Christians Need to Come Out of the Closet.
Thanks to Anne Jackson over at Flowerdust.net for her post “Why is being gay a sin?” I originally attempted to leave a comment there, but with the potential for abusing what I believe is a common rule of courtesy in comment posting (too many words), I decided to post my own article here and simply leave a link in her comments.
The question as it stands makes an assumption that needs to be addressed - as I believe there is actually an underlying question that she is seeking an answer to.
Anne asked “Why is being gay a sin?”
To ask this question is to make an assumption, however unintentional, that one’s sexual orientation is who they “are” or to put it another way someone’s sexuality is what constitutes their state of being. I have no doubt that someone can be born with a predisposition to homosexuality. As such, it would seem perfectly logical to conclude that homosexuality is natural.
This conclusion can only stand however if man is strictly a physiological being, which is a humanist belief. Theists, however, and specifically Christians, traditionally believe that man’s existence is the result of the creative work of an infinite God who is both completely just as well as fully empathic without any mutual exclusivity between those two characteristics. Our being then, or who we are becomes a result of a force that is outside of ourselves and is determined not by environmental or even physiological factors but is instead determined by the intent of the one who created us.
From this vantage point one has to then determine what God’s original intent for man was, how does he define our existence? Religion might answer that question with prescribed methods of achieving God’s approval of our lifestyle. Sterilized terms such as “holiness” and “piety” have been used for centuries as standards for conduct. While these concepts are not incorrect, our understanding of what they truly mean have been clouded by the examples we have been given.
How then, do we comprehend God’s intent? The Genesis story helps with this by telling us that our original parents lived free - they were unfettered and unencumbered by shame - they were in right relationship with God, with each other, and with their surroundings. Their chief aim was loving God first and trusting Him for everything they needed. The minute they stopped seeing Him as their source and began to seek control of their own lives (Genesis 3:5), was the minute that mankind from that point forward forgot God’s original intent. They believed a lie, and by extension we have all believed that lie.
Therefore, who we are is neither homosexual nor heterosexual, no more than who we are is American, African or Canadian. These are all simply terms we use to describe the cultural, social and biological forces that help to direct our behavior and that may give us a sense of identity and belonging. As created beings however, our real identity is that of image-bearer, we are a reflection of the creativity and grace that come from the One who created us. As such, our chief aim and most fulfilling life would be to be as true to that image as possible.
The problem is that we are oppressed and held back by this condition called death and death is the result of sin, sin is something that each of us has invited, however unwittingly, to reign over us. And it’s not like any of us has ever been able to overcome this condition. Remember, the same Paul that penned the famous Romans 1 passage also labeled himself the chief of all sinners. In fact, further on in his same letter to the Romans, Paul says that he continually struggled with behaviors that did not align with his true identity, in the end he laid the blame for his failures squarely on the doorstep of sin. This should give us all hope, that although we continue to struggle with the force of sin, we do not need to give in to it. There is a rescue plan, an opportunity to be free from the oppression of sin.
Sin Has Gotten a Bad Rap
What is sin? When we think of sin it’s easy to automatically think of those things that other people do that are bad/wrong - pedophelia, adultery, drunkenness or gluttony. However, sin is ultimately whatever separates us from our true purpose, it’s falling short of God’s absolute best and the worst possible thing we can do is delude ourselves into thinking any life we can lead outside of that will do. Don’t get me wrong, sin is serious business, and when I say it has gotten a bad rap I only mean that it has been grossly underestimated and misinterpreted.
Interestingly, as I have read the testimonies of believers who have declared publicly their same-sex attraction I have taken particular interest in the terms and phrases that have been used to describe their experience - “relieved, “a burden has been lifted”, “free” or “I feel closer to God”. They often express that for once they are being true to themselves. They then go on to make the conclusion that because they have always had this attraction that it is how God made them. I can understand this feeling, the need to be accepted for who you are. And if the God who creates us doesn’t accept us the way we are out of the womb, then is he really loving and/or fair?
To be truthful though, God doesn’t accept any of us the way we are. Not because He doesn’t love us, but precisely because He does. Ultimate justice demands complete conformity to an absolute standard and ultimate love guarantees that every person is measured by the same standard. To be sure, the commands God gave to Israel (all 613 of them) represent God’s legal requirements for acceptance, but the point of the law is not to give us a crack through which to slip back into His favor, its point was to show us that no matter how hard we try we can never work our way back to that place of freedom that we originally enjoyed with God, each other and creation. Religion teaches you that you can, and should, try your hardest and then hope that it’s good enough. Jesus teaches us that until we come to an understanding that we cannot do it on our own but instead need to confess our condition and be transformed by the living Word that is Himself.
You see, I think many Christians are frustrated and quite honestly a bit jealous of those who have “come out of the closet”. Why should they get to still call themselves Christians and fulfill their desires. After all, if I’m a Christian who has always enjoyed eating food, for as long as I can remember, doesn’t that mean its okay for me to indulge? Or, if all I have ever known was that the intoxication of drinking seemed to make life more manageable, shouldn’t I be able to get drunk? Paul actually says sure, if grace really is grace, then there is nothing you can do to unearn it (the same way that there was nothing you could do to earn it). The bigger question is not what you can get away with, what you should really ask is do I want to trample underfoot the grace of God by living in a way that does not honor His intent for my life? Will we do that perfectly? Never, not as long as sin dwells inside of our bodies. But this is the call of every believer, to daily take up his cross and deny his natural instincts insofar as they contradict God’s design.
Does God intend for people to have same-sex attractions? I have to say that I am hard-pressed to see anywhere in scripture that he does. There have been those who try to say that David and Jonathan had a romantic relationship, however this is never mentioned in scripture. Beyond that, God’s original intent for romantic involvement between two people is best expressed in how we were originally created before sin invaded the scene. I believe this is true because faith and intellect tell me that the Bible is inspired and infallible. If you disagree with me on those two points than this whole article will make no difference to you.
So, the real question is not “Why is being gay a sin?” If I can be so bold as to suggest, Anne was really asking “Why are people who have same-sex attractions and desires, particularly those who have always felt that way, expected to ignore and subdue them?” To that I would answer that God’s grace is sufficient. Paul expressed in scripture to some degree a desire to be married, yet he chose not to. Is marriage wrong? No, the Bible tells us that a man who finds a wife finds a good thing. But for Paul to fulfill God’s intent for his life he determined that a wife would be a distraction. I only say this to point out that God gave Paul the grace necessary to maintain sexual purity outside of a relationship that is ordained by God. How much more will God afford us the grace to do the same if we are tempted by attractions outside of God’s original intent (whether same-sex, adulterous, or outside of marriage).
Finally, I would like to ask a question. It’s one that I am seeking to answer in my own life. If the goal of our life is not to quit sinning, but instead experiencing the joy that comes from knowing a freedom found in God through Christ, then why do we go on just trying to stop the sinning? My sense is that we just don’t understand what it means to be free (reminds me of a quote from C.S. Lewis). It’s like the baseball player that practices with the extra weights on his bat, once he removes the weights, he swings that bat harder because his body believes they are still there. Likewise, we have been so burdened by sin that once it has been removed we remain condemned and in the squalor of guilt because we don’t know that we have been liberated, set free, we don’t know that we have been invited to come out of our own closet.
