I should probably share a little personal history before diving into this post. Most of you know I was raised in church. Some of my earliest memories are of church services. From a very early age, I was taught that homosexuality is a sin, but that we love the sinner and hate the sin.

But I didn’t see a whole lot of that love in action.

Sure, we would profess with our lips that we loved sinners, but, I didn’t really see too many sinners. I’ve lived my whole life in the South, where “everyone’s a Christian”, and those who are different get cast aside, or cast out entirely. I look back and wonder, how would we have reacted if a gay man or lesbian had walked into church, sat through a service and left unchanged?

Would we have invited them back, or would we have made up an excuse and moved on?

This is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind for a few years now. As Christians, we believe that, because of Adam, everyone is born into sin. Some even go so far as to say that each of us is predisposed, from birth, to a specific sin, which would explain how, from a young age, some people struggle constantly with lust, and yet they have no issues with anger, while others don’t have any problems with lust, but as far back as they can remember, they’ve always had a temper.

But when is the last time you heard a Christian say they struggle with same-sex attraction?

Probably not often, and for good reason – I’ve read a few stories from Christians who confessed to struggling with same-sex attraction being berated, forced from their churches and one, who was the worship pastor at his church, was fired on the spot. Not because he had committed a sin, but because he struggled with lust. I wonder if his lusts had been heterosexual, would he still have his job? Not to mention that having a predisposition to sin negates the “homosexuality is a choice” argument.

And there’s more out there. A lot more – but they’re scared to share their struggles with others for the very reasons listed above. Yet James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, so that we may be healed. In this scripture, the word “healed” isn’t just in reference to a physical ailment – it’s also talking about spiritual ailments, i.e. SIN. What James is saying is, even though we are now on this journey with Christ, we’re not perfect – we’re still sinners. The trick is to have someone to go to when you’re struggling, to confess to when you’ve sinned and to ask us the hard questions, the questions that make us uncomfortable, but that keep us accountable. Otherwise, one sin will turn into another, then another and another, until it’s a lifestyle.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I believe you can be a Christian and gay, as long as you are pursuing a relationship with Jesus and not acting on your lusts. It took me a long time to come to that realization, because for years all I heard was it’s either straight or not, and if it’s “not”, then you’re living in a sin that you chose, because you were not born that way. Never mind the fact that you may not actually be doing anything sinful – the fact that you aren’t attracted to the opposite sex is bad enough. Or at least that’s how it was presented to me. But what is the difference between a heterosexual pursuing a relationship with Christ and remaining sexually pure, and a homosexual pursuing a relationship with Christ and remaining sexually pure?

All that being said, I believe the Bible is very clear when it talks about homosexuality. Not same-sex lust or struggles, but actually living a homosexual lifestyle. Romans 1:25-27 says that because we have exchanged the truth for a lie and worshiped and served the creation and not the creator, God has given us up to homosexual acts and relationships, which the scripture refers to as “dishonorable passions”. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 that those who practice homosexuality (among other sins) will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, according to the Bible, the practice of homosexuality is a sin.

This brings me to the title of this post. Over the last decade, there has been much debate concerning gay marriage. Some are for, others are against. Some are against gay marriage, but for civil unions. Others are for or against both, and some even want to amend the constitution (national and/or state) to more clearly define the boundaries of marriage. When it comes to gay marriage and civil unions, I’m not going to tell you how to vote or what to believe – that’s between you and God. But John Piper recently wrote an excellent blog post concerning this debate, and while I don’t agree with him 100%, one thing that stood out to me is this statement:

Humans don’t create or define marriage. God does.

If the Bible is true, a homosexual couple getting married does not put them in right-standing with God any more than a unmarried heterosexual couple claiming they are “married in God’s eyes” makes everything OK with God. If both couples are sexually active, according to the Bible, they are both sinning, because they are both acting outside the Biblical boundaries of marriage.

So, as far as I’m concerned, I am no longer against gay marriage. I am also not in support of it either. I’m just indifferent, because, either way, it doesn’t change what the Bible says about marriage and homosexuality.

***Note from Author***

I realized after re-reading my post this afternoon that I left something out.

While I don’t condone gay marriage (or homosexuality), I don’t believe legislation is the answer. To use abortion as an example, pro-life activists have spent millions, if not billions, in attempts to use the law to decrease, and eventually end, abortion. However, thousands of abortions still occur daily. And while abortions have slowly began to decrease recently, it’s likely due to improvements in technologies such as ultrasound, not the result of legislation.

My point is, while my faith plays a large role in how I vote (as it should for every Christian), I don’t believe legislating morality is the answer. Amending the constitution to prevent gay marriage won’t stop gays from being gay.

For those interested in going further with this topic, Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Dallas, TX held an excellent Q&A on the subject of homosexuality as part of their Culture and Theology series last year, which can be viewed by clicking this link. The video lasts a little over 37 minutes.