The Upper Register Blog

I would like to recommend this thoughtful piece by Wesley Hill, “A Few Like You”: Will the Church be the Church for Homosexual Christians?

I am drawn to these haunting confessions of Auden’s because I, too, am a homosexual Christian. Since puberty, I’ve been conscious of an exclusive attraction to persons of my own sex. Though I have never been in a gay relationship as Auden was, I have also never experienced the “healing” or transformation of my sexual orientation that some formerly gay Christians profess to have received. But I remain a Christian, a follower of Jesus. And, like Auden, I accept the Christian teaching that homosexuality is a tragic sign that things are “not the way they’re supposed to be.” Reading New Testament texts like Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 through the lens of time-honored Christian reflection on the meaning and purpose of marriage between a man and a woman, I find myself—much as I might wish things to be otherwise—compelled to abstain from homosexual practice.

Wesley’s next sentence is painful to read: “As a result, I feel, more often than not, desperately lonely.” While the encouragement, support, and love of the body of Christ can never truly alleviate the constant psychic pain involved in such costly discipleship, I do wish that the body of Christ did a better job of reaching out in love to brothers like Wesley. Are not the righteousness robes of Christ sufficient for all Christians who strive to follow Christ in holiness, in spite of their struggles and regardless of their sexual orientation? I do not regard my struggles to walk in sexual purity as a heterosexual as any different (morally) from the struggles of the homosexual Christian. The moral standard of chastity is the same for both of us, the remnants of indwelling sin are the same for both of us, and - here’s the best part - the awesome power of the imputed righteousness of Christ is the same for both of us.

See also this article by my wife, Calvinists, Pelagians and Homosexuality.

And my paper, What I Believe About Homosexuality.