Worst church to attend if you are gay
Amid hatred from some Christians, LGBTQ celebration is a promise to the “radically inclusive” Gospel of Christ
Jesus taught that his disciples would be recognizable by the fruit that they bear (Mt. 7:16). Later, the Apostle Paul lists the “fruit of the Spirit” as love, joy, accord, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the virtues that followers of Jesus Christ are intended to bear as they seek to reside their lives in step with the Holy Spirit.
Yet, if you were to ask an LGBTQ person to explain the average interaction they’ve had with a Christian, you’d be hard pressed to hear any of those fruits of the Spirit named. In fact, you’d more than likely overhear the exact antonym.
Christians, by and large, are famous for their hatred, anger, disgust, demonization, prejudice, bias and condemnation of homosexual people rather than for any of the fruits of the Spirit. This is evidence that such anti-LGBTQ opinions and attitudes are not coming from God.
Since coming out eight years ago, I’ve experienced the “bad fruit” of Christian bigotry firsthand nearly every single week. Today, as an openly gay Christian p
Should the Church View Homosexuality Like Divorce?
Whenever an evangelical denomination disfellowships a church due to compromise on the issue of homosexuality, I usually hear critics complain that such action is hypocritical. Don’t most conservative denominations, after all, welcome members who have been divorced into the fellowship? Why do evangelicals single out one sexual teaching over another? Couples divorce, sometimes remarry others, and yet are welcomed within the congregation. We don’t necessarily affirm this as good, but we receive these people with mercy and grace. Why not, the argument goes, do the similar with homosexuality?
The accuse of hypocrisy is valid in some respects. I’ve argued for years and repeatedly that many evangelical churches own been slow-motion sexual revolutionaries, embracing elements of the sexual revolution twenty or thirty years behind the rest of the culture. This is to our shame, and the divorce culture is the number-one indicator of this capitulation. The preaching on divorce has been muted and hesitating all too often in our midst. Sometimes this is due to what the Bible calls “fear of man,” ministers and leaders frightened of angering
I hold the church personally responsible for any LGBTQ person who walks away from God and Christianity. Every week, I acquire emails from individuals all across the country who are full of longing to be a part of a church. They want to go on the church-wide mission trip, join the choir, work for in the youth team and attend a little group.
These are people who long to serve God, connect with other Christians and be a part of a wider community.
Here’s the heartbreaking part: they write to me because the church won’t consent them do those things and they don’t realize what to do. Their church has found out they are LGBTQ and because of this are no longer welcome to join in these church activities they long to be a part of.
The worst are the emails I get are from juvenile people who are no longer allowed in their youth group or who are bullied at church camps because of their sexual orientation. You might not think this is a big deal, or would just tell that person to go to a different church. You might be so used to the idea that those in the LGBTQ community are not welcome at church that this does not alarm you.
But WAKE UP. THIS NEEDS TO GREATLY ALARM YOU.
People are being turned away fro Rev. Tim Keller’s Disappointing Comments on Homosexuality (with Postscript) Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Recent Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Sept. 14, 2012 For printing or pagination for citation use the pdf version here. A YouTube video entitled “What do Christians acquire against Homosexuality? Tim Keller at Veritas [8 of 11]” is getting significant play in Exodus circles as supporting Alan Chambers’ flawed theology in assuring “gay Christians” that unrepentant continuance in homosexual habit is no obstacle to inheriting the kingdom of God. Though the video was uploaded at the end of Nov. 2011, I saw it for the first time only a couple of days ago. It shows Rev. Tim Keller, prominent pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City (part of the Presbyterian Church of America, a conservative denomination that does not ordain women), being interviewed by Columbia University historian David Eisenbach for the Veritas Forum at Columbia University. Toward the end of the interview Eisenbach asked Keller about whether he thought lesbian people will go to *Trigger warning: Suicide ideation* In 2017, I watched my daughter, Kat, sit on stage ready to be baptized. A woman who was standing next to her said in front of the whole audience, “One of my favorite things about you is the energy and the light that you contain in you for the kids. You’re there every Sunday, worshipping and primary a small group. It is my honor to baptize you today.” I was so proud of my daughter that day. She was 15 and passionately devoted to God and her church. I was glad to be in a church where the senior pastor, Andy Stanley, once preached that the “church should be the safest place on the planet for gay teens.” I couldn’t have expected then what would come about a year later. Last June, my daughter showed up to church to conduct worship in the elementary environment. The same gal, Christy, who had baptized her told her that morning that because she had come out as gay on Instagram, she could no longer aid in leadership, meaning she could no longer be a worship leader or lead her second-grade little group. She was, however, allowed to volunteer in other ways, su
Andy Stanley's Church is NOT the "Safest Place in the World" for My Gay Teen