LETTER FROM A HOMOSEXUAL

(Taken with permission from Christianity Today, 1968, March 1)

(Investigator 7, July 1989)



A recent issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY (January 19) carried an editorial "The Bible and the Homosexual," calling for compassion for those who find themselves tempted to homosexual relations but reasserting the biblical strictures against any sexual act outside a heterosexual marriage. Among the letters of comment was this one from a Christian minister with acknowledged homosexual tendencies. It gives stirring evidence of the power of Jesus Christ to forgive sin, to cleanse of guilt, and to provide a continuing victory over sin through the working of the Holy Spirit.—Ed.


I am a homosexual and a minister of the Gospel. This may be shocking to many people, but it is not so shocking to Jesus Christ. He has been all sufficient, not only to forgive me, but also to give me control over this problem. Still I am a homosexual.

The homosexual's problem is very similar to the alcoholic's. Although he never seems to overcome the temptation, he is able to withstand it through the power of God. A homosexual is usually considered to be one who practices sexual activity with someone of his own sex; but a person can have homosexual tendencies without ever committing a homosexual act. Many happily married men have these tendencies. They enjoy sexual relations with their wives but also have drives toward other men.

Homosexuality is a manifestation of the lust of the flesh, never, in my opinion, of the love set forth in the Word of God. Love binds two people together and is a manifestation of the love of God. The love of a man and a woman draws them together to become husband and wife, to be joined as one in sexual union. To try to fit people of the same sex into the biblical picture of marriage is impossible at every point. The sex act in marriage is the ultimate expression of love. The sex act performed apart from marriage falls short of this ultimate expression and leaves much to be desired. Often, if not always, it leaves both persons with a sense of guilt and lack of fulfillment. This is true of loveless marriages, of masturbation, and of homosexual activity.

The homosexual often falls into a life of constant searching for sexual fulfilment; but he doesn't find it. He has sexual relations with many different people—many of whom he will never see again—and admits that there is no expression of love in the act. Two people might become emotionally attached to one another because of their similar problem, but this cannot be classified as love.

Legalizing homosexuality would only bring into the open what is now practiced by some behind closed doors and what is constantly suppressed by many others. Since practicing homosexuals are, I suspect, a small percentage of the total homosexual population, legalizing such activity would affect only a few of those bothered by the problem. And it would have little to do with the accompanying guilt.

Most male homosexuals are drawn to young men in their adolescence and early adulthood. To legalize homosexual activity—or give it church approval—would result in more aggressiveness of adults among youth. Many young people have participated in such acts with a sense of thrill in their first sexual act only to find themselves scarred in their sexual relationships in later life. A large number of adult-child sexual acts occur in what appear to be normal homes. Neither the children nor the adults ever reveal this activity. But the scars remain, and later the young people have difficulty adjusting to a God-given relationship in marriage.

Young homosexuals are often sent to reform schools, and there, in isolation with others of their own sex, their problem inevitably increases. Prisons are filled with homosexual activity.

Society looks with great disfavour on the practicing homosexual, and he moves from place to place, job to job. He is running, not only from society, but also from the lust within him. Finally he is discovered and condemned.

What is the solution? Only the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ and constant deliverance through the Holy Spirit. The Word of God, in Romans 1:24-28, classifies homosexuality as sin—but by no means as the only or the gravest sin. It is listed among the sins of pride, boasting, gossiping, and others. Let us not condemn homosexuality any more—or less—than we would condemn the other sins in Romans 1.

The temptation to homosexual activity endured by many Christians is like the "thorn in the flesh" that constantly bothered Paul. This temptation has drawn me closer to God than any other, and I can attest to the sufficiency of his Holy Spirit to give constant deliverance.

I am a homosexual—but I am also a servant of the living Christ who experiences God's forgiveness and deliverance. By the grace of God this temptation does not express itself, and I am victorious through Christ.


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