Reflection on Religion and Being Gay

Many evangelical Christians have a foundational belief in the literal interpretation of the Bible. There is a belief that all words in the Bible are factually the words of God.  The context of the Bible is without fault.  They believe in creationism that the earth was created in seven days solely through the work of the Lord.  There is also a belief by some of these evangelicals Christian the earth is less than 10,000 years old. They believe that Adam and Eva are the sources of all people and so forth.  These beliefs exist even with overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.  Most fail to understand there can be both a “big bang” theory (by which God created the universe including the earth) and the evolutionary process that explains how God made the earth and all in it.

The Bible has been used and continues to this day to support slavery, war, hate crimes against non-believers, interracial marriage, genocide, gay bashing, and so forth. These acts perhaps based on what the followers thought were well intentional beliefs were taken out of the context of the Biblical text and are used to justify their actions. Fortunately, at least in the Western economically developed countries many Christians, when confronted with facts their beliefs evolve.  For many years it was thought the sun revolved around the earth.  In fact, Christians persecuted Copernicus for this belief.  Forgiveness only came after substantial evidence emerged of proof that the earth’s rotation was around the sun.

This same evolution on the etiology of homosexuality is also occurring.  The homosexual behavior exists even during Jesus’s time on earth.  He did not speak against loving and caring individuals in a gay relationship.  The context often cited in the New Testament (Matthew 19:1-12) against homosexuality is when Jesus is discussing marriage and divorce.

There is also a lack of understanding that the term homosexuality as used in the New Testament is the translation of three specific Greek words.  Religious scholars have debated what is meant by these three Greek words.  The contemporary interpretation is the words were intended to serve as a prohibition against prostitution rather than homosexuality.  The debate among religious scholars regarding the context of these words is to begin the journey to understand the evolution of a social and biological understanding that has evolved regarding homosexual.  St. Paul’s multiple statements about sexual behavior needs to be viewed in this context given widespread prostitution (both men and women) as well as pederasty.  These behaviors from St Paul’s perspective were incongruent with Christian teaching.

Bottomline beliefs evolve depending on the issue.  It is common to “pick and choose” language particularly when discussing homosexuality for example from the Old Testament book of Leviticus.  Many other prohibitions described in Leviticus are merely ignored by most evangelical Christian.

There has become an increasing understanding that homosexual behavior is primarily a biological determinate.  Aversion therapy conceptualizes that being homosexual is a lifestyle choice. Attempting to change the orientation using aversion therapy has proven unsuccessful.  No gay person wakes up one morning and decides that he/she be going to be a homosexual.  Who in their right mind would choose a lifestyle where so many people who still lack an understanding of the etiology chose to be gay.  The persecution and hate generated by many people in societies all over the world usually based on some religious beliefs would make choices to be gay illogical.  It is like for heterosexuals, did he/she wake up one day and decided he/she are straight?  Of course, not it is a biological factor that merely exits.

In a free society, we have the right to believe whatever we have come to view as right. We can justify our position on a literal interpretation of the Bible.  If this is the position chosen, then one needs to be careful not become a hypocrite by only picking those passages or translations that fit a viewpoint.
A statement by the Nashville Christians United in Support of the LGBT + Inclusion in the Church Statement in their August 30, 2017, a report signed by over 300 religious leaders, educators, and activities from ALL major Christian denomination sum up an approach that reflects Jesus’s teaching.  It reads:

“WE AFFIRM that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God and that the great diversity expressed in humanity through our wide spectrum of unique sexualities and gender identifies a perfect reflection to the magnitude of God’s creative work.”

Dr. Bob