Do “Gay Christians” exist?

A topic that has been in the news a lot lately is that of the “gay Christian”.  It has become fashionable, even in many conservative circles, to either style oneself as a gay Christian or to support people who are either practicing homosexuals or who identify as gay but celibate within the church.  There are all manner of problems with this philosophy which we will examine in this article.

First of all, it is important to recognize, upfront, that there are no “gay genes”. No one is born gay, nor are there any known genetic pre-dispositions to engaging in homosexual behavior. This has been demonstrated repeatedly within the scientific community in empirical tests but this has done little to move the needle since the agenda has already been set by the leftists in academia, the media, and government. Therefore, any person engaging in homosexual behavior has no excuse for it before God.  They cannot blame their DNA for their sins. I find it very ironic that homosexuality and transgenderism are the only sins for which we attempt to find a genetic predisposition for; you will never see someone claiming they committed adultery or murder due to a genetic predisposition taken seriously.  Yet somehow we do for these two specific sins.

So is it possible to be a “gay Christian”? Yes, in the same sense it is possible to be a murderous Christian, an adulterous Christian, or a lying Christian.  You can still commit sins after receiving Christ as Savior. However, there is a strong Scriptural principle that you should try to cease from sinning after salvation. “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2 tells us.  Therefore, living in our sins is not really an option after salvation. We ought to be as dead to our sins as we were to God when we were unsaved.

This idea of being dead to sin is key to understanding why we cannot be a “gay Christian”. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament define homosexuality as a sin. ” If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” Leviticus 20:13 calls homosexuality an abomination, something that is not just a sin but is so unnatural that it is disgusting. Romans 1:26-27 confirms this. ” For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”  In other words, the New Testament and the Old Testament agree, homosexuality is both sinful and unnatural. If you refuse to accept that homosexuality is sinful, then you’re refusing to accept the plain text of Scripture.

Since we are to be dead to sin, our sin should not be our identifier. No Christian who struggles with pornography identifies as an adulterous Christian, nor does a person who struggles with overeating call themselves a gluttonous Christian.   The reason they do not do so is their identity is not in their struggles, their identity is in their Savior.  Why then should homosexuality be treated any differently? Why should a true Christian identify themselves by their sin?

This also ties into the idea of a celibate gay Christian who claims to not be practicing homosexuality but still identifies as gay.  To illustrate just how absurd this is, consider the case of someone who claims to be a pornography addicted Christian who does not watch pornography. The definition of the sin is him participating in it! This someone claiming to be a celibate gay Christian is essentially saying he is not practicing sin. So why is he identifying with it? Of course, in reality, many of these “celibate” individuals are not actually celibate but it fits the narrative so they claim they are in internet discussions.

This is not to say true Christians will not struggle with same-sex attraction. We live in a fallen world where sin is constantly going to harass us and different Christians have different struggles with different sins.  Same-sex attraction is not a problem for some people, while it is for others. This does not make either group any better than the other. It simply means they have different struggles. The major difference between the two is one is identifying themselves by their sin, the other is identifying themselves by their Savior.

As we have seen here, the label “gay Christian” is antithetical to Christianity. For no other sin do we tolerate such a label. Further, not only is this label unique among sins, it goes against God’s created order in Genesis. While there are Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction, no Christian is defined by their sin, they are defined by their Savior.  Any choosing to still be defined by their sin is violating the commands of Scripture.

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