Dear Wesley Hill:

Thank you for being honest about your struggles with homosexuality and for your well-written article, "Will the Church be the Church for Homosexual Christians?"  I'm glad that you're not acting on your desires and that you're seeking to live a biblically celibate life outside of marriage. 

I'm sorry that you find yourself in such a state of loneliness and desperation.  I do pray that Christ will continue to make his presence known to you through his followers.  And, I pray that he delivers you from these desires.

The church should be a place where all believers can confess their sins and struggles and find comfort among the followers of Christ.  Most anyone who's been in the American church can testify to the fact that many churches aren't safe places where followers of Jesus can open up and be real about their issues.  The American church has a long way to go in becoming all that Christ has for his bride in this regard.  I'm glad that you have believing friends who encourage you to follow the pattern set out in Scripture rather than your own desires.

My major concern with your article, however, is not your honesty about where you are in your struggle or what you're struggling with, but with the label you give yourself and others--homosexual Christian(s).

Even though you reject the homosexual lifestyle and hold to the biblical pattern of one man with one woman in marriage, I think your label, "homosexual Christian," comes from the gay rights movement not Scripture.  Is it true that you're attracted to the same sex?  I take your word that you are.  Are you a follower of Christ?  I have no reason to doubt that you are.  So, I'm not denying what you struggle with as a Christian, but, again for clarity's sake, I take issue with the label you give it.  "Homosexual Christian" is a dangerous label simply because it promotes what you say you don't promote--the homosexual lifestyle.  Even though you probably aren't wishing to endorse the gay right's movement or the philosophy of those who call themselves "practicing homosexual Christians," that's what some people in of the gay right's movement would like--for evangelicals to get comfortable with the idea of "a homosexual Christian."

To demonstrate the odd nature of labeling yourself a homosexual Christian as opposed to, say, "a Christian struggling with gay or homosexual desires" can hopefully be shown with a few examples.  What if I wrote an article entitled,

• "Will the Church be the Church for Child-Molesting Christians?" 
• Or, "Will the Church be the Church for Wife-Beating Christians?" 
• Or maybe, "Will the Church be the Church for Drug-Abusing Christians?" 
• Perhaps, "Will the Church be the Church for Angry Christians?" 
• What about, "Will the Church be the Church for Fornicating Christians?" 

Hopefully my point is clear.  We wouldn't accept those as legitimate labels for people in the church because the word Christian doesn't go with any of these behaviors or lifestyles, even if the people in these categories are only tempted to act on their desires.  Now, of course, the redeemed person is still in sinful flesh and can get tangled in these sins.  But we wouldn't want to create a category or label for them even if they were only tempted to do these sins.  Instead, we'd call sin what it is, acknowledge that even the redeemed still sin, and then seek to help these people live in the fullness of Christ rather than to embrace a label that identifies them more with their sin than with their Creator.  If a professing Christian--who was also a child molester, or a wife beater, or a drug abuser, or an angry person, or a fornicator--didn't seek to turn from these sins, then after going through the Matthew 18 process of restoration and discipline we'd have to conclude that he wasn't a true believer. 

For the professing Christian who embraces the gay lifestyle, we'd have to treat him the same way as Matthew 18 instructs for rebelling people in the church.  And for a professing Christian struggling with homosexual desires (who either acted or didn't act on those desires) but who repented and acknowledged that such a lifestyle is sinful, we'd embrace and support him through these difficult times.

Does the church need to be a place where believers can confess the dark sins in their lives and find support to walk in holiness?  Most certainly.  But, we will never be what Christ wants us to be as the bride if we don't also seek to help people walk in the newness of what God created them to be, and part of that includes being careful about what we label ourselves, especially when the gay right's movement is making such headway into mainstream America, and unfortunately, the church.

The last thing I want my letter to be is a stinging barb or a slap in the face.  My heart goes out to you, but I'm concerned about your word choice and the view point behind the words "homosexual Christian."

In Christ,

Kevin L. Howard

HT: Justin Taylor