It's OK to Be Gay: Straight Talk About Homosexuality for Gay People and Those Who Love Them

Product Information

Pastor Allberry is frequently asked, “But isn’t it harder for someone who is gay?” His answer is clear: “the gospel demands everything of all of us. If someone thinks the gospel has somehow slotted into their life quite easily, without causing any major adjustments to their lifestyle or aspirations, it is likely that they have not really started following Jesus at all. And just as the cost is the same for all of us, so too are the blessings.” (Sam Allberry, Is God Anti-Gay?[Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Co., 2013].)

The Bible in no ways contradicts itself. It is self explanatory and we do not need the human corrupt mind to interpret it. Homosexuality is an abomination to God and is SIN in clear terms. Let those clergy who are trying to defend it know that the judgment of God is upon them, because the Bible warns us against adding or subtracting the Word of God.

Those who would exclude homosexuals from God’s kingdom choose to ignore Jesus, turning instead to the Old Testament – most particularly to Genesis 19, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their interpretation of the story is that it is about homosexuality. It isn’t. It relates to hospitality. What we need is a sustained course of community-wide debates among all Muslims, and not just on the Internet. Preferably, we would see these discussions within major Muslim countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, and Malaysia. Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” the pope said in an interview with The Associated Press on Jan. 24, 2023, adding, “let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.” He later issued a note clarifying that his remarks on “sin” referred to sexual activity outside of marriage. During the interview, Francis also called for the relaxation of laws around the world that target LGBTQ people. To give just one example out of hundreds, when a gay couple reads the Word and they come to Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:22, 25, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. . . . Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” they cannot possibly relate to those words the way a heterosexual couple relates to them, since they do not have a true husband-wife relationship.

As it happens, Islam has case histories in this area which make it accommodating in some ways, though not in others. Reports from the prophet’s lifetime show he was familiar with three types of gender diversity beyond the usual male-female binary. Traditional ideas about gender roles cause particular problems for transgender people, especially in places where segregation of the sexes is more strictly enforced and cross-dressing is criminalised. And are they willing to say that the Lord Jesus, who literally looked into the hearts and souls of human beings—John 2:25 says that He knew what was in man—didn’t understand that certain people were “gay?” It is really not that difficult. God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105). It is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12-13). Moroccan activists participate in a vigil in Rabat to pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando gay club shooting. Photograph: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty ImagesThe story begins in Genesis 18 when three visitors (God and two angels, appearing as “men”) came before Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch. What did Abraham and his wife Sarah do? They offered hospitality. Gay Syrian refugee Subhi Nahas with the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, during an informal meeting on the persecution of LGBT people by Isis. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters My friend Larry Tomzcak, an author and cultural commentator, offers a helpful illustration that puts the so-called “clobber passages” in a larger context.

Sometimes we’re romantically and sexually attracted to the same groups of people. Sometimes we’re not. Christians should neither be pro-gay nor anti-gay, because although God hates sin, He still loves the sinners.It is clear from the pro-gay viewpoints that they will twist and turn every Bible verse they want to say what they want it to say, or otherwise just brush over it and say that we are apparently a more enlightened society in the 21st Century. The Bible is God's word and should be the only guide in a Christian's life. Part of the reason the views diverge so much is because Christians think of the Bible differently. Some see it as literally the word of God, divine inspiration which humans should not question. Others see it rather as a book which is a witness to God's message, but one which was written by humans and thus has flaws. To refuse limits on sexual desire is to make an idol of lust. In our day the most popular false gods aren’t cats and crocodiles, but youth, beauty, money, fame, and sex. When a person pursues sexual desire even against the design of human nature — even at the risk of protracted and agonizing death; even when to do so she must overcome shame and disgust over her own acts — then it’s a pretty safe bet that sexual desire has become her idol.