Questions and Answers

You may have some questions about what it means to be "gay and saved" or even what it is all about.  In this section, I will try and answer many of the questions you may have as best I can based on my own experiences and more importantly what the Bible teaches about what it will take to be successfully "gay and saved."

What do you mean when you say, and use as your theme, "Because being gay is just not good enough"?

What do you define as "gay" or "homosexuality"?

Just what does it mean to be "saved"?

Is homosexuality genetic or environmental?

Can one who is homosexual get to heaven? (UPDATED!)

Is "gay marriage" ok?

How about "civil unions"?

If a person accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, does Jesus then "make that person heterosexual" ("straight") and if not, why not?

If homosexual behavior is a sin, then why did God even allow it to exist?  I know homosexuals who claim that "God made them gay" and they are just living the life that God created them to live, aren't they?

Q: What do you mean when you say, and use as your theme, "Because being gay is just not good enough"?
A: This came to me in a moment of inspiration when I was thinking about what it meant to be homosexual and not really liking it.  I used to think that being homosexual was something for which I was condemned to Hell and there was nothing I could do about it--nothing!  But then I started thinking, maybe GOOD people DO go to Heaven, even if they are homosexual.  But unfortunately, that seemed to contradict what I was hearing from God through His Word (The Bible).  So I wondered, "is being gay (homosexual) sufficient enough to get through this life--is it GOOD enough to get by?"  And the answer I kept coming up with was that being gay was, for me at least, simply not good enough for me.  I wanted something much more.  

There was a hole in my life where God should be, and Satan was doing his best to fill it--but not with God.  But despite Satan's best efforts, it still was not sufficient.  Being gay was not sufficient, and certainly living the homosexual lifestyle was not sufficient.  So I decided that since Jesus had decided in His wisdom to not "make me straight," when I accepted Him as my personal Lord and Savior, I would have to find an alternative to living a homosexual lifestyle.  And then it dawned on me that while some people might say that simply being gay is good enough for them, that it certainly was not good enough for me.  I wanted more--a deeper relationship with the God who made me, and His Son.  I wanted the assurance that when I died I would not live for eternity apart from God in Hell.  Satan was doing his best to confuse me about what it takes to get to Heaven, but finally the Holy Spirit, through God's Word and His loving inspiration, taught me that for me, being gay alone was very much not good enough to either live a life on this earth pleasing to Jesus, or sufficient to get me into Heaven when I died.  So thus the Holy Spirit popped that exact phrase into my mind as I was thinking of a "theme" for this web site, and I ran with it.  It is not that I think that being homosexual is in itself evil, but that it just is not good enough for eternal life in Christ Jesus--and therefore not good enough for me!

Q: What do you define as "gay" or "homosexuality"?
A: I define those terms as one person who has a strong attraction to another person of the same sex compared to the opposite sex.  It can be either a sexual attraction, an emotional attraction, a physical attraction, or even some other type of attraction.  However, this attraction is strong and may encompass all of the above individual types of attractions.  Exactly defining these words is difficult because homosexuality may be different things in different people.  Just at any two heterosexuals (those who are attracted to members of the opposite sex) are different, the same is true of any two homosexuals.  But generally, I define a homosexual as a person who would rather, given the choice, go though life with a member of the same sex than the opposite sex.

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Q: Just what does it mean to be "saved"?
A: "Being Saved" means being "born again" into a life with Jesus Christ.  What you are being "saved from" is the condemnation of God for your sins.  You see, Jesus Christ died on the cross so that those who accept Him would be able to someday enter into His kingdom for an eternal life with Him.  Those who do not accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior will die in their sins, and spend an eternity apart from God in a place called Hell.  When you have a genuine acceptance of Jesus Christ into your life as the one who you honor, worship, follow and adore, you are assured that when judgment day arrives, you will be saved from the fires of Hell and eternal damnation in an eternity apart from God.  

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Q: Is homosexuality genetic or environmental?
A: That is a nice way of asking if homosexuals are born that way or if it is acquired after birth.  My opinion is that it is more environmental, but there may be a little genetic element to it.  In other words, I think it is 95% environmental and 5% genetic.  The 5% genetic element is maybe a tendency for a child to "become homosexual" that may not exist in other children.  Two children raised in exactly the same environment, if such were possible, might see one child eventually develop into a person with homosexual orientation and the other one into a heterosexual orientation.  The difference might be the small role played by genetics in the equation.  I have heard one theory that says that someday scientists may find that a virus is at the root cause of one becoming homosexual.  I doubt that it will happen because there are too many elements of that theory that don't make a lot of sense.  But in general, I feel that my homosexuality is nearly completely due to environmental factors, though that is impossible to prove.

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Q: Can one who is homosexual get to heaven? (UPDATED!)
A: Absolutely!  It is very possible, but however, the homosexual needs to give his or her life to Jesus Christ before that can happen.  That's the bottom line.  Being "gay and saved" really means "being gay and saved by a relationship with Jesus Christ."  In nearly every case that relationship with Jesus will foster a change in the person who has given his/her life to Christ.  Unfortunately, Christians who are saved still sin, for accepting Jesus does not automatically give one an sin-free life, as desirable as that might be.  For example, even though I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I, like everyone else, am still a sinner.  I hate being a sinner, but that's what I am!  But I have, with the infinite power and love of the Holy Spirit, have been able to life a life that does not include homosexual activity.  Is that my doing?  Well, perhaps a little, but I give two things credit for such an accomplishment: 1) my desire to be holy before the Lord, and to do His will and be a good example to others of one saved by the blood of Jesus, and 2) the power of the Holy Spirit who has honored my desire to serve Jesus by giving me the wisdom to flee from temptation and to live a life that is boring in a worldly sense, but hopefully holy and pleasing to God in a spiritual sense.  I still sin, but the better I know Jesus, the less sinning that I do, and the more regret I feel about sinning since it is sinning against Him.   If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but are still living the homosexual lifestyle, perhaps you should pray that God would send the Holy Spirit into your life to give you strength and wisdom to do what is right in God's eyes.  It is never too late to give your life totally to Jesus--that is, until you die.  Just as one cannot be a reformed alcoholic and still drink booze like a fish drinks water (then he/she is no longer considered "reformed" I suppose), so too one cannot be completely sold out to Jesus Christ and still lead a life that is totally disrespectful to him.  It may not be a sin-free life (we Christians should be so fortunate!), but it should be a life that strives to seek harmony with God and the Holy Spirit.  If you are a reformed alcoholic and yet drink a fifth of whiskey every day, I have a problem with you thinking you are truly reformed!  Falling off the wagon in a time of weakness is one thing, but that's not what we're talking about here.  When I first accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior years ago, did I "fall off the wagon" sexually on occasion?  Sadly, yes.  Am I doing it now?  Happily, no, and I give God all the credit for that.  I have grown spiritually since then, which has helped me avoid temptation and the sin it leads to much better than when I had newly brought Jesus into my life.   Daily Bible study and lots of prayer has been a huge help.  Spiritual maturity is a wonderful thing that cannot be bought, sold, bartered, stolen, or given away.  Time, diligent effort and a correct attitude can lead to spiritual maturity when prayer and Bible study is added.  As far as keeping a homosexual orientation, see the next question.

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Q: Is "gay marriage" ok?
A: I must answer this by looking into God's Word, the only righteous source.  It says in the first book of the Bible, "Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2:22-24 NIV).  We could argue the meaning of the word "wife" I suppose, but I think that the context clearly shows a man and a woman as becoming one in marriage.  So I don't think that according to God's Word that "gay marriage" is something that should be engaged in by Christians who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Just as some things may have changed when Jesus came to Earth, such as animal sacrifice to God, the Ten Commandments and many other early laws have not.  For example, we still have a seven day week, and most of us wear clothes around outside.  Some things have not changed since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden.  Marriage clearly appears to be one of those things that has not changed, either by Jesus when He walked the Earth, or most societies in the last 5000 years or so.

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Q: How about "civil unions"?
A: That's a different matter than marriage.  Do I think that I should be able to allow any friends to visit me in the hospital when I am a patient there?  Yes.  Do I think that I should be able to leave any property to anyone after I die?  Yes.  Do I think that sometimes tax and inheritance laws favor those who are married over those who are not?  Yes, but that is because society has chosen to make it so, not the Bible.  If our society wanted to, it could remove the word "marriage" from all the tax laws everywhere.  But it has deemed that tax consideration for married people and their children may be desirable for a orderly society.  Think for the home mortgage tax deduction that saves Americans billions of dollars in taxes each year.  Is it unfair to people who rent?  You could make an argument that it is, but who said that everything in life had to be fair?  I do believe that society fears that if there were no tax or other considerations in favor of marriage, that no one would get married.  I don't believe that, but some people do, so perhaps that is why there are so many laws that are directed only to or for those who are married.

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Q: If a person accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, does Jesus then "make that person heterosexual" ("straight") and if not, why not?
A: This is a most perceptive and relevant question, and one I have wrestled with for much of my life.  I can only speak for myself in saying that I did accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and while the homosexual behavior did stop at that point, the orientation did not.  I have often thought of a comparison with Paul's "thorn in the flesh" found in Second Corinthians chapter twelve with my situation.  God allowed a "messenger of Satan" to torment Paul with a "thorn in the flesh."  Paul asked God three times to please remove it.  God's answer each time was the same: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Not too surprisingly, what God told me (in part though Paul, in part directly by the Holy Spirit) was the same.  His power is sufficient for me, and His power is made perfect in [my] weakness [of which my homosexuality can certainly be considered a weakness].  

 In some cases, when one receives Jesus Christ into his or her life, all traces of homosexuality, both the lifestyle and the orientation, may be removed by Jesus.  This is fantastic, and worthy of great rejoicing.  However, I don't believe that, based on Paul's statement, the lack of removal of one's homosexual orientation by Jesus should indicate a true acceptance of Jesus or not.  That is because I believe I have accepted Jesus as much as humanly possible, and while He has given me a "born again" life that does not involve the homosexual lifestyle, He has allowed the orientation to remain.  Perhaps that is because then His power can be made perfect in my homosexual orientation (my weakness), or I can be of use to Him in some way in my present condition, by creating this web site to minister to others, for example.  Had "God made me straight" I seriously doubt that I would ever have had the desire or incentive to create this web site or the associated ministries with it.  So to sum it up, God does not "curse one with homosexuality" but He can remove that thorn if it is His desire to do so.  He does, however, perfect His power in people who are still homosexually oriented who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Q: If homosexual behavior is a sin, then why did God even allow it to exist?  I know homosexuals who claim that "God made them gay" and they are just living the life that God created them to live, aren't they?
A: Another great question, and one that a homosexual might easily ask or wonder.  The simple answer is that God allowed homosexuality to exist because when mankind sinned against Him, sin entered the world.  Had Adam not sinned, there would be no homosexuality in the world, but then again, there would be no sin in the world.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote (in Romans 5:12) "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned . . ."  That one man was Adam, the father of our race, and because of his sin, death entered the world.  In this world all men are under the "curse of Adam" and all human beings today sin without exception (Romans 3:23).  That sin might be murder, jealousy, hatred, theft, or a million other types of sins that man has committed since Adam's day.

Being Homosexual is not a sin in and of itself.  But the homosexual lifestyle is a sin (the definition of the "homosexual lifestyle" will be covered in a future question).  However, the "curse" of homosexuality has as its natural result sin, and that sin leads to death as all sin does.  James talks about this in his epistle. "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:13-15)  So why did God allow homosexuality into the world.  Because when man sinned against the holy God who had given him a free will, his soul became corrupt to the max.  He could only think of evil, since that was the by-product of his rebellion against God.  God does not make anyone homosexual any more than God makes anyone an alcoholic.  Both "curses" come as a result of inheriting the sin-nature of our parents, and their parents, and so on back up the line to Adam and Eve.

But I do have to admit that in one way homosexuality is also different from other sins.  That is because one's sexuality is such an integral part of one's nature and makeup.  Human beings are, like it or not, sexual beings with a fairly strong sex drive.  Homosexuals who do not experience "conversion" by Christ when they accept Him as Lord and Savior (such as myself for example) have a particularly tough situation.  That is because apart from traditional marriage, there really is no way that they can have a sexually fulfilling life unless they resort to sin and debasing their bodies.  So that means those of us who give our lives to Jesus Christ but still have that "thorn" of homosexual orientation have to live a celibate life in order to fully submit our lives to Jesus.  

Jesus did make an interesting comment.  "For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."  (Matthew 19:12, underscore mine)  I'm not a Bible scholar, but when Jesus said that some have given up marriage because of the kingdom of heaven, I think He could have been talking about those who are "gay and saved."  I have given up marriage because I am unqualified for a heterosexual marriage relationship, and nothing else will permit me in the hallowed halls of Heaven.  I get encouragement from His words there.

I know that this answer to that question may not have been exhaustive, but I cover that topic in greater depth in my book, so if it ever gets published, that question will be better answered.

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