The Gap Between God and Gays

On February 18, I was pleased to host the film premiere of our daughter's documentary entitled Testimony. The project represents the culmination of several years' work, and it features a number of gay men and women from San Francisco, Seattle, and Little Rock. They are from all religious denominations including Jews and Christians. They are African American, Anglo, and Hispanic. All conclude in their testimonies that it is possible to be both religious and gay. The primary impediment for their acceptance comes from their church doctrines which teach that being gay is a choice, not a reflection of genetics.

I often wonder how we can bridge this seeming gap between God and gays, or more implicitly between church doctrine and gays. I believe that a careful study of the context of both the Old Testament and the New Testament might shed light on the dilemma. If one looks into the original Greek translation of the Bible, he or she finds that references to homosexuals were always in the context of temple idolatry. These references were never made in the context of a committed relationship between two people. We also have to remember the point of view from which Christianity arose. The Bible tells the story of the history and religion of the Hebrews. In their culture, it was vital to increase their numbers through procreation. Today, however, such reasoning would not seem to apply.

Even from the teaching I have experienced in a very conservative Christian environment through the years, there is a strong emphasis on security of the believer; in other words, when one comes into the kingdom of God, he or she will never be lost again. If we believe that to be true in conservative churches, how hard is it to believe there should be no gap between God and gays. The gap comes from the application of church doctrine based upon its interpretation only of the Scripture. Jesus never spoke of the issue; He simply taught that we should all love God and love each other. Will we ever be able to apply His words to our world?