Katy Perry’s chart-topping song of this past summer, “I Kissed a Girl and Liked It” and Christian recording artist, Ray Bolt’s announcement last month that he is now, “living a normal gay life” are two of the latest indications that the issue of homosexuality is becoming mainstream in our culture and more visible in the church. So what about homosexuality? How should the church respond to it? I have four parts to my answer.

First: I believe the bible teaches that engaging in homosexual activity is a sin. In reading the stories and statements from the bible, it is clear that God is opposed to the practice of same-sex, sex (see Genesis 19:1-17, Jude 7, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:21-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 Timothy 1:7-11).

Second: I don’t believe that engaging in homosexual activity is the ‘unpardonable sin’. That is reserved for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32) not homosexuality. Many point to the verse in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that says that ‘homosexual offenders will not inherit the kingdom of God’ as evidence to support the claim, but the full statement adds 9 other sins to the list, including stealing, greed, drunkenness and slander! I am not trying to minimize the fact that homosexuality is sin, but I am trying to point out that it is not a special sin.

Third: I believe we should distinguish between homosexual behavior and homosexual orientation. I can’t speak authoritatively to the debate of ‘nurture verses nature’, but I can speak to the matter of control. Even if there are some homosexuals born that way, it is not a justification to act on their homosexuality any more than it is justification for a single heterosexual to act on his or her sexual desires. Both have to be controled. As John Burkey writes in NO Perfect People Allowed, “God does not condemn us for being in a state we didn’t choose, even though it may not be the way he intended originally, but he does hold us accountable for our choices.”

Fourth: I believe we should love homosexuals as Jesus would. The way Jesus people who were living an immoral lifestyle was demonstrated in John 4 with the woman who had been married five times and was now living with her boyfriend and in John 8 with the woman caught in adultery. In neither case was the issue homosexuality, but it was sexual immorality. In both cases the woman knew where he stood on the issue and in both cases he challenged their behavior, but he did so with respect, dignity and mercy. Jesus gives us the template to build our response to gays. We can stand with truth, but we can do so with grace.

I would like to recommend three books that deal with this subject:

“Welcoming but not Affirming” by Stanley Grenz

“Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would” by Chad Thompson

“NO Perfect People Allowed” by John Burkey (chapter 8: How Do You Feel about Gays?)