The Church and the Homosexual

"We need to recognize the existence of homosexually-oriented believers in our churches," says Joe Dallas, President of Exodus International. How the Church responds to the homosexual seeking to be freed from this sin, in large part determines whether or not he will keep fighting. Written to the homosexual, and to those who love them, Dallas' book, Desires in Conflict, Answering the Struggle for Sexual Identity, was an eye-opener to me. What are the roots of homosexuality? How does one, with God's help, change one's sexual orientation? How should parents react when their son or daughter tells them they are homosexual? Is your Church group composed of warm, and loving brethren, so that someone with homosexual tendencies could openly talk about their feelings, and be met, not with rejection and hostility, but with concern and compassion? From a thoroughly Biblical viewpoint, Dallas helps us understand the number one social and moral issue of our time: homosexuality. As a Church, we have fallen far short of perfection in dealing with this problem. The Church, lamentably, has been part of the problem.

Every Church Pastor, every parent, every young person, needs the information contained in Desires in Conflict. Joe Dallas shows us how to deal with many problems, homosexuality, or whatever kind of sin. "When we [the Church] function as a body - a group of believers who acknowledge their need for each other, who take time to know each other, and who commit themselves to each other's welfare - we create a godly environment where healing of all kinds can take place" (Dallas, p. 263). God created man to need personal, close relationships with others, of the same sex, and the opposite sex. Homosexuality is a wrong expression of man's need for relationships, and the healing of this sin comes from establishing right relationships, with God and with others. This book is NOT psychology; it describes how to put into practice the love of God. In the Church, we all too often play games while the men and women around us are tormented by sin, too timid to bare their bosoms, too ashamed to ask our help. If we are to ever grow into spiritual maturity and the love of Christ, we must implement the solutions Dallas so eloquently expresses in Desires in Conflict. This 288-page book is available for purchase online at www.giveshare.org/amazon/youth.html, or for a donation of $14 postpaid from Giving & Sharing.

Some may say that the problem of homosexuality is not a problem in the Sabbatarian community. They are wrong. The "Rainbow 7th Day Sabbatarians" have a web page which claims support from gay and gay friendly people of the Worldwide Church of God, Seventh-day Adventists, Sabbatarian Anabaptists, Church of God (7^th Day), Church of God International, Philadelphia Church of God, Global Church of God, United Church of God, and Seventh Day Baptists.

The site has a guest book. Here are two representative comments in the guest book: (1) "I am a gay married man in UCG. I am in the closet and plan to stay that way for awhile. I could tell you many things about gay life in the Worldwide Church of God. I am a graduate of Ambassador College. I have even had sex with a minister when I was in college. But I can't/won't come out yet. I do approve of your web pages and your club. Please keep up the good work." (2) "I was surprised to find this web site for gay Sabbatarians. I am a SDA and live in Florida. I am in the closet still, as my parents are paying for my college education and I'm afraid that if they knew I was gay, they would stop helping me. Thanks for this site and your links to the SDA Kinship."

According to this Seventh Day Gay web site, the various Scriptures used to show homosexuality is a sin have all been "mistranslated and/or misused." Seventh day gays had considered setting up their own Feast site for this just past Tabernacles in Dallas, which they called the "Festal Autumn Gathering (FAG)." However, at the last minute, everyone decided to go to the Feast Sites in their respective areas. According to gay webmaster Stephen, "We are thinking of having one in the future, though. . . . The reason to have a gay FOT is not to separate ourselves, but to be somewhere we are accepted and are still able to practice our beliefs. We don't want to be separate from others of the Churches of God." Gays are coming to a congregation near you.

Gay Seventh Dayers declare that David and Jonathon were lovers, and therewith imply, since David is a man after God's own heart, that God Himself is homosexual. The webmaster of this site, a baptized former member of the Worldwide Church of God who left in the late 1970s, claims he was told by the ministers who baptized him that baptism would cure him of his homosexuality. It did not. Later, he was anointed for his sin, yet he was not cured. He says he always believed that homosexual "marriage" is morally right. It is plainly obvious that the scriptural position on homosexuality has been missed on this individual, and that ministers who dealt with him had a total lack of understanding of the homosexual problem.

If the facts presented above do not stir you to love and good works, then nothing will. The Sabbatarian community is basically at fault for not dealing with the issue of homosexuality. Unless we build an atmosphere of love and positive Bible teaching, the aberrant theology of homosexuals and development of pro-homosexual groups will continue to proliferate. Freedom and liberation from sins such as homosexuality can only come in a Church empowered by the Holy Spirit of the Almighty. Put yourself in the shoes of a closet Sabbatarian homosexual. Would your Church be a loving community in which he or she could confide in, and seek help from? Homosexuality, according to experts such as Joe Dallas, results from defective relationships. What kind of relationships exist in your Sabbatarian congregation? Do your actions lead to the solution, or instead the continuation, of the homosexual problem?