StemCell Therapy

BrandonFlanery

bflanery@uccs.edu

Can you be LGBTQ+ and Christian?

Thisquestion is critical, as itstheprimary reason why U.S. Americans are leaving evangelical churches.

According to Public Religion Research, 70 percent of millennials are alienatedbychurchesjudgments towards LGBTQ+individuals, and with good reason.

According to the Trevor Project, LGB youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth, and according to the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, religious LGBTQ+ youth are significantlymore likelythan their non-religious peers to attempt suicide.

We cant afford to not have an informed opinion on this. There are literally human lives at stake, andunless youre burying yourself underground (literally or symbolically),you willcome into contact withLGBTQ+peopleat some point in your life.Were statistically everywhere. Shoot, you might even have one as a kid. What are you going to do then?

With all that in mind, my hope is that I can help you start the journey with this article.

First off, why me? Well, because Im Christian, gay, was raised in the church, worked in ministry,Ileft ministry and Christianity because of the pain I endured. But Icame back, researched and prayed through my position on being gay and Christian, and Im now buildingbelievr, an app that exists tohelp LGBTQ+ Christians find belongingandconnection in love.

I dont say that to toot my own horn. Its to help build some ethos as quickly as possible(after all, Im already breaking the character limit; my editor is going to kill me).

So,forsakeof brevity,Im going to point you to two amazing resources that will elaborate far more succinctly that I ever willbe able toin a short article. TheReformation Project and Beloved Ariseare two organizations that havecatalogued resources like books and videos by scholars to show you that it is okay to be queer and Christian.

Readingany of the books they recommend is a great start. In summary, they will all tell youthe same thing: the condemnationofLGBTQ+ peopleiswrong, andany verse thatalludesto the condemnation of LGBTQ+ peopleismissing context and has been mistranslated over the centuries.In fact, most of the verses about homosexuality inthe Biblewere translated as pedophilia all the way upuntilthe 1950s.

But Ill let the experts speakonthis,because theyll do a far better job. What I want to do in this article isa little more meta. I want tobring into question what it means to be a Christian and how that affects those whoare LGBTQ+.

When growing up,I was told insensately, Christianity isnt a religion; its a relationship. Heres the problem: I would hear it from the most religious people. Heres the other problem: even though itsa hypocriticalclich, theyre right.

Religion says, Heres what you do to please God Heres what you do to get to Heaven Heres what you do to be a good (insert religiousnoun)

Its all about whatthe humandoes in relation to the deity in question.

Thats not what Jesus came to do; He didnt come to create a new way of getting to God.

The reason Christianity (in its purest form) isactually differentthan all other religionsis that humanity had been trying to get to God for millennia, and we werent able. Were not able.Instead, God said, Im coming to them, and Im making all this right.

The word gospelliterally translates to good news. If were talking about another way to get to God, thats not good news. None of us can make it, regardless of what the magic formulais.Thats thepointof the Bible hundreds of humanstooka good shot at getting to God,and none of them did.So,God had to come to us.

Christianity is truly just about trust.Its not about what I do to get to God, including my sexuality.Its about knowing humanity has done a shit job of being perfect. We keep fucking it up. We were never enough. But Jesus was enough, andtrustingin His love, in His goodness,leads us to loving Him and loving others. Thats the work of Christianity.

I want to pointtotwo places in the Bible to make a point here.

The first one is Genesis 1-3 (you know, the verses that make it so that Christians dont believe in evolution). In this story Adam and Eve ate from theTree of theKnowledge of Good and Evil (religion), and it cursed them and all of humanity. If we continue to live out of this tree of religion, were going to keep cursing humanity. Just look at historyanyone heard of the Crusades? Or the wars in Ireland? Or whats currently happening inKashmir?

Instead, were called to life in the Tree of Life, which is living in connection to Jesus (relationship),who is the embodiment of Love.

Which brings me to my next story in Acts 15.

In short, heres what happened:non-Jews, or Gentiles,were becoming Christians;Jewish Christianswere complaining they werent obeying the law; everyone was confused on what to do. Were these Christians who wouldnt obey the law actually saved?

Heres the crazy part, and not a ton of Christians talk about this.

In response to this unrest, the 12 disciples of Jesuscame together at the Council of Jerusalem andprayed. After which, they decided thatGentileChristiansshouldfollow threerules.

What? Can humans just change the rules? They can if theres a higher rule that is helping them navigate the world. A new commandment I give you:Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another(John 13:34).

Jesus came to fulfill the law, to fulfill religion,because we couldnt make it to God. After He took care of it all, He says, Go love.

The reason the 12 disciples of Jesus gave instructions (not laws)to theseGentileChristianswas not becauseJesus got it wrong.They were fulfillingHis new instruction; they wereteachingthe firstChristians tolovepeople in a new context that was foreign to them.

And thats what Christians are called todo to love God and people inourcurrent context. Andaccording to that context,wevalue women,we valueegalitarianism,we value racial justice, we value equity,andwe value ourLGBTQ+brothers and sisters because they are worthy of love.

The culture to which the Bible was written used sodomy as a way of degrading conquered nations, of using power to abuse those who were powerless. It wasnt abouta sharedlove. That wasnt their context. But that is our context now, and Christians can fulfill the words of Christ,loving our neighborsby believing and trusting that their LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters and non-binary siblingsareloved in the eyes of God,andthatHis sacrifice through Jesus was more than enoughfor us all.

Regardless of gay or straight, cis or trans, none of us could make it and all of us believed God was cruel. The message of Christ is that He was able and that He is love, if we believe.

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died more than that, who was raised to lifeis at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord(Romans 8:34-39).

Read more:
Can you be LGBTQ+ and Christian? - The Scribe

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