Is Gay Ok?

I want to be able to say that being gay is ok … but I can’t.

Before you click away – prejudge and label me – and dismiss me as just another compassionless old bible thumper, just read on.  Listen – please.

I have chosen to believe that an absolute moral truth exists and that truth is found in God and His Word.  So when I strive to determine what is right/wrong, good/best, how God designed life to be lived, I look to God and His Word to determine these things.    It is my worldview.  You may have a different view – but this is how I have chosen to live.

I want to be able to say that being gay is ok … but I can’t.

As I look in the bible there isn’t a lot said about being gay.  Out of the almost 32,000 verses in the bible, there are only a few that deal with homosexuality.   Really only about 5 or 6 passages – but in each of those passages it is clear it isn’t what God said is best.  It isn’t what God designed us to be.  In addition, nowhere in the bible is same sex attraction portrayed in a positive light.  Nowhere is same sex marriage or partnership illustrated as something inside of God’s design for humankind.

It would be easier to just go with the popular flow and say being gay is ok because some of the most gracious people I know are gay.  Honestly?  Some of my gay friends demonstrate more love, care and compassion than do some people who go to church religiously and claim to follow Jesus!  However, how nice, caring and compassionate a person is does not determine whether a specific action is right or wrong. 

Caring, compassionate wonderful people are capable of lying, cheating on their spouse, harsh words at times, prejudice – the list could go on.   Even as a follower of Jesus – I am capable of all those things – and have done more than my share of living in ways that are clearly condemned by the bible.  But I can’t change the bible and say that my actions – my choices – are ok, right or acceptable.

William Penn once said, “Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.”  Let me expand that quote:  Wrong is wrong even if I do it.   Wrong is wrong even if someone I love dearly is doing it.

I want to be able to say that being gay is ok … but I can’t.

At this point in our culture – especially in the church culture – battle lines have been drawn.  Homosexuality – gay marriage are at the center of a tremendous amount of furor.   Everybody is shouting – very few are talking – even fewer are listening.   Gluttony is condemned in the bible – we don’t hear much about that one – especially not from obese preachers.   Judge-mentalism is clearly not what God had in mind – it seems we only hear about that when we are the ones being judged.  Gossip is clearly condemned by God – but is practiced by many an old battle ax at church.  Adultery – looking at people lustfully – is wrong by God’s standards – but you can’t watch a commercial with Hannah and her horse without struggling!  (Hannah – not her horse!)

Homosexuality, gluttony, judge-mentalism, gossip, adultery and the list goes on are not what is best for life.  These actions bring pain and sorrow into lives no matter who does them.  They are not how God designed us to live.  Neither is hatefully bashing people with our words and actions.  God calls me to speak truth, but speak it from a heart of love.  If I can’t talk to, listen to and love a person, then I have greater issues in my life that God needs to transform.

God’s design for sexuality has been one man – one woman for life.  Even in the bible, when that design has been strayed from, disaster follows.

I want to be able to say that being gay is ok … but I can’t.

So what do I do?   I love.  I care.   I struggle.  I defend.   I protect.  I embrace.  I cry.  I pray.  I do my best to treat everyone with the kind of love and compassion Jesus demonstrated.  I seek to follow Jesus.  I am just as flawed, tarnished, broken and dysfunctional as anyone/everyone else – yet God loves and accepts me – and God loves you as well – with all our issues.   He is at work in my life – transforming me into something that resembles Him – slowly, painfully, and thoroughly.   He wants to do the same for you.   Talk to Him.  He loves you … really.  Talk to Him.   He is listening.