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.

Mr. Vines makes several points (the bold is covered in this post, click previous points to see my response):

• 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Law does not apply to Christians, which means that references to the law in regard to homosexuality being evil are no longer valid.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.

Vines argues that the church has been very hateful towards homosexuality and that they need to be more accepting. According to Vines, homosexuals need to be allowed in the Church and that the Church should bless homosexual marriages, especially those who have been abstinent and pure.

While I agree with him in that homosexuals should be accepted at church, I disagree with him in his belief that the Church should promote and bless homosexual marriage in an effort to “fix” the homosexual’s loneliness. But, you might ask, how can you have one without the other?

The role of the Church is to bring sinners to Christ for redemption. It is to accomplish this by sharing truth and providing a place where kindness, compassion, fellowship, and Biblical teaching can provide growth to the believer. It is not the Church that does the redeeming or sanctifying, that is Christ’s job. The goal of the Church is to encourage one another to do the right things even when it is painful and to be a source of comfort, while it stands uncompromising on the truth, so that people can become better through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So when I say that the Church should be accepting of homosexuals, I mean it for the same way it should be accepting of people of every sin: alcoholics, adulterers, murders, gossips, etc. The problem is that when someone comes to Christ, the old nature is gone and must be done away with and we must live in the newness of Christ. I don’t believe that homosexuals are so much more sinful than anyone else; that they cannot come to a church service or should be discriminated against to not be allowed. We as a Church need to love them and bring these people to Christ!

Now as far as becoming a Christian and then continuing in the acts of homosexuality, that is a different story. We are all fallible and even as much as we would like to be able to be dunked in water and pledge our lives to Christ to shine in perfection for the rest of our lives, that is rarely the case. Sin will always try to poke its head back into the life of the new Christian. While we still turn to Christ, there are times when Christians fail. It sometimes takes the rest of our lives to get sin sanctified out of ourselves. Ask anyone who has a past of habitual sin, such as alcoholism or lust. It can be very difficult to get out of these sins and when it is finally accomplished, the desires are still there. It is a practice of relying on Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to overcome the sins of the flesh. It is good to have people in the Church you can trust for accountability in the journey to overcoming; we can’t do it on our own.

If it is so difficult for a heterosexual to overcome sin, why should we be surprised when a homosexual struggles with it? Or on the other hand, why should the homosexual expect the bar to be dropped for him when no universal revelation (as that which occurred when the Gentiles were let into the fold) to do such a thing has been made to the Church as a whole? 

Some proponents of homosexuality argue that since a great amount of divorce is allowed in the Church (and therefore adultery, as not all are for simple marital unfaithfulness, as Jesus spoke of marriage in Matthew 5:32), then why can’t homosexuality be allowed? There are different circumstances of divorce in the Church. Some were divorced before coming to Christ. Thus, Christ’s grace has covered their past sins. Some have become Christians while their spouse has not, causing a rift and eventual divorce. Some Christians marry non-Christians and over time have issues that cannot be resolved. Sometimes both are Christians and divorce occurs. There are hundreds if not thousands of reasons why divorce happens at all. I will let God be the judge of their hearts as to what is legitimate and what has been done for selfishness reasons.

However, I do believe that the Western Church today has become overly gracious to the point that important steps of faith like repentance have been put by the wayside to boost numbers. Of course not all churches are this way. 

Some churches have strict rules regarding divorcees in leadership. While divorcees can still be active members of the Church, many denominations require extensive investigation and discussion into a person’s personal matters before they can assume a leadership role, especially that of a pastor. This investigation occurs even when the divorce is legitimate. Other such investigations occur in other cases of known sin. Churches want their place of worship and activities to be a safe place for people to come to know Christ. If you are a former pedophile, don’t expect to be promoted to youth leader without some investigation by the elders. Should not the same be said for homosexuality if it is indeed a sin?

A lot of the stigma of the Church being against homosexuality is the belief that homosexuality is the last great sin before judgement as seen in the extreme cases of Sodom and Gomorrah. Much of this is due to the fact that at one time the Church held such prominence in the society that most citizens were considered Christians. To this day there are people who equate being an American with being a Christian, or vice versa. Thus if America is found sinful, then we are on the verge of judgement. 

I do not doubt this since God is a judge of nations, but being a Christian is not tied to our citizenship on this earth. It supersedes it. The fact that America, Britain, France, or any other country has sin in their culture is a sign that they need the truth of Christ now more than ever!

Allowing or promoting sin in the Church will not bring someone closer to God. In fact, many people who have turned away from the Church have done so in disgust of this very thing. Usually, someone in the Church is put upon a pedestal (figuratively) either by their own power or by others, and when it comes out that this person has done something awful in his office (or sometimes in his past), then these people leave that church and sometimes don’t try another, thinking that all churches must be this way. To an extent, all churches have messed up people in them and some grace must be applied. However, when a leader does something harmful to someone else in abuse of his power and authority, the other leaders of that church should confront him and decide upon a punishment, which would probably end up being termination of the person’s contract. 

Wise leaders know their weaknesses and don’t put themselves in a position to fail. For example, I know several male pastors who counsel both men and women. When counseling men, the door can be closed, but when counseling women, the door is left open where other church officials can hold the pastor accountable. It is not that they particularly struggle with heterosexual lust, but that they don’t want anyone to be able to accuse them of misconduct. If there is a person who struggles with homosexual lust on the other hand, perhaps the door could be closed with members of the opposite sex and open with members of the same sex. Perhaps in this day and age, it is best to leave the door open at all times. Regardless, there are safety precautions to take when letting new Christians, who are also in the process of sanctification like everyone else, lead. Those who do not take precautions are usually the ones who end up giving into their old desires and disgracing the Church and Christ.

Thus, the Church needs to decide if homosexuality is a sin. Again, here I distinguish the desire to want to act out homo-sexually (most would label this the ‘homosexual’) and the actual acting out of homosexual acts (the active homosexual). Most people have that pet desire, that one sin that they struggle with and wish to be easily taken away. It can be drugs, alcohol, pornography, adultery, or any blend of desires. These people are sometimes born with these desires, have learned them along the way, or act on these sins in order to medicate some abuse from the past. Yet, they are all still sinful. 

Having those inborn desires, doesn’t make the homosexual a special case; it makes him like the rest of us.