A response to “gay theology”

[Updated 2/11/22]

Where do I stand on arguments that suggest that references to “homosexual” practice in the Bible are either translation errors; references to practices that are irrelevant today (misperceived references to say, idolatry or pederasty); or that today’s culture of loving LGBT relationships cannot be linked to the same behaviors that are referenced in the Bible?

These, in my opinion, are the most common arguments proposing that same-sex sexuality is a natural biological reality (a simple state of being) and therefore not “sin,” and that any effort to diminish LGBT feelings is misguided or even overtly harmful. It is an approach I once took as an LGBT pastor.

But, this approach fails to appreciate overarching themes in scripture and radically diminishes the authority of Jesus’ own teaching on sexuality. Secondarily, it reflects the impact of a strong cultural trend that favors a virtualized sense of self, which is evidence of our technological era.

LGBT-identifying people today are caught in a perfect storm . Though homosexual behavior is ancient, it has never before been normalized. Why now? I wish to propose that it has everything to do with the tech revolution.

The virtualized self

To understand the rapid rise of the LGBT movement (and therefore the necessity of a robust gay-affirming theology) one must understand that our current historical moment is similar to past cultural and social shifts. Today’s technological era is shifting attitudes and social institutions across the world much like the Reformation, Enlightenment or Industrialization caused cultural upheaval and redefinitions of social roles. Led by the west’s technological domination, whole nations are grappling with a response as tech-driven mindsets are spreading into our most intimate and personal settings.

Among the advances of the technological era is a dualistic virtualization of our “self.” Our inner world: the mind, will, and emotions, have become our primary identity.

Sitting at a computer we represent ourselves through a pseudo-ethereal presence, in which we manifest our identity to others apart from our bodies. In this setting, our intellect and our psyche drive our reality. Here, one feels fully known based on “transparency and authenticity” as we explain our thought life and its accompanying emotions. We feel loved when there is reciprocity as we express ourselves this way. In this setting we may use our body to self-soothe through masturbation or porn, but it has no other meaning.

The other half of our modern dualism has found expression in the sexual revolution. Yet, much of our attention today is spent subjugating our bodies as if they were a mysterious appendage to the mind.

This is seen very clearly in the effects of the feminist movement, which has interpreted limitations in cultural “advancement” or self-expression as a contest of value between female and male intellect and physiology. To accomplish “liberation” the movement has needed to dissociate the two.

A century ago the phrase pointing to women as “the weaker sex” correlated one’s physical strength with her intellectual ability. Thankfully today, women are ascending into realms of intellectual authority, redeeming this misunderstanding. However, as women leaders have pressed further and further against their perceived notion of patriarchy, our understanding of ourselves has also been compromised. Through technology, women have dismissed our physicality as a nuisance in order to compete “equally” with men, since the primary place of our equity is in the mind not the body. As a result, many have been led to reject motherhood (or delay it) for the sake of “success” in our culture. This would not be possible without technological advances in medicine that enable contraception and abortion. With no need to exit the workforce to manage children and a household, women can ascend the corporate and cultural ladders without physical hindrance.

The rapid expansion of the LGBT movement is another profound expression of this new dualism. As I have said, homosexual and cross-sex behaviors are ancient, but no culture has ever embraced and normalized them. Though activists would like to suggest social stigma is central to the hesitance to embrace these behaviors, I believe instead resistance is based in our subconscious tether to physical reality.

The truth of human existence is that our mind, will and emotions are inseparably tied our physical bodies. We are not simply “clay pots” within which a spirit resides.

The modern LGBT worldview requires this divorce between our psyche and body. Though most extreme in the transgender movement, LGB identity is equally reflective of this dualism. The mantra “love is love” points directly to our concern that our psychological reality must be prioritized. Today when many of us see married, gay lovers we perceive their emotional well-being, the safety and fulfillment of their marriage, their potential as good fathers, and compare the psychological factors of this marriage to heterosexual marriage. Most millennials and younger fail to perceive any difference whatsoever in this relationship from opposite-sex sexual expression. To them, sex and love are, largely, psychologically driven. Yet, close scrutiny to the physicality of gay “love” offers a clear obstruction to its embrace. The obvious illogic of same-sex sexual behavior has been dismissed as irrelevant, but that is causing terrible harm. More on this below.

But, there is the incarnation of Jesus

Christians acknowledge the sacred nature of our bodies and our whole personhood through their understanding of the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of the man, Christ Jesus. Jesus came “in the flesh” and redeemed our immoral human nature. He addressed body, spirit and soul.

With this context, it’s imperative Christians grasp the threat of gay theology. The problem does not simply rest in “the clobber passages.” These are superficial arguments in compared to the meaning of creation itself and our position as physical, human bearers of God’s Spirit-image.

The Bible invites us to ponder the meaning of our physicality in the context of God’s Kingdom, which, Jesus tells us “is not of this world” (John 18:36), that is, transcends human constructs. The incarnation invites us into the mystery of the creation of God, our function within it, and Jesus’ promised return. God chose to create a physical world in which to manifest Himself, one that He called “good,” to establish a mysterious and transcendent relationship with us. In the incarnation and resurrection, God tells us our bodies, not only our souls, are vital to His plan.

The two sexes together manifest a spiritual mystery that is vital to human identity as image-bearers of God.

“And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”” Matthew 19:4-6 NASB1995

To grasp the meaning of the male-female relationship in Genesis we have to understand that humanity is created for relationships together. Our genitalia and the whole body structure that maintains it, which includes our hormonal chemistry and all its influences on our brain and organs, exist for union with the opposite sex. A vagina cannot be understood apart from its penile male complement. No matter whether there is sexual consummation, this pattern of male and female together is vital to the function of all societies. The unique strengths and differences between the sexes, born both of their physical differences and their psychological differences in combination together, are essential for all of humanity’s well-being. Two male lovers suffer from the lack of sexual restraint that a woman offers in a sexual relationship. Two female lovers suffer from the lack of emotional restraint that a man offers to a relationship.

Our bodies are designed for procreation (whether we do or not), and cultures have always protected institutions that preserve this activity for the wellbeing of the society at large. Even evolutionary theory requires a commitment to this physical reality in which biological factors support and preserve the wellbeing and ongoing development of all species. The rise of gender and queer theories bring into question the very foundations of the physical sciences in favor of virtual domination over the body. But, these notions will never be more powerful than physical truth. The fractured disorder they promote cause great harm to those who experience LGBT feelings.

Forgive me, but to make this point I must be explicit. Cautiously read on.

Gay physical intercourse not only confronts biological truth it harms the human body. Accomplishing gay sexual relationship requires a very great dissociation from one’s body. Gay sex mimics heterosexual sex. Yet, the anus is not comparable to the vagina. Its tissues and its physical environment are fragile in comparison. Therefore, it easily cultivates infection and disease. According to the Centers for Disease control, gay men have an exponentially higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases. According to the CDC in 2018, “Gay and bisexual men accounted for 69% of all new HIV diagnoses among all males aged 13 and older in the United States.” In 2014, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men accounted for 83% of primary and secondary syphilis cases. Fatherhood among gay men requires technological advances. Increasingly, surrogacy (its own ethical dilemma) is becoming a common avenue to assuage this longing. Although lesbian sex does not carry with it the same disease rates, women are forced to resort to external objects for physical satisfaction. The desire for motherhood, of course, similarly requires some kind of technological or external intervention. 

As we celebrate LGBT identity and “love,” our dualistic blindness is consigning our friends to lives of sexual dissatisfaction with risky health outcomes.

Order out of chaos: the Kingdom of God

One need not focus on Sodom and Gomorrah or Leviticus 18 or Paul’s language to discount homosexual identity and behavior as outside God’s vision for humanity. Genesis discloses that God loves order (not chaos) and structure and that His work is intricate, intentional, and creative. Humanity manifests this to the world through our celebration of art, architecture, nation-building, family, marriage, schools, governments, etc., and especially through the underlying moral purview required to create communities together incorporating all these things. Our physicality, specifically human sexual dimorphism, is essential for all these things. That’s right, male and female together are essential for all these things. Together they represent the whole of community and society toward which these things point.

Unlike its contemporary surrounding cultures, by worshipping God the Jews never embraced same-sex sexual behavior. Instead, Judaism cherished family and legacy. YHWH is “the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” The Old Testament is replete with lists of generations—progeny pointing to the identity of Israel as God’s own chosen people, complete with the Law, a nation-building resource explaining how to live together according to God’s ways. Circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant, supports this theme of national identity with genetic connection. Nothing in same-sex sexuality and gender identity can support this fundamental value of God’s kingdom. 

In the New Testament, the “family” of God grows through the work of the Holy Spirit who knits together people groups from all nations as sons and daughters of God according to the pattern established in the Old Covenant. The icon of marriage is blown open so that the mystery of marriage as an image of God’s creative and relationally intimate identity is revealed to the world. The truth of our biology is unchanged, yet instead portrays an even greater mystery: God with us. Our physicality is never diminished. Instead, the mystery of our connection to God becomes more beautiful. As we walk according to Jesus’ ways amid our cultures, our worldviews and the world are transformed.

Wherever the Kingdom of God is manifest, we should expect the establishment of God’s order—including the reordering of our sexuality. We see not only miracles of physical healing, freedom from physical addictions such as drug use, but also reordering of sexual desires and their correlating behaviors. Jesus has redeemed humanity and we all live in a “now, but not yet” reality where we may contend to see something of the final work of God on earth: His Kingdom fully established. Jesus commands that we pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done...” (Matt. 6:10) with expectation and faith. Obedience to Jesus’ desire necessarily means walking with our LGBT-identifying peers to see their lives redeemed and brought into this revelation of God’s truth for their lives, which draws together our spirit and our body according to an incarnational mystery. They are not first, “gay.” They are sons and daughters of God whose will for their lives, without question, is new life according to the pattern established in scripture across millennia—across generations, that is, reflecting God’s generative (creative) identity.

Justice for LGBT is not “equality.” It is restoration according to God’s design for physical and spiritual human identity.

I, and others like me whose sexuality has been redeemed (I have walked away from lesbianism), entreat Christians to prioritize God’s ability to rescue our LGBT-identifying friends from the traumas of this modern dualism.