Can a Person Self-Identify as a Homosexual and Continue a Gay Lifestyle and be a Christian?
A visitor claimed that someone could still self-identify and continue a gay lifestyle and be a Christian.
Response:
If a person goes to Christ to save them from hell, but does not want Him to save them from sin, then it is a false understanding of the gospel. Christ saves us from sins' guilt AND tyranny over us.
Those who self-identify as homosexual are sinners just like me. I am clearly not any better and obviously am not redeemed because I am more righteous. But when God does a work of grace in a person, he has a new identity in Christ. Our sin is not our identity. We don't say we are adulterous Christians, thieving Christians or covetous Christians any more than we say we are gay Christians. Like most theologically sound churches, my own church has many people who used to identify as gay. No longer (1 Cor 6:10-11). Now we all worship the same God in church each week together, regardless of our former sin. Of course, all Christians will struggle with sin all their life, but it is not their identity, nor do they continue in such sin without repentance, being indifferent to it. That is false teaching. Everyone is called to repent. Shall we withold the gospel from a particular group by pretending they are different than we are? Or exempt certain sins from repentance? We are all born with the inclination to one sin or another. There is no excuse for any Christian refusing them the gospel for some political or social pressure. Christ is the Lord who sets us free from our bondage.