Gay people and the bible
How Should Christians Respond to Gay Friends or Family Members?
Caleb Kaltenbach (M.A. ’07) is an alumnus of Biola’s Talbot School of Theology, lead pastor of a large church in Simi Valley, Calif., and a married father of two. He’s also an emerging voice in the discussion of how Christians should engage the LGBT community. That’s because Kaltenbach has an insider perspective, having been raised by a dad and mom who divorced and independently came out of the closet as a gay guy and a woman loving woman. Raised in the midst of LGBT parties and self-acceptance parades, Kaltenbach became a Christian and a pastor as a young senior. Today, he manages the tension of holding to the traditional biblical instruction on sexuality while loving his queer parents.
Kaltenbach’s unique story is detailed in his new novel Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction and landed him on the front page of the New York Times in June. Biola Magazine reached out to him to talk about his book and his perspective on how Christians can finer navigate the complexities of this issue with truth and grace.
In your publication you say that it’s time for Christians to have the iss “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”[1] It is not a surprise that this verse seems to say that gay male sex is forbidden in the eyes of God. The dominant view of western Christianity forbids queer relations. This verse is one of the clobber passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming interpretation of what this channel means for the LGBTQ community. More specifically, it presents the interpretation of K. Renato Lings in which Lev. 18:22 refers to male-on-male incest. While Lev. 18:22 is used to condemn homosexuality, we must understand that the designation “homosexuality” was only recently coined in the English language. So did this term exist in ancient Israel? Charles D. Myers, Jr. confirms that none of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible mention homosexuality.[2] He also contends that in ancient Israel same-sex relations were viewed as an ancient Nearby East problem. The ancient Near East tradition included pederasty and relations between an older bloke and One way to argue against these passages is to make what I notify the “shellfish objection.” Keith Sharpe puts it this way: “Until Christian fundamentalists boycott shellfish restaurants, terminate wearing poly-cotton T-shirts, and stone to death their wayward offspring, there is no obligation to eavesdrop to their diatribes about homosexuality being a sin” (The Gay Gospels, 21). In other words, if we can disregard rules enjoy the ban on eating shellfish in Leviticus 11:12, then we should be allowed to disobey other prohibitions from the Ancient Testament. But this argument confuses the Old Testament’s temporary ceremonial laws with its permanent moral laws. Here’s an analogy to support understand this distinction. I think of two rules my mom gave me when I was young: hold her hand when I cross the street and don’t drink what’s under the sink. Today, I own to follow only the latter rule, since the former is no longer needed to protect me. In fact, it would now do me more harm than good. Old Testament ritual/ceremonial laws were favor mom’s handholding rule. The reason they forbade the Israelites from using certain fabrics or foods, or interacting with bodily Answer
Leviticus 18:22
The Bible on Homosexual Behavior
What does the Bible say about homosexuality?
In some people’s minds, organism homosexual is as much outside one’s control as the shade of your skin and your height. On the other hand, the Bible clearly and consistently declares that homosexual activity is a sin (Genesis 19:1–13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10). God created marriage and sexual relationships to be between one man and one woman: “At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be together to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’” (Matthew 19:4–5). Anything outside of God’s intent and design is sin. The Bible teaches that Christians are to live for God, deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24), including with their sexuality. This disconnect between what the Bible says and what some people feel leads to much controversy, debate, and even hostility.
When examining what the Bible says about homosexuality, it is important to distinguish between lgbtq+ behaviorand homosexual inclinationsor attractions. It is the difference betwe