When I googled the question: “Can a Christian be Homosexual?”, a link to a page by a fellow named Matthew Vines was among the top on the list. Mr. Vines is of the view that homosexuality should be allowed in the Church. A link to his page can be found here: The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality. I appreciate the work that he has put into this and I believe that he goes into very good detail, using various scriptures that either side of this debate could use as justification for their view. There are many points upon which I agree, particularly in the misunderstandings of the Church on the issue and past hateful reactions. However, many of his conclusions are off track and are a bit of a stretch in their support of the Church adopting homosexuality, especially homosexual marriage. I offer this post as a sort of rebuttal. I know that others have probably said similar things and have debated Mr. Vines on this topic in other media. If I come up with the same conclusions, I do not mean to misquote. All I am basing this article on is Mr. Vines’ analysis of the Bible, the Bible itself, and my own thoughts. Any research I have done will be quoted appropriately

Mr. Vines makes several points (I will cover the point in bold in this post; click on the links to view my response to them):

• Despite growing up in a loving, stable family, devoid of abuse, living an abstinence-until-marriage lifestyle, and desiring to have a family of his own someday, he has concluded that he is gay.
• Traditional “anti-gay” views of the Church have forced homosexuals to be lonely, which is against God’s design.
• The Old Testament Law does not apply to Christians, which means that references to the law in regard to homosexuality being evil are no longer valid.
• The concept of sexual orientation is new, so the Bible cannot shed light upon this subject as ancient forms of homosexual acts were offensive or abusive, not examples of two people coming together in a committed relationship.
• “Gay people have a natural, permanent orientation toward those of the same sex; it’s not something that they choose, and it’s not something that they can change.”
• Certain compound words around the New Testament references to homosexuality are really meant for the economic sexual exploitation of homosexuals.
• The Church has been really harmful toward people of homosexual orientation and it needs to become more accepting of homosexuals and not so condemning.
• Being different is not a sin and being “gay” is not a sin either.

 Let’s dig into this and see what conclusions we can make on our own and with the Bible as our guide, just as Vines claims to have done. I would suggest reading the transcript or watching the video linked above as I will be deeply analyzing his main points and arguments and it will be useful to have seen these to understand my points.

Homosexual Even With Good Upbringing

His first main point shatters what most anti-gay people claim as a cause for homosexuality. Despite growing up in a stable Christian home, devoid of abuse, in a church with traditional values, Vines says that he is still gay.

Here right out of the gate, I seriously have a hard time believing his statement. It would seem that if this is true, that his homosexual condition without a prior history of abuse is a rare one, an exception to the rule. Of course I am also assuming that homosexuality is a choice, whereas Vines is assuming exactly the opposite. However, if homosexuality is a sin, even those grown up in the best environments have a choice to go down the sinful path. If homosexuality is not a sin, but a genetic disposition, wouldn’t there be a history of homosexuality in his family? He does not mention much of his family history, at least not on his website. 

I half wonder if he is just saying this to manufacture a reality where such a statement could be true. If homosexuality is a natural, unchangeable thing, then the Church does have problems in saying that is wrong. I will get into that a little later in the discussion when I talk about the “naturalness” of homosexuality. For now, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. It takes a lot of guts to stand up and bare your soul in front of those who think/believe differently from you. While I disagree with him on many if not all of his points, I can say I admire him for that.

Abstinence: A Virtue and a Vice?

“I’ve never been in a relationship, and I’ve always believed in abstinence until marriage.” 

This is a direct quote from his transcript and it gives some interesting information. It defines Vines to be a man of character, someone who has grown up in a younger Christian generation, the generation of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and other anti-dating books that were popular among Christian communities in the early 2000’s. I know, because I was one of those Christians and I read many of those books, believing what they said. However, many of us heterosexual people who once put our faith in these books have grown up and begun to realize how damaging such beliefs can be. 

When you “kiss dating goodbye,” you can lose the ability to understand and have experience in romantic relationships. Without experience, how do you know a good relationship from a bad one? While I do promote purity in dating relationships, it is not unhealthy or unholy to participate in dating relationships as a teenager or older person. It is how we learn our own expectations and prepare for life with a significant other.

I myself dated several people over the years, both in my teens and early twenties. Despite this, I remained chaste until marriage. I would let years pass between relationships as I was not one to hop from one relationship to desperately search for another. While it was difficult, I learned how to be content in my singleness. When my wife and I finally did get together in my late twenties, I was prepared to either continue the relationship into marriage, or stay single. 

In my single years, I became close to many different people of varying ages, both single and married. My local church became like family. Thus, I have experienced what Vines was saying that “family is not about sex.”

Thus, I am concerned that Vines, by not participating in relationships, may not have tested his homosexuality to its limit. How can he say that hetero-sexuality is not for him if he has not tried it out? I am not saying that he should go out and have loads of heterosexual sex to see if he likes it; that would be just as wrong as pursuing such a course in homosexuality. But, if sex isn’t a determinant to long lasting relationships, as Vines claims, what is so wrong with him pursuing one with a member of the opposite gender? Or if sex isn’t necessary for companionship, what is wrong with him having a good or best friend with a member of the same sex? 

The best example of this is the friendship shared between Jonathan and David. They had a close bond with each other and looked out for each other, even though David’s existence and anointing would mean Jonathan wouldn’t have a kingdom to rule in the future. However, there are many in the gay community that would probably point to them and say that they were really gay, not just best friends. I would first argue against that, for one, how explicit the Bible was about the rest of David’s life, one would think it would also mention such a vice if David had one. Secondly, the Bible’s record of David’s personal affairs, the fact that he had many wives at the same time and his affair with Bathsheba, point out that the chink in David’s armor wasn’t homosexual lust as much as it was heterosexual lust, a sin that God punished him for the rest of his life.

God shows no favoritism. He punishes all offenders of lust, whether homosexual or heterosexual. It seems that the punishments aren’t bolts of lightning or rumblings of thunder, or even of fire falling from heaven. Many times the consequences of sin itself are punishment enough. However, Vines is not promoting a homosexual lustful lifestyle. He is saying that people have a bend one way or the other (I would add there is a “neither” as well) and that the homosexual orientation is not wrong or sinful. In some ways I agree with him (more on that when we talk about whether or not homosexuality is a sin).