Christian Resources for Thinking About Homosexuality

1 August, 2012

I’m still trying to understand the fuss about Chick-Fil-A. Dan Cathy gets asked a question, he answers it, suddenly there’s a boycott?!?!?! I thought C-F-A was well known as being run/owned by conservative Baptists, hence the whole closed on Sunday thing. What did they expect him to answer? He didn’t take out an ad in the paper or refuse to serve or hire someone who is gay.

I also don’t think Christians turning out on one day to buy sandwiches really sends a positive message. It simply creates conflict and perpetuates the “us vs them” mentality. It certainly doesn’t communicate love and concern. If you want to support C-F-A eat there once a week for the rest of the year. If you really care about gay activists, find a less emotionally intense setting to develop a productive dialogue about Jesus and God’s will for their lives.

As I understand the Bible, I believe that homosexuality is sinful. I also know that people involved in that lifestyle seldom feel like they have a choice. I know that some of the transgender circumstances pose questions and issues that I doubt the New Testament writers ever conceptualised. Saying that homosexuality is sinful doesn’t solve all the difficulties.

In my teen years, my father took a prominent role in campaigning and speaking against the decriminalisation of homosexuality in my home state. He was even interviewed on national TV! As my family attended several rallies intended to assert political pressure on the government I witnessed a lot of fear, anger and antagonism. Ultimately, the law was repealed.

As I reflect on the whole process one thing I can be pretty certain of is that no gay person became a Christian as a result of those rallies. I’m also pretty certain that no gay person would talk with my dad about their relationship with God. I think we lost sight of the big picture.

Having said that, I certainly understand the little picture. I fear for my daughter (currently 2) being taught by trusted authority figures at school that homosexuality is an acceptable, alternative lifestyle. This will create conflict as she’s made to choose between teachers and parents and church teachers. Should she trust the Bible, or her curriculum more? Perhaps she’ll even be pressured to “experiment” with that lifestyle.

But let’s be honest. She’ll also receive similar messages and pressure discounting heterosexual relationships and the value and sanctity of marriage. In fact, it’s most likely that this will be the area in which she’ll face the greatest temptations. For all the same reasons that I would hope she will honour God by maintaining sexual purity in relationships with the opposite sex, I believe it’s realistic to expect she can filter the messages promoting homosexual relationships.

I feel that a Christian approach is not to seek to impose my beliefs upon the school system, (I’m not saying I’d be silent, I should still participate in my community) but to equip my daughter and other children in the church to love God and follow his word. Intellectually, I have confidence that nothing is more powerful than God, his Spirit, and His Word. Not even sin.

Putting that into practice is scary!

It’s much easier to go somewhere with a sign and protest to make the world the way I want it to be, or to withdraw from interaction with the world, rather than working for God and allowing him to change people’s hearts. Can I trust God that he could use my daughter and her family to influence others? Have I convinced myself that God no longer has any ability to transform lives and therefore society? Is there no hope for our communities?

I’m certainly no expert, so I collated a list of some resources that you might find helpful (They’re probably not experts either, but I found their thoughts helpful). My basic question is “What attitude should Christians adopt as we consider our interaction with the LGBT community?”

• James Nored: Missional Outreach Network “It is Christ, not morality, that saves us and attracts the world“.
• John Dobbs: Out Here Hope Remains “The Chicken Sandwich War“.
• John Alan Turner: Faith 2.0 has a couple of good articles here and here.
• Larry Mendte: The Philly Post “What You Need to Do Before You Boycott a Philly Chick-fil-A“
• Rex Butts: Kingdom Seeking “The Cost of Waging the Culture War” Part 1 and Part 2
• Jonathan Storment: Stormented.com “A Christian Response to Homosexuality“
• Keith Brenton: Blog in My Own Eye “Homosexuality: We Don’t Know What We’re Talking About“
• Tim Pyles: Thinking Out Loud “The Politics of Chicken“
• Parick Mead: Tentpegs “Straight Talk on Gay Marriage” and a deeper article here.
• Ben Witherington III: [VIDEO] “The Bible and Homosexuality“.
• Bob Russell: Bob Russell Ministries “Dan Cathy And The Silence Of Many Churches” – An alternative approach.

Okay, I hope that’s helpful. None of them are particularly deep, but I think they have a pretty consistent message.

Please share other articles that you think are helpful. Just be warned that I’ll delete any comments I perceive as aggressive.

Written by Peter Horne Posted in News & Opinions Tagged with Chick-Fil-A, culture, ethics, list, morals, values