By Jordan Burgen
Question:
Hi there! We recently moved to the area. To avoid beating around the bush I want to ask a straight out question so we know from the get out. We have had a lot of people in our lives come out ...that has led us along with lots of reading, praying, wondering to land in a place where we don’t know at all and won’t know all the answers but choose to live our life like Jesus and love while we don’t know. And at this point honestly are convinced you’re born with your sexual identity. We would love to know where flatirons stands as we want to be all in where we are. But also we want to walk in and fully Understand where we are entering.
Thanks so much for reaching out!
The Bible defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman. Jesus defines it as such in Matthew 19 when he is asked about divorce. Yes, I know that it is in response to a question about divorce, and not one about homosexuality, but since the root of this question is about marriage, his definition of marriage is very important here. He says, “…a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh…’ He is quoting a passage from Genesis here. In this definition, He defines marriage as between a man and his wife, a woman. We do not, however, believe that the temptation of homosexuality is a sin. We all deal with different temptations in our life.
We also believe that we are all born with a sinful nature. So, the question of whether you are born with your sexual identity or not is not the right question. Being born as something or with something doesn’t automatically make it ok. It is when we act out of that sinful nature that we sin. For example, I was born with a chemical imbalance in my brain that causes me to be depressed a lot. Depression is a result of our fallen world. It is the result of sin in our world that my body does not work as God originally designed it to work. The fact that I deal with depression is not a sin, just like someone who is attracted to the same sex is not necessarily sinning. However, when I am depressed, I tend to choose passivity and isolation in regard to my relationships and responsibilities. This choice to act out of my brokenness, instead of leaning on God’s grace, is a sin. When a person who is attracted to the same sex (something that is not in and of itself a sin, but is indeed the result of a fallen world because it is not what God intended or defined marriage or romantic relationships to be) decides to act out on those desires, this is where the sin creeps in.
So, people who identify as homosexual are more than welcome in our church, just like everyone else who struggles with applying God’s will and purpose to their life. We will not shy away from sharing with them the truth (as hard as it may be to hear) because we believe that God’s truth, as revealed in Scripture, is given to us out of love and provides the best way to navigate through this life. We will share with people God’s beautiful and amazing grace, which through the blood of Jesus, covers over all of our sin, if we choose to accept Him. We do not condone gay marriage or pursuing that lifestyle because we see it as running after something that is different from God’s truth.
I hope that this makes sense and I am open to any other questions you may have. Thank you, again, for reaching out!
