Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
John 8:46
Today I got an email that asked a very important question. It was "Please how do you handle the guilt of being a Christian and a lesbian?" I have been meaning to write on this subject for some time now and just not gotten to it. I get asked this a lot believe it or not.
I honestly don't have any guilt. Not from that! Sure I have guilt in my life, but it stems from sins that are not because I am gay. I don't feel being gay as a sin. I have read too many books on the matter and studied too much to believe that it is wrong to be gay. I honestly believe that I didn't just wake up one day and say "Hey, I think I am gay" No, I know I was born this way.
Knowing that I came from the womb this way, made this way and knowing that in Genesis 1:26 it says that we are made in God's image, then that means even the gay me is in God's image. I am not a mistake. It would be like saying an autistic child is not in God's image when really they are more like God than maybe a lot of us are.
So with this knowledge, I can not feel guilty that I am gay. Yet that does not say that I can not have the guilt of acting on being gay, so the question is do I? No! Not one bit! Why? You may be saying, "But Lesley, there is scripture that says it is wrong!" Is there? I have studied these scriptures left, right, sideways, and all around. Read books about them, and come to the conclusion that really it was not the act of homosexuality but the acts of rape and idolatry that they are talking about in them.
Nowhere in the Bible does it actually say, "Homosexuality, the act of a loving committed relationship, is wrong!" It does say that acts that are of cruel nature, acts that are worshipping other gods are wrong, but not where it is natural for a person to love another and committed to that person.
In 1 John 3, we read of God's love and how we are to love. I honestly believe that where there is love, then there is God. Where there is hate, then there is not God. How then can you explain that a gay couple can flourish and grow who love's God and each other? Because God is in their life! I am single, I love God, and since I have come home to the church, pronounced my love of God, and moved forward in my walk with God, He has been evident in my life! How you may ask? Well, I have been flourished at work with more sales that increased my pay, got a better living arrangement, got a brand new car, this blog has flourished, and I have been blessed with a slew of new friends.
So no, I don't feel guilty being gay and Christian. I love that I am both! I don't have an issue with it. And I pray for the day when one doesn't have to say "Gay Christian" and we are all just Christian. Just like I pray for the day we are all just people not straight or gay, but just people. Till then, I don't mind being the Church of Christ Lesbian plowing through this world one blog post at a time hoping to help others know it is okay and to form your own opinion that there are others of us out there!
God bless you and know you don't have to feel guilty!
I honestly don't have any guilt. Not from that! Sure I have guilt in my life, but it stems from sins that are not because I am gay. I don't feel being gay as a sin. I have read too many books on the matter and studied too much to believe that it is wrong to be gay. I honestly believe that I didn't just wake up one day and say "Hey, I think I am gay" No, I know I was born this way.
Knowing that I came from the womb this way, made this way and knowing that in Genesis 1:26 it says that we are made in God's image, then that means even the gay me is in God's image. I am not a mistake. It would be like saying an autistic child is not in God's image when really they are more like God than maybe a lot of us are.
So with this knowledge, I can not feel guilty that I am gay. Yet that does not say that I can not have the guilt of acting on being gay, so the question is do I? No! Not one bit! Why? You may be saying, "But Lesley, there is scripture that says it is wrong!" Is there? I have studied these scriptures left, right, sideways, and all around. Read books about them, and come to the conclusion that really it was not the act of homosexuality but the acts of rape and idolatry that they are talking about in them.
Nowhere in the Bible does it actually say, "Homosexuality, the act of a loving committed relationship, is wrong!" It does say that acts that are of cruel nature, acts that are worshipping other gods are wrong, but not where it is natural for a person to love another and committed to that person.
In 1 John 3, we read of God's love and how we are to love. I honestly believe that where there is love, then there is God. Where there is hate, then there is not God. How then can you explain that a gay couple can flourish and grow who love's God and each other? Because God is in their life! I am single, I love God, and since I have come home to the church, pronounced my love of God, and moved forward in my walk with God, He has been evident in my life! How you may ask? Well, I have been flourished at work with more sales that increased my pay, got a better living arrangement, got a brand new car, this blog has flourished, and I have been blessed with a slew of new friends.
So no, I don't feel guilty being gay and Christian. I love that I am both! I don't have an issue with it. And I pray for the day when one doesn't have to say "Gay Christian" and we are all just Christian. Just like I pray for the day we are all just people not straight or gay, but just people. Till then, I don't mind being the Church of Christ Lesbian plowing through this world one blog post at a time hoping to help others know it is okay and to form your own opinion that there are others of us out there!
God bless you and know you don't have to feel guilty!
