Is It Possible To Be A Gay Christian?

It's an interesting question. It's interesting because it seems to be in contravention to what we learn in the New Testament about who we all are in Christ. If we have truly repented and died to our sinful past, if we are trying to enjoy the increasing sanctification of our spirits in denial and mortification of fleshly desire (sin in the body) why would anyone label themselves in such a fashion?

I think the key word in that last question is the word, "label".

There is a subtle, but important difference, between a label and a life experience. Same sex attracted people experience life through a different lens than most everyone else. Christians that experience same sex attraction understand this immediately and for us, it can shape our path toward sanctification, our relationship with God and our relationship with each other up to and including our relationships with straight same sex Christians.

So, I think the other key word here is "experience". One of humanity's most primal drives is sex. We know from Jesus, the apostles and the prophets that God's view of human sexuality gives only one approved option for sexual expression - marriage between one man and one woman for life. Anything else is sexual immorality and is roundly condemned in scripture.

Having said that, we have to ask, what if you experience the drive toward sex in a different way? What if the flesh is bent in such a way that the God approved expression of human sexuality is not possible? Christians that experience this are left with few options. We can enter into marriage with someone of the opposite sex with the hope that God can help us redeem same sex desires through partnership with a heterosexual or we can choose celibacy. Both paths can be difficult and fraught with potential pitfalls and, were it not for God working through his Holy Spirit in our lives, no Christian dealing with same sex attraction would be able to stand. Praise the Lord for his mighty hand and work in our lives.

All of this is to say that when you hear someone call themselves a gay Christian or a same sex attracted Christian, it does not mean we are labeling ourselves. It is instead, a description of our particular spiritual experience as we move toward more and more sanctification.  Dealing with this experience has taken me a lifetime. Please do not discount it if you hear me call myself gay or same sex attracted. I mean, how else would you know my life experience as a Christian? How would you know what I have to deal with on a daily basis in the spiritual sense? I hope that's important to you as a believer.

Do you see what I'm getting at? I hope so. It is not a good time in the Christian world to get hung up on labels. We need to come together to fight our common enemy. Satan hates all of us and the brokenness of human sexuality in general has been a major wedge he has successfully driven in to the lives of otherwise spiritually healthy believers. We cannot let this happen anymore. Divorce and sexual immorality in our culture is a major problem and it has infected God's church to such a degree that younger generations are rejecting the faith as just another version of the same culture they live in, but with hypocrisy. We have to take a united stand against sin within the church and especially sexual sin because it is of the body; the same body where God's Holy Spirit dwells. We can do this by supporting each other and NOT quibbling over labels.