Did god create gay people
Pope Francis was recently asked about his views on homosexuality. He reportedly replied:
This (laws around the planet criminalising LGBTI people) is not right. Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them … condemning a person like this is a sin. Criminalising people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.
This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has shown himself to be a progressive leader when it comes to, among other things, gay Catholics.
It’s a stance that has drawn the ire of some high-ranking bishops and ordinary Catholics, both on the African continent and elsewhere in the world.
Read more: Pope Francis' visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church
Some of these Catholics may argue that Pope Francis’s approach to LGBTI matters is a misinterpretation of Scripture (or the Bible). But is it?
Scripture is particularly crucial for Christians. When church leaders refer to “the Bible” or “the Scriptures”, they usually mean “the Bible as we grasp it through our theological doctrines”. The Bible is always interpreted by our churches through their particular theological lenses.
As a bi
&#;God Made Me Gay&#;
Some Christians respond to this argument with what seems to be the only alternative: by saying that those who identify as homosexual choose to be lgbtq+. 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 true. If by gay you mean “a person who engages in homosexual behavior,” then God doesn’t make someone male lover 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 prefer all our moral actions—that’s why we can be held accountable for them.
But when most people speak, “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.
In request to make that distinct, when someone says that God made him male lover, or that he makes other peopl
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 innovative intention for humanity and therefore that homosexual perform goes against God’s declare will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.”
There are a number of other books that get 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) own been regularly asked for responses to their arguments. The two most scan volumes taking this position seem to be those by Matthew Vines and Ken Wilson. The review of these two books will be longer than usual because the topic is so contested today and, while I oppose wi
Should a Christian have same-sex attracted friends?
Answer
In considering whether a Christian should have lgbtq+ friends, we need to ask ourselves whether Jesus would have gay friends. The New Testament nowhere identifies any specific individuals as homosexuals. So, there are no records of Jesus interacting with a homosexual. We know from the gospels, however, that Jesus loved everyone He encountered. He did not consider one group of people less deserving of the gospel than any other. In fact, He went out of His way to deliver a demon-possessed man (Mark –20) and bring hope to an immoral woman from a despised ethnic background (John 4). He healed lepers (Luke –19), pardoned an adulteress (John –11), and ate with tax collectors (Mark )—all of whom were considered unfit for the company of righteous people. We can assume Jesus would own spent time with homosexuals as well.
Homosexuality was a sin in Jesus’ afternoon, and it is a sin now. God’s standards of human sexuality hold not changed. However, Jesus came to seek and to save the ruined (Luke ). We understand from the gentle way He dealt with sinful people that He would have offered homosexuals the same compassion and opportunit
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