q and a
(part 1)
Question 1: “Why are you making up excuses for your lifestyle?”
Answer: As far as I’m concerned, up until this point, I’ve given many facts and resourceful information,
not excuses. Actually, it seems as though it’s not gays that are making up excuses. For example, some
Christians believe that there is a “homosexual spirit/demon” that is living inside of a person that
makes him or her gay. Although I do believe that there is spiritual warfare all around us (especially as
we get closer to the second coming of Christ in these last days), there is no “gay spirit.” Plus, after an
amazing revival at my church in which I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I’ve acknowledged that I was
gay before, during, and after that experience. So I think it’s pretty obvious that there is no demon
living in me.
As for preachers, I’m pretty curious as to why there is no consistency amongst them. They all have
their own theories. Some say there is a demon inside the person, making him or her gay. Some say
there is a spirit outside of the body simply telling the person that he or she is gay. Others say that a
person purposely makes himself or herself gay without giving a logical explanation as to how it was
accomplished. Few admit that the person is born gay, but say that it is because of sin that this happens
and that it is not okay to remain that way. Unfortunately, too many preachers are clearly not on the
same page about this issue. And there are those who even change their belief on the gay issue
depending on who they are talking to. Either that, or they give a different explanation that depends
solely on what they are preaching at the moment. For example, while preaching on “being born into
sin,” a preacher could say that being born into sin is why people are born gay. But that same preacher
can turn around and, while preaching a service on demonic spirits, say that there is a spirit causing
people to be gay. As you can see, it’s all too wishy-washy. There is a lack of consistency that can be
quite awkward and frustrating.
Anyway, there are some people that will say there is some kind of traumatic event that has happened in
your life, probably in your childhood, that caused you to be gay. They blame it on things such as abuse
(whether physical, mental, or sexual). Justin Lee, the author of the book “Torn,” gave really good
examples of how others will try to use there theories against gays. Justin tells a story of a man who
repeatedly questioned his childhood to try to find anything that he could consider “traumatic.” When the
man found out that Justin had alopecia, which caused his hair to fall out at an early age, the man began to
assume that that was traumatizing for Justin. But when Justin explained to the man that he had a very
happy childhood, was raised in a religious Southern Baptist home, was never abused, and was totally fine
with not having any hair because it’s not as big of a deal for a guy to be bald as it is for a woman in our
society, the man ignored him and chose to believe what he wanted to believe and made Justin out to be a
liar.
Question 2: “Everyone is born into sin. Why are you trying to justify your sin?”
Answer: Correct! We are born into sin. Just because of who I am does not mean that I don’t understand
the concept of being born into sin. What I am saying is that being gay is not a sin. Besides, there is no sin
in love. However, it is a sin to be a hateful person. Also, it’s bad enough to be full of hatred, but it’s even
worse to use the Bible to justify hate. Take the KKK for example. This is a white supremacist group that has
expressed and spread hate against gays, Jews, racial minorities (mainly blacks), immigrants, and other sets
of people that are different from them all across America for years. They have also set women on a lower
level. And they have used the Bible to wrongly justify what they do.
Question 3: “So are you saying that the church misuses the Bible, too?”
Answer: Unfortunately, yes. There have been times when the church has used the Bible incorrectly to
justify hateful or prejudice ways. The scientist Copernicus claimed that the sun was the center of the
universe. But some religious leaders accidentally misused the Bible to condemn him, claiming that it was
actually the earth that was the center of the universe. They used verses like Ecclesiastes 1:5 (which says:
“The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose“) and part of Psalm
93:1 (which says: “the world is established, so that it cannot be moved”) against Copernicus. Their
interpretation was that, since we see the sun rise and set, but we don’t see the earth moving, these verses
show that the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun is revolving around it.
Years later, Galileo took a stand and agreed with the Copernicus position on the issue. The pope
responded by sentencing Galileo to house arrest for the rest of his life. It wasn’t until over a few centuries
later that another pope finally admitted that the church was wrong.
In the past, the church has spent many years being incorrect about slavery, segregation, interracial
marriage, and the roles of women. In each case, there was a continuous pattern: common social prejudices
were collected and attached to Bible verses or stories that were taken out of there Biblical context. Then the
verses were claimed to be taken literally, causing hard times for those that the verses were being used
against inappropriately.
The Civil War was a battle between the northern and southern states. And one of the issues that was being
debated was whether or not the slaves should be freed. During these times, northern Christians and
southern Christians were divided on the subject of slavery. Many churches taught that, since slavery was
God’s punishment for sin, it was black people’s own fault that they were slaves. Therefore, blacks were
willfully sinful and lacked morals, making them inferior to whites.
Just like the story of Sodom is used against gays, the story of the curse of Canaan was used against blacks.
This story is in Genesis 9: 20-27 and talks about Noah and his three sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth (with Ham
being the father of Canaan). In the story, Noah gets drunk and passes out naked. Ham sees his nakedness and
does not cover him up. But Shem and Japeth sees him naked and covers him with a garment. When Noah
woke up, he found out what happened and said,
“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and
Canaan shall be his servant.”
So basically, Noah curses Canaan because of Ham’s (his father‘s) actions and blesses Shem. He says than
Canaan will serve Shem. Some preachers took this story out of context. Their churches were taught to look at
Shem as a representation of the whites because they were blessed, and to look at Canaan as a representation
of blacks because they were slaves (or servants) to the whites. This made Ham the representation of the
ancestors of the blacks from Africa, who just had to have done horrible sins that caused a curse to be carried
down generation after generation, putting the current blacks in their “rightful” position of slavery. There were
also theologians who argued against ordaining blacks into the ministry because of this.
Chapter 7 of Genesis focuses on Noah, his family, and two of every animal going into the ark to survive the
coming flood. Verses 14-15 say:
“They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort."
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.”
Even until this day, there are still some people that say something along the lines of: “The Bible says each must
go after its own kind. A pig with a pig and a fish with a fish. That means God wants blacks to stay with blacks
and whites to stay with whites. Period.” This is an example of how the Bible was (and sometimes still is) used to
argue against interracial dating and marriage and to promote segregation between races. To them, the white
race was the “purest” of all races. And if a white person and a black person did things together like get married,
have sex, and have a child together, it was considered to be defiling and polluting the pureness of the white race.
We all know the story of Adam, Eve, and the apple in the Garden of Eden (in Genesis 3:1-16). Eve was the one who
was tempted by the serpent to eat the apple that God had already said not to eat. Eve talked Adam into eating the
apple. Later, God punished them all. Although Adam did not have to listen to Eve and should have also obeyed
God’s command, it has been interpreted to be all Eve’s fault. This is where many teachings of women being more
weak to sin than men and ideas of “all women cause problems for men and need to be put in their place” stem
from.
And although God gave both Adam and Eve separate punishments, the punishment for Eve seems to be the only
one that is focused on anymore. God says:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall
be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Because of this, beliefs of all women being inferior to all men became popular and men in church authority began
teaching female submissiveness across churches in America hundreds of years ago. An impression was left that,
because of Eve, women were now not capable of the rational thought and leadership skills that men were.
Over the years, women in the Christian culture went from being perceived as possible sexual temptresses to be
careful around, to a period of what was called, “Ornamental Womanhood,” in which the clothing and good looks
of a woman was used to compliment her husband or male counterpart. But she was still not to assume any
authority in the church. Throughout the 1800’s some theologians spoke out against women’s rights and rejected
the thought of women leading in prayer or even speaking out in church.
To sum it up, churches have forced four common beliefs upon women, blacks, and gays: 1. They are inferior,
2. They are willfully sinful, 3. They are, in one way or another, sexually threatening, and 4. God’s judgment is
naturally against them.
Of course, for the most part, things have changed over the years and much progress has been made thanks to
everyday people who decided to take a stand and fight for their rights and push generations forward with
knowledge, understanding, and tolerance. Leaders such as Martin Luther King fought for the civil rights of blacks.
And activists such as Susan B. Anthony worked hard for women’s equality movements. So churches across the
country had to re-evaluate their incorrect interpretations of particular subjects and Bible versus and began to
wake up to their original atrocious views on other human beings.
A fact that’s not talked about enough is that, right along side the Jews, thousands of gays were tortured and killed
inside concentration camps during the holocaust era. Many gay rights organizations formed in the 1960’s and
openly gay politician Harvey Milk made a huge impact in the gay community during the 1970’s. And although the
Stonewall Riots helped create an enormous push forward in the gay liberation movement, it is time for more
nonviolent ways of standing up for our rights.
Answer: As far as I’m concerned, up until this point, I’ve given many facts and resourceful information,
not excuses. Actually, it seems as though it’s not gays that are making up excuses. For example, some
Christians believe that there is a “homosexual spirit/demon” that is living inside of a person that
makes him or her gay. Although I do believe that there is spiritual warfare all around us (especially as
we get closer to the second coming of Christ in these last days), there is no “gay spirit.” Plus, after an
amazing revival at my church in which I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I’ve acknowledged that I was
gay before, during, and after that experience. So I think it’s pretty obvious that there is no demon
living in me.
As for preachers, I’m pretty curious as to why there is no consistency amongst them. They all have
their own theories. Some say there is a demon inside the person, making him or her gay. Some say
there is a spirit outside of the body simply telling the person that he or she is gay. Others say that a
person purposely makes himself or herself gay without giving a logical explanation as to how it was
accomplished. Few admit that the person is born gay, but say that it is because of sin that this happens
and that it is not okay to remain that way. Unfortunately, too many preachers are clearly not on the
same page about this issue. And there are those who even change their belief on the gay issue
depending on who they are talking to. Either that, or they give a different explanation that depends
solely on what they are preaching at the moment. For example, while preaching on “being born into
sin,” a preacher could say that being born into sin is why people are born gay. But that same preacher
can turn around and, while preaching a service on demonic spirits, say that there is a spirit causing
people to be gay. As you can see, it’s all too wishy-washy. There is a lack of consistency that can be
quite awkward and frustrating.
Anyway, there are some people that will say there is some kind of traumatic event that has happened in
your life, probably in your childhood, that caused you to be gay. They blame it on things such as abuse
(whether physical, mental, or sexual). Justin Lee, the author of the book “Torn,” gave really good
examples of how others will try to use there theories against gays. Justin tells a story of a man who
repeatedly questioned his childhood to try to find anything that he could consider “traumatic.” When the
man found out that Justin had alopecia, which caused his hair to fall out at an early age, the man began to
assume that that was traumatizing for Justin. But when Justin explained to the man that he had a very
happy childhood, was raised in a religious Southern Baptist home, was never abused, and was totally fine
with not having any hair because it’s not as big of a deal for a guy to be bald as it is for a woman in our
society, the man ignored him and chose to believe what he wanted to believe and made Justin out to be a
liar.
Question 2: “Everyone is born into sin. Why are you trying to justify your sin?”
Answer: Correct! We are born into sin. Just because of who I am does not mean that I don’t understand
the concept of being born into sin. What I am saying is that being gay is not a sin. Besides, there is no sin
in love. However, it is a sin to be a hateful person. Also, it’s bad enough to be full of hatred, but it’s even
worse to use the Bible to justify hate. Take the KKK for example. This is a white supremacist group that has
expressed and spread hate against gays, Jews, racial minorities (mainly blacks), immigrants, and other sets
of people that are different from them all across America for years. They have also set women on a lower
level. And they have used the Bible to wrongly justify what they do.
Question 3: “So are you saying that the church misuses the Bible, too?”
Answer: Unfortunately, yes. There have been times when the church has used the Bible incorrectly to
justify hateful or prejudice ways. The scientist Copernicus claimed that the sun was the center of the
universe. But some religious leaders accidentally misused the Bible to condemn him, claiming that it was
actually the earth that was the center of the universe. They used verses like Ecclesiastes 1:5 (which says:
“The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose“) and part of Psalm
93:1 (which says: “the world is established, so that it cannot be moved”) against Copernicus. Their
interpretation was that, since we see the sun rise and set, but we don’t see the earth moving, these verses
show that the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun is revolving around it.
Years later, Galileo took a stand and agreed with the Copernicus position on the issue. The pope
responded by sentencing Galileo to house arrest for the rest of his life. It wasn’t until over a few centuries
later that another pope finally admitted that the church was wrong.
In the past, the church has spent many years being incorrect about slavery, segregation, interracial
marriage, and the roles of women. In each case, there was a continuous pattern: common social prejudices
were collected and attached to Bible verses or stories that were taken out of there Biblical context. Then the
verses were claimed to be taken literally, causing hard times for those that the verses were being used
against inappropriately.
The Civil War was a battle between the northern and southern states. And one of the issues that was being
debated was whether or not the slaves should be freed. During these times, northern Christians and
southern Christians were divided on the subject of slavery. Many churches taught that, since slavery was
God’s punishment for sin, it was black people’s own fault that they were slaves. Therefore, blacks were
willfully sinful and lacked morals, making them inferior to whites.
Just like the story of Sodom is used against gays, the story of the curse of Canaan was used against blacks.
This story is in Genesis 9: 20-27 and talks about Noah and his three sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth (with Ham
being the father of Canaan). In the story, Noah gets drunk and passes out naked. Ham sees his nakedness and
does not cover him up. But Shem and Japeth sees him naked and covers him with a garment. When Noah
woke up, he found out what happened and said,
“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and
Canaan shall be his servant.”
So basically, Noah curses Canaan because of Ham’s (his father‘s) actions and blesses Shem. He says than
Canaan will serve Shem. Some preachers took this story out of context. Their churches were taught to look at
Shem as a representation of the whites because they were blessed, and to look at Canaan as a representation
of blacks because they were slaves (or servants) to the whites. This made Ham the representation of the
ancestors of the blacks from Africa, who just had to have done horrible sins that caused a curse to be carried
down generation after generation, putting the current blacks in their “rightful” position of slavery. There were
also theologians who argued against ordaining blacks into the ministry because of this.
Chapter 7 of Genesis focuses on Noah, his family, and two of every animal going into the ark to survive the
coming flood. Verses 14-15 say:
“They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort."
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.”
Even until this day, there are still some people that say something along the lines of: “The Bible says each must
go after its own kind. A pig with a pig and a fish with a fish. That means God wants blacks to stay with blacks
and whites to stay with whites. Period.” This is an example of how the Bible was (and sometimes still is) used to
argue against interracial dating and marriage and to promote segregation between races. To them, the white
race was the “purest” of all races. And if a white person and a black person did things together like get married,
have sex, and have a child together, it was considered to be defiling and polluting the pureness of the white race.
We all know the story of Adam, Eve, and the apple in the Garden of Eden (in Genesis 3:1-16). Eve was the one who
was tempted by the serpent to eat the apple that God had already said not to eat. Eve talked Adam into eating the
apple. Later, God punished them all. Although Adam did not have to listen to Eve and should have also obeyed
God’s command, it has been interpreted to be all Eve’s fault. This is where many teachings of women being more
weak to sin than men and ideas of “all women cause problems for men and need to be put in their place” stem
from.
And although God gave both Adam and Eve separate punishments, the punishment for Eve seems to be the only
one that is focused on anymore. God says:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall
be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Because of this, beliefs of all women being inferior to all men became popular and men in church authority began
teaching female submissiveness across churches in America hundreds of years ago. An impression was left that,
because of Eve, women were now not capable of the rational thought and leadership skills that men were.
Over the years, women in the Christian culture went from being perceived as possible sexual temptresses to be
careful around, to a period of what was called, “Ornamental Womanhood,” in which the clothing and good looks
of a woman was used to compliment her husband or male counterpart. But she was still not to assume any
authority in the church. Throughout the 1800’s some theologians spoke out against women’s rights and rejected
the thought of women leading in prayer or even speaking out in church.
To sum it up, churches have forced four common beliefs upon women, blacks, and gays: 1. They are inferior,
2. They are willfully sinful, 3. They are, in one way or another, sexually threatening, and 4. God’s judgment is
naturally against them.
Of course, for the most part, things have changed over the years and much progress has been made thanks to
everyday people who decided to take a stand and fight for their rights and push generations forward with
knowledge, understanding, and tolerance. Leaders such as Martin Luther King fought for the civil rights of blacks.
And activists such as Susan B. Anthony worked hard for women’s equality movements. So churches across the
country had to re-evaluate their incorrect interpretations of particular subjects and Bible versus and began to
wake up to their original atrocious views on other human beings.
A fact that’s not talked about enough is that, right along side the Jews, thousands of gays were tortured and killed
inside concentration camps during the holocaust era. Many gay rights organizations formed in the 1960’s and
openly gay politician Harvey Milk made a huge impact in the gay community during the 1970’s. And although the
Stonewall Riots helped create an enormous push forward in the gay liberation movement, it is time for more
nonviolent ways of standing up for our rights.