“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

Something that is all too common in today’s society is the bashing of those who declare themselves to be homosexual by those who claim to be Christians. I use the phrase “claim to be” because the word “Christian” itself means “little Christ.” One who is truly a Christian is called to act as Christ would, which at no point means to declare somebody unworthy of God’s love, or to attack them for their emotions. Christ taught that all are deserving of God’s love, and that no matter their sin, one only needs to come to accept Him as their Savior. Anybody who chooses to follow Christ, however, is called to “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

The truth is, whether you would like to believe it or not, all people have sinned. As perfect as any given person would like to believe they are, we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Have you ever idolized something? Lied? Hated? Gone against your parents? Used “OMG” in a text message? I can guarantee that each and every person reading this article has disobeyed all of the Ten Commandments, making them deserving of death when compared to the perfect standards of God. Even so, we are here, standing, awake and alive. If a good God is real, and we have broken such standards, what sense does it make that we are still free to continue living? Christ died to satisfy the wrath that God would have towards us for breaking these rules. Because of Him, we are free to make the mistakes we are bound to make, without fear of death, as long as we accept the gift that is offered to us.

All of these sins are of equal value. In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus tells us:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.’”

God sees hatred of one another as just as much of a sin as physical murder. To Him, if you commit a sin in your mind, you may as well have committed it in reality. The sin of hating somebody in your mind is just as bad as taking action in that hate against another person.

If each sin is equal to one another, why, then, do we see sexual deviancy as a worse sin than murder, lying, and theft? Instead of protesting, and telling prisoners that God hates them, we start ministries and send pastors to tell them the exact opposite. We tell them they can be redeemed, they can be saved, and they are not forgotten. If we treat one sin as less objectionable than another, we truly, then, are hypocritical, homophobic people.

Can a homosexual be a Christian?

Many people would look at this question on the surface and say “no.” Since the Bible clearly says practicing homosexuality is a sin, how could somebody in the LGBT community be a Christian?

"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrinethat conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God..." 1 Timothy 1:8-11

Distinguishing between a homosexual person and practicing homosexuality is extremely important when thinking about the LGBT community and Christianity, just as it is important to distinguish between an alcoholic and the act of getting drunk. For a person to be a homosexual, transsexual, queer, etcetera, means that they are attracted to somebody besides a member of the opposite sex or that the body they are born in does not match the gender they feel they are. These feelings mean nothing when it comes to being a Christian. Simply feeling attraction towards a man, as a man, or towards a woman, as a woman, does not mean you are ineligible to be a follower of Christ. The problems start when the sin itself starts--acting upon these desires. The sin of having “sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman” (Leviticus 18:22) is what is “detestable.” The lusting and acting upon the lust is the real sin.

In his book, "Out of a Far Country," Christopher Yuan presents the two options a Christ follower has for holy sexuality: marriage and single life. In Genesis 2, the first marriage is presented between Adam and Eve, and it is said that “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This presents the image of marriage between a man and a woman, in opposition to what is presented in Leviticus 18. This route to holy sexuality is the one that most Christians choose to take, though it may not be the path God wishes for all.

The second path to holy sexuality is found in being single. In order to be single and have holy sexuality, one must also be celibate. This is applicable to both straight individuals as well as members of the LGBT community. Yuan, being a celibate homosexual himself, says that singleness is not a curse or a burden. Holy sexuality in being single only means to be content in the situation you are placed in while being open to the idea of biblical marriage being a part of God’s plan for you, though it very well may not be.

That all being said --yes, homosexuals, along with other members of the LGBT community, can be Christian. It is not the feeling of being attracted that is the sin, it is being lustful, and acting upon the attraction that is sinful. Even if the attraction has already been acted upon or is acted upon post-conversion, this sin can still be forgiven, just as any form of sexual immorality can be forgiven through repentance. Forgiveness comes when we recognize our wrongdoing, no matter the sin.

“Holy sexuality doesn’t mean that I no longer have any sexual feelings or attractions. Nor is it the obliteration of my sexuality either. God created us as sexual beings with the desire for intimacy. And everyone is created to desire intimate, God-honoring, nonsexual relationships with the same gender. But because of the effects of original sin, this normal feeling has been distorted.” Christopher Yuan, "Out of a Far Country"

We, as Christians, should love the members of the LGBT community just as we would love anybody else. Just because you may consider their sin as more "disgusting" or "outrageous" than most, it is no different, and, therefore, should be treated no differently. Homosexuals deserve the same amount of respect you give the liar, the thief, and the murder, which is each and every man, in his nature.