I was at a LGBT workshop put on by the Flood church this last Sunday. It was a very well done conversation that highlighted several key points that should be considered when talking about the Church, Christ, and those with varying gender identities.
I seek to only highlight one thought from the discussion. Identity. The individual who shared, who himself was a man who was attracted to other men, and is also a brother in Christ emphasized one very important point. Ones attraction to one sex or another, heterosexual, homosexual, or bi sexual, or ones identifying as male or female is secondary to ones identity in Christ.
As a Christian, it is our relationship with Christ that defines us first, everything else comes from that.
For those that do not know Christ, lifting Him up and leading them to Him is the first step. For if they do not believe or know my Christ Jesus, why should I expect them to live as He calls me to?
I am very guilty in letting titles or identifying traits define me; male, adult, employee at such and such a company, boyfriend to so and so, brother, sensei, extrovert, etc. But first, my identity is in Christ, and I must live like Him.
For those that are not Christians reading this, please, don’t be shy about reminding my brothers and sisters where their identity is, gently of course. 🙂
Broken Crowns 
Christ changes people. If they aren’t changed, do they really know Him?
I completely agree that Christ changes people. But what are we expecting them to change? Desires? Or the actions?
Both
So if I understand you correctly, you are saying that if someone who is attracted to the same sex comes to Christ, that we should see them not partaking in homosexual sexual acts, as well as a ceasing of a desire for the same sex?
You should see change from the inside out. You will know them by their fruit. A good tree. Evidence of the Holy Spirit indwelling. And though it may take time, steadily more Christ like. Same sex attractions are not biological in origin. But sexual addiction may seem as such.
So what do you say of the over 30% of pastors that have pornography addictions? Or those that struggle with alcoholism for their entire lives? do we say that they are not saved? Some sins we are may have for our whole lives. Many of those mentioned as great men of faith in Hebrews struggled with sin their whole lives. Jacob stands out to me as one that never grew spiritually out of lying.
I say test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. I say don’t believe the lie that you are born gay and cannot be free.
My identity in Christ is healing and liberation. Christ has led me to accept myself as God created me: female, though assigned male at birth; and lesbian.
Does the Flood Church support both the side A and side B tracks for gay Christians?
I am sorry humblefisher101, I am not familiar with the term “side A tracks and side B tracks.” Can you explain?
Side A stands for gay marriage, while side B stands for celibacy. These are the terms popularized by the Gay Christian Network.
Thank you for the info. I can not speak for the Flood church as a whole, however, the speaker they had, a previously anti religion gay man, now a professing Christian gay man, expressed that he understood God tells us that the act of same sex sexual acts are sinful, (and I feel the need to also express that any an all heterosexual sexual acts outside of marriage are also sinful), and thus since he was attracted to men, he then must except celibacy. He shared that he struggled with that calling on his life for years, until he realized that if he truest believes that Christ is who he is an has loved us the way he has, why when he has tasted that truth would he not be willing to give up desires for Christ?
I know that is a long answer, but I want to give his statement some justice to how well it was communicated.
I would also like to add that the discussions also brought great emphases that we as a church have many issues within heterosexual marriages of Christians putting sex above Christ, or not treating their spouses as Christ would have us.
According to Scripture, homosexual sexual actions are just one sin among many.
Ok. But that’s just the same old story as before. What happens in a few years when a married gay couple with kids in tow stumbles into your church? If your church respins that same old story it would just sound ludicrous.
Is it ludicrous for a church to attempt to teach and tell the story of the Gospel they claim to uphold? To me that is them having integrity and being consistent with what they believe.
If you want the church to teach something else, then in my view you are asking them to be hypocrites.
What do you want them to teach?
For your church this is not a point about teaching, but just send them to the right place. To retain them only to grind them through the gears then spit them out again, that would be shameful. I know some churches would insist to have the privilege to destroy them spiritually, but this is not some helpless teens, but a real functioning family unit with kids. So just send them to a welcoming place.
Retain them? I don’t know of any practices of churches detaining people. Last I checked holding someone against their will is illegal and not a normal church practice. There is nothing wrong with following with the teachings of Scripture and positing that if you follow Christ, you must abstain from certain practices. If they don’t like that, they can leave.
Furthermore, as I pointed out, encouraging them to abstain from certain practices only comes after they have professed to follow Christ.