The Church, Homosexuality, And Ministering

In chapter five what really caught my attention was the section on community of the church. Personally, I believe the church communities are failing to reach out to others, and reach the full potential of what the church can be. I believe many churches are slowly becoming a social club that merely mimics what Christianity should be. Many people go to church for the popularity and inspirational quotes. “The church as a community does not require conformity. Christians are not meant to be cookie-cutter copies of one another” (90). I have been told by friends about the hurt their family member has felt because the church rejected them due to he or she being gay. Hearing these stories broke a piece of me because this is not how a Christian community should behave. God does not reject us for our unworthiness, however, he loves us. Which in my eyes means we are not to reject anyone from attending the church, yet, show them love. “The church is the place where the story of our personal redemption branches out and intertwines with the stories of other persons seeking redemption on the road towards full salvation” (91). As a community, we are not to reject

Unfortunately there is a separation of views within the church as a whole. The two different views are represented by the liberal church and the evangelical church. The liberal church believes that homosexuals should be allowed to have membership, carry leadership positions, and that even the blessing of marriage should be bestowed upon gay couples. While on the other hand, there is the evangelical church, which strongly opposes homosexuals within the church and believes that homosexuals should not be allowed to hold membership, leadership positions, or receive the blessing of same sex marriage.

This article by Brittany H. Bramlett analyzes the relationship with religion and contact with homosexuals in the United States. The article takes a look on how relationships with gays and lesbians may influence people of different faiths and religious traditions differently or not at all (The Cross-Pressures of Religion and Contact with Gays 1). The results from the article showed that people of

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

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

Yes we understand that It might be against your religious beliefs to be homosexual but that doesn't give you the right to yell at the LGBT community telling them they’re sinners and they're all going to hell. According to Biblehub.com Mark 12:31 says “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” that includes your homosexual neighbors. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” which according to Bible.org means all believers are judged equally including gay/lesbian believers.

But, as so many people resoundingly reject the hypocrisy, hate, homophobia, and misogyny of the Christian church, they also often leave behind the spiritually nurturing aspects of religious life and find themselves adrift in a post-church world.

That 's one thing I never understood about Christianity and Christians. They 're so bitter with gay and transgender people when we 're all inevitably just humans. Who gives them the right to control somebody 's sexuality and gender? Of course, I 'm not actually gay, but playing the role has made me think about things more in depth. Maybe it wasn 't right of me to tear others down for reasons like that. Then again, is anything I do right? Probably not.

My sex is female, and I also identify my gender as being a heterosexual female. As far as religion goes, I identify as a non-denominational Christian who basically almost lives at church. All of these aspects of my life affect my perspective on the LGBT community. I believe that being homosexual is wrong and should not be done because only man and woman should be together, but because of my religion, I also believe in accepting those people apart of the LGBT community. Many people would say that I am wrong or confused for thinking this way because I am Christian and believe in God because the bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Surely you know that people who do wrong will not get to enjoy God’s kingdom. Don’t be fooled. These are the people who will not get to enjoy his kingdom: those who sin sexually, those who worship idols, those who commit adultery, men who let other men use them for sex or who have sex with other men, those who steal, those who are greedy, those who drink too much, those who abuse others with insults, and those who cheat.” Many people who are not truly rooted in their faith will see this scripture and will shun away all people apart of the LGBT community or just stop believing in God because they are in that community. I, on the other hand, know that even though that is said in the Bible there is more to this statement. The Bible also says

All around the world, there are people with different sexualities; a tremendous amount of them are judged every day because of their sexuality. Not only did lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders fight for same sex marriage to be legal, but people who like the opposite sex did as well. For dozens of years, people have been wanting to legalize same sex marriage while others wished for same sex marriage to be banned. A myriad of individuals fought for this certain right. Those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or Transgender are judged religiously every day. Despite all the judgement, hate, disrespectful looks, and rude comments, they

There is also a large difference between conforming our beliefs to accept others and just simply loving them. If we meet somebody who is gay we don’t need to believe that it is okay and we should just accept homosexuality as being culturally acceptable. But on the other hand we don’t need to constantly shame them and tell them they are going to hell. When responding to people in suburbs and people anywhere in the world we need to find the middle ground. If we tell someone what they are doing is wrong and they are going to hell it is only going to spread hatred and give us a bad reputation. Instead we need to show love and guidance with people. If we earn their trust first it will be much easier and effective to show them christianity and what God wants for us.

Romans 1:26-27 says, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” The Bible does not discriminate against the LGBT community, but it does say that homosexuality is a sin. God lovingly warns against homosexuality and offers grace for those who have strayed from His will. Mark 10:6-9 says, “But at the beginning of creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” This testifies against multiple genders, as God created just two genders, male and

Homosexuality has become accepted by many in our culture today. PBS estimates that there are 9 million members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community (Greve, Joan. “LGBT America: By the Numbers.”). This makes up 3.8% of the US population. Some of these members identify as Christians. So this poses a couple of questions: does the Bible really condemn homosexuality, can you be a gay Christian, and can two people of the same sex be legitimately married? These are important questions for churches to have answers to as the LGBT movement is becoming very popular.

Opposition to gay marriage has increased since the summer and a narrow majority of Americans also oppose allowing gays and lesbians to enter legal agreements that fall short of marriage. Moreover, despite the overall rise in tolerance toward gays since the 1980s, many Americans remain highly critical of homosexuals ­ and religious belief is a major factor in these attitudes.

While seventeen states have already granted couples the right to marry whom they love regardless of gender, the rest of the country continues to forbid same-sex couples to marry (Ahuja) and in doing so, infringe upon one of the most basic freedoms we are allowed. Arguments for same-sex marriage, despite being backed up with hard legal evidence and Supreme Court rulings, continue to face opposition on the grounds of religious beliefs and personal values.