- Many would have the Christian believe that the LGBTQ reality undermines the reliability of the Bible and greatly challenges the character of the Christian God. Some have even walked away from faith entirely because they have not been able to square what they believe to be true about sexuality and gender with the Bible, God, and the Gospel. On the other hand, others, to avoid this affront to faith, have belittled the LGBTQ experience or oversimplify the issues and label them sinners or worse. Neither of these reactions is godly, healthy, or accurate.
- We live in a fallen world. Sin has brought about all manner of brokenness. Death, hurt, disaster, disease, and disability are just a small sampling of God’s perfect intent ‘bent’ by the fall. Same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria are just two more among many. Since sexuality and gender are very personal and sacred aspects of a human being, it is not surprising that these experiences are “charged” in the culture at large.
- Satan plays to the “bentness” of this world. He is determined to exploit the brokenness we experience in all areas of life… but he seems to especially attack sexuality perhaps because it goes to the core of each individual’s identity and then moves outward to behavior, family, and society. God’s directives found in the Scripture have always been to promote the human flourishing He always intended. Prohibitions are not arbitrary or punitive. Rather they direct human life toward His designed intentions. The intentions that were put in place and created were done so before sin entered the world. This is the lens through which we understand his commands against sexual relationships outside of marriage between a monogamous man and woman. This is the lens through which we understand His high view of the binary genders in male and female.
A great many voices speak into the issues surrounding LGBTQ. Each one attempts to make sense of experience in light of truth as they see it. Apostolic Christian Counseling and Family Services is no different. We engage this topic believing that God is the Creator, and each human has been created in his image and for his glory. We understand the Bible to be God’s Word and our source of truth. We believe in the historic Christian view of marriage as the covenanted union between one man and one woman. We believe each of us has been touched by the brokenness of this world, and yet, God works in our broken circumstances to align our hearts to his.
For Further Information
Author: Sam Allberry
Christians, the church and the Bible seem to be out of step with modern attitudes towards homosexuality. And there is growing hostility towards those who hold a different view. So, is God homophobic? And what do we say, and how do we relate to both Christians and non-Christians who experience same-sex attraction. In this 88-page book the author helps us understand what God has said about these questions in the Scriptures and offers a positive way forward through the debate.
Author: Kevin DeYoung
This 160-page book does a nice job of responding to common objections to viewing homosexuality as sin and does so in a very straightforward and compassionate manner. The author’s intent is to help the reader understand what the Bible teaches about homosexuality.
This PDF booklet from Focus on the Family considers arguments for and against a traditional, biblical sexual ethic. It does a good job of helping individuals to clarify what they believe about what the Bible teaches about this topic and why they believe it. [FOTF]
Does the Bible really say that same-sex sexual relations are sin? Is marriage only between a man and a woman, or can a Christian view of marriage be extended to include same-sex couples? There are many reasons why some Christians believe that monogamous, consensual, same-sex relations are not prohibited by Scripture. In this paper, Dr. Preston Sprinkle summarizes and responds to 15 of those reasons. [CFSG]
This organization lead by, Preston Sprinkle, equips individuals, families, and churches with biblically sound and accessible resources to understand and speak into matter related to sexuality and gender. [CFSG]
