Sexual Identity : Sexuality And Homosexuality

As a follower of Christ, there are many factors to be considered when ministering to those who struggle with homosexuality. Some of those factors are environmental where those who deal with same gender attraction admit to growing up in a fatherless environment with a “domineering wife or a mother, who work[ed] outside of the home and may have something to do with creating gender confusions, by which effeminate[d] boys or overly-masculinized girls [were] created.” Another factor to consider is not only the family dynamics, but also society’s role in the sexual development process wherein many images and opinions of sexuality are thrown about in the media, television shows and other social outlets. Parents must be careful not to label their child or adolescent as homosexual because they don’t fit the normal gender stereotype. If, for example, a young boy prefers music or the arts over sports, this shouldn’t be discouraged if it doesn’t fit the parent’s ideals of true masculinity or femininity. In fact, what should be acknowledged is the Bible’s true definition of masculinity and femininity? Is there a definitive answer that the Bible gives to define masculinity and femininity? To attempt to answer that question, we would need to comb the Bible to examine the many illustrations of men and women’s lives that either confirm or deny those stereotypes.

I agree with the statement Balswick &Balswick stated, “It is a tragedy when people who struggle with sexual identity experience rejection from the Christian community.”(Balswick & Balswick, 2014, p. 234) As Christians we do our best to obey and follow God’s will, but as humans it is in our sinful nature to fall in sin. Just as Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3. We all face struggles in our lives, whether it be within ourselves or outside in the world of society. No sin we face as an individual is any better or worse than another. Never wanting to experience rejection but having a deep desire of wanting to be accepted or understood is something we all long for. With no other love being any better than God’s love, people may seek for the formula

This is a small thing that most people wouldn’t think about, but it makes a big impact on them, they feel like it is a shaming from Christians and would rather be referred to as Gay, lesbian, etc. Marin didn’t know this when he first started living and interacting with this community. It is something as simple as how you refer to them that can make a world of difference. This book brings to light some of these simple yet very impactful topics that can help build those bridges to be able to have relationships with and minister to any youth or person you cross in ministry. If anything, this book is a great resource for small changes in your vocabulary you may need to make, to biblical references to help answer some of the more difficult religious questions. When he goes through the different passages, they provide a way for us and Christian leaders in the church and the world to put ourselves on the same playing field, in regards to our sinful nature and striving to live eternity in the kingdom of God, as our friends in the GLBT community. Marin mentions in the story about Sodom and Gomorrah that the underlying message and lesson that God is teaching us through this story is that we should not love the earthly possessions and status that we have more than him, we need to put God before all else. This is not something that just GLBT people struggle with, but every one of us.

On Expressions website they do address the controversial topic of being gay and a Christian with two different viewpoints. First, they use the Bible verse John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only

“Being gay is a fundamental part of my being - the core of who I've always been, and the thing that I had repressed and run from all my life.” Former New Jersey state senator, James McGreevey the American Democratic politician, kept his true identity from himself and the people he loved for almost his whole life. He ran away from felling anything for men because it was not only ‘wrong’ in society’s eyes but rather was not something he could accept about himself. And after 12 years of marriage to two different women he finally admitted to himself and came out about his sexuality. He finally accepted himself and allowed the society around him to do so too. He overcame the repression that he received by society to follow moral norms; additionally he overcame the repression his own mind forced him into believing for 12 years!

Now, when is talk about that there is ignorance in this type of situation, it is necessary to take into account that this ignorance came from the type of action that many usually takes when the they know about this issue in certain individuals who are facing this issue, and sadly the first action taken is to judge them, and discriminating against others. However, what is most unfortunately is when this comes directly from the church, which often does not give them any hope of restoration to their issue of same-sexual attraction.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has never received as much attention as they are right now. Much of this attention is stemming from this population struggling to obtain the same rights given to the remainder of the population. The LGBT community faces many challenges in their personal system, social environment, and then in the public system. In working with the LGBT population, the social worker needs to examine how the individual views themselves, not only through sexual identity, but as an individual. We need to look at the prejudices and condemnation they have encountered which may have led to further uncertainty or confusion.

Gender identity has always been a controversial subject because everyone has a different opinion or feeling about the subject, but until everyone fully understands the immense history, the different types of identities, laws that have been passed and changed over the years, money that has been spent, bullying that takes place every single day, or the hundreds of controversies that have been argued about the issue one will never begin to understand the actual subject of gender identity.

Regarding this issue I have personal experience and for the most part what I've encountered on the one hand are those who adhere to modern theological doctrines of men which redefine sin and claim, "The Bible does condemn homosexuality, but only abusive or exploitive homosexual acts. The prohibitions mentioned don’t apply to us." Or they say, "Same sex sexual behavior is a sin, but same sex sexual attractions are involuntary, so they don't require repentance." And on the other hand are those who adhere to old theological doctrines of men which redefined the Law and claim, "The law is a rule of life for believers. It still applies to Christians." Underlying it all is dialectic "reasoning"—a philosophy (most Christians are duped into using) designed to get you to take your eyes off of Christ Jesus the LORD and turn your ears from His words in the Holy

In order to answer this question we need to establish that it is a sin to be gay and that this is what the Bible

Within the last decade society has become more open to ideology and lifestyles that years ago were tabo. This is largely due to the fact that the millennial generation may be one of the most laid back and accepting generations of all time. One major lifestyle that was rarely expected was homosexuality within the last decade this issue is no longer in the closet. Most people feel comfortable being open about their lifestyle choice and even show it off. Shortly after the acceptance of gays by society a new issue presented itself and this is transgender people. The community as whole fights for their rights together and it is referred to as LGBTQ. LGBTQ means lesbians, gays, transgender, bisexual, and queer. The LGBTQ community has made great progress in the last decade they have become more open about their community and have gained rights that they should have always had. Even though the community has made progress they still have a long way way to go especially within the workplace.

Mark Yarhouse made interesting points as he presented his lecture over sexual identity and gender. The major conflict that was discussed was the tie between sexual identity and Christian faith. Yarhouse says society has three different lenses that we look through, such as integrity, diversity, and disability. All three of these views are expressed throughout the community and instead of singly looking at one we should look at all of them together while talking about it. A major question he asked during this lecture was: Is there something we can do to improve our Christian community dealing with sexual identity? Instead of being silent, a Christian community could be compassionate, care, love, be trustworthy, show God’s word and be a family.

God intended everyone to be heterosexual and that by choosing to be gay you are offending him. Christians believe that sexually active gay people should

The development of gay identity emerged from men and women not being comfortable with the lives they were living. Traditional heterosexual roles caused both men and women to become unsatisfied with the way they were supposed to act. In a sense, they expressed heterosexual roles so that they won’t receive any backlash from the community they were a part of. The sexuality of someone was socially constructed, and that caused many people to have a difficult time coming out about which sex they prefer over the other. In Jeffrey Week’s “Sexuality in History”, Week discussed how sexuality is socially constructed as it gives aid in the development of one’s identity. Sexuality is something that people are able to express by the people they have something in common with. However, it is socially constructed since people labeled everything. “Indeed, I would go so far to say that sexuality only exists through its social forms and social organization” (Weeks 6). Sexuality was not based on the person, but how people will view their nonconformity in society.

The sexual orientation identity development is a theoretical model that conceptualized the resolution of internal conflict related to the formation of individual sexual identity. For sexual minority people, it is commonly known as the coming-out process (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). There have been many different models elaborated to explain such process. All of them share similar stages: awareness, crisis, and acceptance (Loiacano 1989). When individuals become aware of their queer feelings and attraction, they try to block these homosexual feelings by constantly denying and minimizing them. This mechanism of defense leaves negative sequelae in their overall psychosocial well-being (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). Individuals tend to pass by a