Can you be gay and believe in god

The first question I asked myself when I realized I like guys is one that we still get regularly at Queer Theology:. Have you asked yourself that question? What steps did you take to find the answer? Supposedly anti-transgender Bible passages are rarely part of these discussions. Are you are sick of defending yourself or loved ones against the same ole scripture passages time and time again?

This is workshop designed for you and how to finally clobber those Clobber Passages. The Bible says lots of things! That the Earth was covered in water when created until God formed land Genesis but also that the Earth was completely dry until God brought streams up and watered the planet Genesis That God created animals first and then humans Genesis 1 but also that God created Adam first, then animals, then Eve Genesis 2.

In fact, some books seem to be a combination of multiple pre-existing sources.

Is it REALLY ok to be LGBTQ? A look behind and beyond the “clobber passage”

For example, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible appear to draw from four difference sources, called JEDP while Matthew and Luke draw upon Mark and another shared though unknown source referred to as the Q source. When I first heard this, my faith was rocked! If the first five books of the Hebrew Bible are really just a mashup of older, ancient religious legends and Matthew and Luke probably should have included a bibliography… what did that mean for my faith?

So if you can proof text your way into any position, what use is the Bible in making decisions to guide your moral, God-centered life? God using Joseph to save his family from famine in Genesis. God leading the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt in Exodus. God appointing Deborah as prophetess and leader of Israel in Judges.

The prophet Amos calling out for justice to roll down like a mighty river. The Messiah born to an unwed, immigrant teenager mother who heard voices living under occupation in the Middle East. That is who Christians claim to be our Messiah. Jesus who counted women as his friends and followers and who was challenged by a woman and changed his views in response!

Jesus who dined with prostitutes and sent adulterers away without judgement. The fruits of anti-LGBTQ theology reveal its falseness: depression, despair, suicide, fractured families, loss of faith, bullying, harassment. The fruits of affirming theology testify to its rightness: a return to faith, a healing of relationships, and a vibrance and resurgence in church life.

And then eventually I fall asleep and allow to slip away three decades of relentless homophobia that have been thrown at me. And I continue to do this work. On the other side of loving and accepting themselves—whether or not they are still Christian—they are happier and healthier.

The fruits are clear and neither angels nor demons, nor well-meaning Christians armed with a handful or cherry-picked out-out-context Bible verses can separate us from the love of God. I had to spend years doing intense advocacy to learn everything I now know about gender, sexuality, and Christian justice.