gay/trans youth, I actually hope my words make you cry.
When the lives of so many people are in the balance, being lazy about personal investigation won’t cut it. Not your problem, don’t care, already settled on the issue? Well, the GLBT population is at about five in one hundred. We need to care. Seventy percent of GLBT people say a relationship with God is “very important to them” (Barna) And further, 58% say that they have made a personal commitment to Jesus. So why aren’t we seeing those gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in our churches? If God is as important to them and they have made personal commitments to Jesus as the statistics tell us, where are they?
Please read my postings on Romans 1:26- 32 first if you have the time. You will understand the position I am taking in these verses. Context, original language, audience, writer. All this matters. It was not written to a group of homosexual people today. But, that is how we often read it. It was written to a group of Romans, in the first century about a specific issue. Take a few minutes to read “Romans 1: 26 – 32 | To Whom Was This Directed?” for more details. In the NIV,we read:
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Quick recap: Romans was written to people who once knew God and had made a profession to follow Jesus as the Christ. The audience was new believers, left behind in Rome after the Jews, Christian Jews and Gentiles ” that lived as Jewish Christians” were evicted for infighting. Left behind were the weaker, new followers: Romans who were steeped in legacies of idol worship and surprise, surprise, they fell right back into it when their mentors left town.
We can see in reading Romans 1 that there are God-ordained consequences for having once known God, made a profession of faith in Jesus and then ,rejecting Him. These consequences are meted out on ALL people, not just homosexual people. The incredible 
injustice however is, however, that in the traditional view of Romans 1:26 – 28, it is the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community to whom the verses are directed.
We , as a church, have rejected GLBT people who once made a profession of belief in Jesus. or even those that are interested in getting to know what He is about. We demand that they change, demand that they not be gay, lesbian, bisexual or trangender. And the common response? They leave our churches or dare not walk in them. Not only do they leave our churches, but they are deeply wounded and hurt by Christians. Damage done in the name of Jesus. Many turn their backs on Him and permanently reject Him because of the non-loving treatment of Christians.
So, what do Romans 1 , Matthew 12 and Mark 3 say happens to those people who professed faith in Jesus/God/ Holy Spirit and turn from this knowledge? God leaves them and their lives get worse. Remember, this applies to heterosexual people too.
Have the consequences of your imposed rejection of the lives of others convicted any of you? There are people that once knew Him and they now hate Him because His followers have twisted Scripture to say it is God Who hates who they are, how they were created. And, who is it that pushed them away? God? Or well meaning people using verses they think they understand? People with the best of intentions to ensure that ” none should perish”, telling the gay community that they need to change their orientation or God will never accept them.
Let me make it more personal and very painful, especially to parents who have done this to their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender kids. Many Christian parents have raised their children in the faith. They know that their child once made a profession of belief in Christ. Even before these children hit puberty (uasually 5 to 8 when there are NO sexual thoughts going on), the child started to realize something was different. They wrestle, and eventually come to understand that they are gay. All the while, they are hearing that gay people are outside God’s will, that gay people will go to hell, that gay people are abominations, that gay people need to and can change, that gay people cannot please God. Whoa! Imagine being in the stage of your life when you are struggling to even figure out who you are , as all teens do, then, add onto that the suspecting that your own sexual orientation is different. Parents, pastors, youth group leaders will add to the struggle and now let them know that not even God likes them.
I hear horror stories of parental responses. Parents, in their efforts to force their children to be straight, will actually push their children FROM the faith. Most GLBTs raised in the church will come to a point of choosing between faith and orientation. Because we make them choose. Gay or Christian? As if they can choose not to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender? I have one friend who says, “I did not choose my orientation, but I did choose Jesus.”
So back to Romans . . what do the verses tell us will happen when people, having known God, turn their backs on Him? God will abandon them to themselves and their lives will get worse. Repeat, worse. This is that one really bad sin we have all heard about since childhood “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”: having known He exists and now denying that He does. THAT is the thing spoken of in Romans. THAT is what the recipients of the Letter to the Romans had done- they turned from God. They weren’t gay; they were people who turned back to their old ways of idolatry, part of which was same sex behavior in their temple rites an in prostitution in their worship experiences.
And many of us will take these verses and lay them on the backs of an entire class of people. And, this the a question to Christian parents with gay, lesbian, bisexual or trangender children: have you pushed your child from Jesus, from church, from your family because you have misused these verses? Weep. Weep, not only for what you imposed on the back and spirit of your child, but also for the consequences you are going to be held responsible for.
Do you realize gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens are 8 times more at risk of suicide, 4 times more apt to abuse substances and 6 times more likely to suffer depression than their heterosexual counterparts? Did you know that? And, why do you think this is? Sexual orientation, “reprobate minds”? No. Rejection, non acceptance, hopelessness . The struggle and the knowing that they cannot change orientation. Pile onto that parental pressure, church pressure, societal pressure. Pile it on. On some city streets, up to 40% of the teens are gay and trans youth, yet, they are only 5% of the population. Parents are kicking them out; parents are making it uncomfortable for these gay and trans youth to be at home. Want to destroy your child? Burden them with Romans 1, reject them and tell them they are not good enough the way they are. Tell them they are not pleasing to God.
The “pray the gay away” movement was started in the 70′s, during the “name it and claim it” era of Christianity. The most widely known of all of the “pray the gay aways” is Exodus. These statements are from their own website:
- heterosexuality is God’s intent for humanity and thus homosexuality is out of God’s will
- homosexuality can be broken by breaking the sin of it in a person’s life
- reorientation is possible
In, Leaving Homosexuality by Exodus President Alan Chambers, he says, “the opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, it is holiness.” I want to twist ears and grit my teeth when I read that! 
Stories of familial dysfunction and sexual abuse, common in the lives of heterosexual and homosexual people, are re-written in the Exodus experience to support the “this is why you are gay” storyline. To the father who recently told his 20 year old lesbian daughter that it would have been better for the mother to have had an abortion than she be gay: if you push your child from Christ, you will be responsible. Matthew 18:6 is clear, “if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Pretty clear what Jesus would say to you.
I am daily amazed to hear the stories of gay/trans Christians finding their way back to God and by those that somehow stay in His grip with all the opposition the church places in their paths. To those of you GLBT Christians who are in relationship with the Father, you have my absolute respect. I apologize for the pain caused by the people of God towards the “other” children of God. This never should have happened and it does need to be corrected.
We, the traditional church, in our arrogance of “knowing” what the heart of God is on this issue of sexual orientation, have let many in the gay and trans community suffer the drastic consequences of Romans 1: 28-32 and then, we ridicule them. Rejection has consequences.
We have taken verses about any person who knew God and now reject Him and used them to target gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Please, please, please, use your own Bible and a concordance, not the translation of the words you read, but the original words and study. Read some history; see what was going on at the time for yourself. Reading the Bible in context of today and in context of our own culture is foolish.
Finally, I get letters, comments and messages every day, every day, from people who have been rejected by the people of God and, of course, translate that as a rejection by God. If you have caused damaged to a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person with your interpretatio n of Romans 1, get down on both your knees and beg God for the wisdom to correct this offense. You may be the reason that som eone has walked away from God. We can differ on the interpretation of these Scriptures, but , if your theology in any way subjugates, eliminates, oppresses or lays extra burdens on any group of people, you are missing the message of the Good News. And, that is a problem.
RELATED POSTS:
“Was Sodom Really Destroyed Because it Was a Gay City?”
“Hello, I’m a Detestable Abomination | Looking at Leviticus & Deuteronomy”
“Romans 1:26-32 | To Whom Was This Directed?”“Are You In or Out? I Corinthians and I Timothy”
“Words on My Heart”
No part of this original work may be quoted in part without permission. Entire article with author name, Kathy Baldock, must be linked or appear with text. www.canyonwalkerconnections.com
The link is broken to your original post on Romans 1:18-32. Is there anyway to access that post? My FIL just sent out an email about this very thing and I am looking at other interpretations about this to point out to him. He listened to “wonderful” sermon a couple of months ago about homosexuality and now is trying to convince the family of his views. I found your blog and I look forward to reading through it. Thanks for your help!
Teresa
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You’ve got to be kidding meit’s so tranpsraenlty clear now!
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So, since you are saying we must put off all of our old desires…does that mean that straight people must put off those desires and adopt the opposite? You think for them to be holy they must become gay? If their old self is straight…and they are to put off their old self…then they must have to change. I wonder if it is possible for them to change? I wonder…hmmmm…maybe there is an organization somewhere that can help them change! There must be a ministry that someone, somewhere started to help straights become gay. Oh, wait a minute, I almost forgot…the opposite of straight isn’t gay, the opposite of straight is holy.
I have a challenge for you and everyone else who is straight: go try and be gay for 25 years…ask God to make you gay…ask Him to heal you of your straightness because the church won’t accept you as straight. Go to therapy. Get electric shock treatments if you have to for goodness sake…because we can’t have you in the church if you are straight!
Sounds silly doesn’t it? Thought so. That is because it is impossible to change who you really are. I spent 25 years trying. It took a severe back injury for me to be laying quiet for a long time…time enough for me to get real with God and ask Him why He hadn’t changed me in all that time of asking and believing Him to. Do you know what His answer was, and I quote: “Because I love you exactly the way I made you Kim. I don’t want you changed from my original design.” Maybe it was the pain killers, but I somehow drummed up the courage to believe Him and I am never looking back.
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Kathy | Canyonwalker Reply:
August 2nd, 2011 at 9:00 pm
KIm, I think if you would read slowly.You are quoting things I never wrote. Read any of the posts and start in the VERSES tab at the top of the blog. I know what the church did is VERY VERY painful. I hear these stories daily. To ask people to be someone they are not is awful. I hope you find comfort in a lot of what I have written. It is encouraging and accepts who God made you to be.
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I am a heterosexual follower of Jesus that understands that Christ gave his life as a ransom for all the world. All you have to do is accept his gift, repent and be baptized into Christ as was taught by Jesus and the first Church (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts Ch. 2). I realize that we all have sinned. An example that comes to mind with any sin is the story of Jesus with Mary Magdelane before she was about to be stoned, he had love and compassion for her when the rest of the judgmental town was about to stone her for prostitution. His comment to them was, “He who is without sin, should cast the first stone.” None of which through a stone and left. Jesus continued by stating, “if they haven’t condemned you, then neither do I…go and sin no more.” What is important to understand from this passage is that he told her to change and leave her life of prostitution. As we have read throughout the Gospel’s, Mary M. became a committed follower of Jesus and was transformed from the forgiveness that Jesus he poured out. She repented and left her former life as a prostitute. When I first became a Christian, I had to count the costs of what it would take to become a believer. Jesus describes this in the Gospel’s that we are to transform the renewing of our minds and everyday carry our cross of denying our worldly desires. Is it difficult? Absolutely! But as a Christian, it’s living our lives in obedience and holiness that brings us closer to God. “Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14). We have to live a holy life that is places God above all of our Worldly desires. Also, in the Church, a believer of Christ has to treat obvious sin seriously. In Mathew 18:15-17, Jesus teaches us: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Obvious sin amongst the church has to be treated in a serious manner. It is important for all people, which includes the LGBT individual to understand that Jesus has paid the price for your sins, but it is also important to note, that sexual immorality and impurity within body of Christ (the Church) is not acceptable. Obvious sin…whether it’s cheating around with other men or women, showing hatred to one another, etc., is not acceptable in God’s eyes. We may try to justify our conditions and situations, but the truth of the matter comes down to obedience to God. We have to chose how we live and someday we’ll all be judged by God for our actions. I hope all who read my discussion understand that I judge no one. I am a sinner saved by grace, and pray that all will come to repentance and read the scripture and make the decision to count the costs of what it takes to follow Jesus. We all must learn to carry our cross daily (Luke 9:23), and follow the instructions Paul told the Church of Ephesus: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24). God Bless.
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The following was written by a top activist in the homsocializing army. It is their blueprint for America and hardly sounds like they are innocent victims who only want to be treated “equally”! (Note the date on this Blueprint for America – then note how much of it has been achieved today!)
“WE SHALL SODOMIZE YOUR SONS…we shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormi- tories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together.
“We shall be victorious because we are fueled with the ferocious bitterness of the oppressed who have been forced to play seemingly bit parts in your dumb, heterosexual shows throughout the ages. WE TOO ARE CAPABLE OF FIRING GUNS AND MANNING THE BARRICADES OF THE ULTIMATE REVOLUTION.”
(and a whole bunch of junk I edited out_
“TREMBLE, HETERO SWINE, when we appear before you WITHOUT OUR MASKS.” – MICHAEL SWIFT (all of the above quotes come from “The Homosexual Threat:The Battle Rages!” – “Gay Community News”) (2/15/87)
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Jennifer Reply:
December 27th, 2010 at 5:03 am
Good grief. Do you not realise that was a PARODY?
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What I don’t understand is how you’re not even more well-liked than you are now. You are just so intelligent. You know so much about this topic, created me assume about it from so many various angles. Its like persons arent interested unless it has some thing to complete with Lady Gaga! Your stuffs fantastic. Keep it up!
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Kathy, It is not that the straight church forces people to choose between their sexual orientation and God, but that God insists that everyone, straight, gay and eunuch, choose between their natural born orientation and Jesus Christ. Everyone is born with a natural inclination (preference, orientation, etc.) to sin, everyone. Therefore, homosexuality is not a greater sin than say, lying. But that does not mean that it is a small sin, rather it means that lying is as bad as homosexuality, which is as bad as murder. God doesn’t distinguish between sins, and neither should we. God doesn’t hate the sinner, He hates the sin.
We must make that same distinction — between the sin and the sinner. And it is very difficult to do because we human beings tend to identify ourselves with our desires and preferences. The glutton comes to understand himself as being a fat person, fatness is part of his or her identity, etc. But God says “no, that’s not true.”
When it comes to sexual identity, this is even more difficult because of our intimate connection to our sexuality. I’m a man, you’re a woman. But God said that none of these things matter (Galatians 3:28) with regard to salvation. Traditional, straight Christians and their churches are terribly guilty of misunderstanding these things. But we must not compound one error with another.
All sin is forgivable, save one — the unforgivable sin: “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10). [βλασφημέω -- From G989; to vilify; specifically to speak impiously: - (speak) blaspheme (-er, -mously, -my), defame, rail on, revile, speak evil.]
So, what is blasphemy, and why is it unforgivable? It is simple disrespect for God. We all know it intuitively, but like pornography it’s hard to define with words. So, I won’t try. Rather, let’s look at the results of blasphemy and work backwards. Blasphemy is unforgivable, so those who blaspheme are not saved. Why are they not saved, when God’s grace and mercy are sufficient for the most vile sinner? Because God’s offer of salvation is refused. And there are at least two ways to refuse it: 1) say “no.” 2) redefine salvation into something that God says it is not. This second way is tricky, because in doing this we might think that we are saved when we are not, like the Christians in Matthew 7:21-23.
Unrepentant homosexuals, like unrepentant liars who call themselves Christians, are guilty of blasphemy because they claim salvation, but refuse repentance. They want to claim salvation and hold on to their sin at the same time. But there is no salvation apart from repentance, where repentance is defined by God in Scripture through Christ.
It is for this reason that James said, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1).
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Kim Reply:
August 2nd, 2011 at 8:32 pm
So, does that apply to people who perpetually exceed the law of the speed limit? Gluttons? How about people who think bad things about others but don’t say them? (As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…). Are they all going to hell too? You described the only people who go to heaven as people who don’t sin. There was only one my friend…His name is Jesus. And, He took the penalty for all of my sin….God judged Him on my behalf because God knew there would not come a day when I would not sin. Guess what…you fall into that same category. You are a sinner saved by grace whom God now calls a saint…not by anything you did…but by the shed blood of the Lamb. We all get to heaven (or hell) the same way. Thank God that He is not a performance based Father…but a loving Father. I personally think that God made me gay to challenge your faith and see if you were up to the task of loving me unconditionally like DAD said to. 99% of the church is failing the test miserably. And Kathy, you ask how we manage to maintain our faith in God and Jesus and Holy Spirit though the church would snatch our salvation away as fast as they could if they could…the answer is the same as Peter told Jesus….’where are we going to go, You have the words of life’…
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Kathy | Canyonwalker Reply:
August 2nd, 2011 at 8:47 pm
Kim, first, slow it down. Where did I ever write that only people who do not sin go to heaven? That is not a concept I believe at all. It is not even a tenet of Christianity. Do you understand that I am FULLY affirming to the glbt community? It challenged my faith over ten years ago and THAT is how i did become an advocate. The statement about maintaining faith in my video is one of admiration.. I think there may be some wild misunderstanding. You may well assume I would be anti gay because I am a Christian, BUT I am an advocate for the glbt community because I AM a Christian. My faith drives me. I hope this clears this up. Thanks for commenting.
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Kathy,
Thank you for creating this blog. I love your insights here… you have a real gift for interpreting scripture and asking pertinent and vital questions of the reader.
I would also like to share a little of my own story here, especially in regard to Romans 1. When I was about 13 I realized I had same-sex attraction. I hid it furiously, praying year after year for God to remove those feelings. I had been taught all those verses in scripture, from Leviticus through 1 Corinthians, how vile being gay was, and thought for sure if I did all the right things and kept myself pure then God would eventually heal me of those feelings. When I was 17 I finally confided in a friend whom I trusted what I was going through, and somehow my parents found out (I was usually a really good kid but the few times I did ANYTHING wrong they ALWAYS found out!). They freaked and put me in counseling with someone who was a certified “biblical counselor.” The sessions went several months as I became more and more depressed over the situation and the realization that the man, though kind, could offer me nothing except to continue to pray against having same-sex attraction and to stay in the Word. Out of guilt over the amount of money my parents were dumping into these sessions, I finally lied and said the feelings were going away. That was good enough for my parents and was a relief to me. I kept my mouth shut and stayed firmly in the closet and in denial for the next several years, all the way through college. My contact with gay people was minimal through those years and I kept them at arms length to avoid getting into any kinds of “tempting” situations.
However, as a 25 year old with a college degree, suddenly in the work force and with a lot more disposable time on my hands, I had a lot more time to think about my situation. I had prayed for years and nothing had changed, even though I had never “experimented” and was still a virgin. I became increasingly depressed and struggled to find answers to the basic fundamental question: if Jesus came to proclaim freedom to the captives and to give life in more abundance, why wasn’t I experiencing this? I had done everything that I was supposed to and it was as though God was turning a deaf ear to my pleadings. As I studied the Bible more, and especially Romans 1, I came to the realization that this passage did not describe my situation at all. Romans describes how human beings, God’s creation, have turned from the Creator and began to worship the created things instead (paganism). This lead to a rapid digression in how people treated each other, among the list is the infamous “God giving them over to unnatural desires” text, along with murdering and lying and debauchery of all sorts. As someone who was touched by God’s Spirit at an early age, being the only member of my household who even desired to worship in a church fellowship and grow in God’s Word, my question then became, what did I do that God would give me over to this, if basic homosexuality in the context of two adults in a loving, committed relationship is so debase? And if this is what Paul was actually describing, what kind of God would do that to a child (who had never been in a same-sex committed relationship) who was supposed to be claimed by him?
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Rom 1:7 tells me that Paul was addressing the Church at Rome. The key is to look at what was happening in Rome at the time and then apply this to 21st century America. In the first century bisexuality was the norm in both the Roman and Greek empires. My understanding of the Scripture is that these people were going against their own natural God given sexual orientation. It may be difficult to believe that men and women were forcing themselves to do things against their own nature, but think about it, how many people in the USA try to force themselves to be heterosexual to try to fit into society beliefs.
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I have a gay Christian daughter and applaud your courage to post this.
As her mother, I have had very personal experiences that have broken my heart and pushed me very close to turning away from God. … See More
One of my first experiences happened when I confided to my Pastor that my daughter was gay. His terse response was to tell me that they did not condone that behavior. He did not want to talk to me about it but insisted on sending me literature about a “straight camp” that my daughter should attend. He also said that my husband and I could continue to attend church, but did not extend that invitation to my daughter. The irony, if I could call it that, was that they did not know my daughter and even worse, did not want to know her. It was almost as if when they found out that she was gay that she no longer existed to them as a person. She was an aberration. They didn’t offer to have her come to church. It was “off to straight camp” for her.
Experience #2 happened when I was walking behind my daughter and her girlfriend at the mall. They were holding hands. I was forced to listen to a group of teenage boys jeer at them and make horribly offensive remarks. Frantically racking my brain and trying to figure out how to respond, I took my cue from daughter and her girlfriend and continued to walk and act like I heard absolutely nothing. It was a lesson in humility and grace.
Experience #3 found my daughter and her girlfriend walking through Walgreens. A father of a very young boy pointed at them and proceeded to explain to his young son that THEY were an ABOMBINATION. My daughter and her girlfriend attempted to walk away but were followed around the store by this man who was dragging his son behind him spitting hateful words at them.
Experience #4, occurred sitting in a medical lab with my daughter and her girlfriend waiting to have blood drawn. A young woman in the military sat down beside us. The minute she realized that my daughter might be gay because she was holding hands with her girlfriend she abruptly got up and moved to the other side of the room. I wasn’t sure what to make of this until we came out from the examining room and she was sitting back in the seat that she had so rapidly vacated. I tried to smile at her as we left and she absolutely refused to look at me.
Now I have heard the remarks and friendly suggestions from those who say that people shouldn’t have to know they are gay, that they can modify their behavior to shall we say hide this fact. Not a big deal right? Well I challenge any of you who have a loving relationship with your spouse, girlfriend, or boyfriends to not put your hand on each others shoulder, around each others waste, or to hold hands in public. I for one am constantly holding my husband’s hand when we are walking. It’s automatic and very comforting to me.
Lastly, I’ve also experienced numerous well-meaning remarks from family and friends of mine who are Christians that have broken my heart. So I sit there with a smile on my face with my heart breaking inside of me, begging God to give me grace. He always does.
What keeps me moving forward and holding on to God? His promise to me that he loves my daughter as a true father, and the unbreakable bond that has developed between my daughter and I because of this walk we have chosen to take together. I know for a fact that if she has no one else in her physical life except for my husband and I that can believe in her, well then, that’s enough. It is enough for her to hold on to God and to continue her journey with him.
Your children look to you for support and when that support doesn’t exist it leaves them in the wilderness, hurt and broken. We as parents are suppose to love our children, to let them know that no matter what we will always love them. To give them the confidence to walk through the challenges and hardships in life that we all know they will encounter.
This is the same way we that we look to God as our Father. To love us, to know our heart, to forgive our transgressions, to hold us in the most difficult times, and to lead us when we are not sure of our path.
A very wise friend has said that if you have to choose then err on the side of love. God will most surely forgive you. I believe this and it seems to have made my path a little bit easier.
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Thank you, Kathy — and God bless you. Your words have strongly affected me. We are called to love and unite, not hate and divide. There are both “good” and “bad” people in this world and some are straight, some gay. All are loved by the Lord, and all deserve our mercy, acceptance, understanding, support, prayers — and share equally in our love of life.
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THere is one incredibly important word that “Christians” ignore all of the time when they condemn gay people using these passages…
wherefore.
That’s it. all of it. God made these bad people gay for whatever reasons he may have had. It’s hardly a condemnation.
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Thanks…. I’m a member of a little purple church in Arkansas and I agree with this message. Would love to be able to touch people like the movie the green mile…. If they could just know my feelings. Love to ALL! Hope to meet you soon. Darren
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While I agree that this passage is too often taken out of context and is used against God’s beloved children of the LGBT community, as a minister and a gay man, I am pleased that so many love the Lord and love Jesus as their Lord and Savior despite what the church has done. Thank you for your ministry. Ministries are exploding around us with the joyous news that God loves us as we are are and that in Christ we are saved. God bless you and your work.
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I love you Kathy.
I accepted Jesus at age 16 and wanted to be a music minister. I proceeded after high school to follow my calling but was rejected from the church when I realized I was gay. After all of these years I am now in seminary and realizing my dream to become a music minister and I’m doing that as an out gay man who wears drag.
I love Jesus and He loves me. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Thank you for your ministry Kathy, it is needed.
In Christ,
Roger
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