The 'Sin' of Homosexuality

Equality for gays to marry is in the news again as the Supreme Court heard two cases this week on the subject. Surprisingly, even many Christians are starting to come around on this topic. However, some (not all) of the Christians who support marriage equality still have this problem of believing that homosexuality is a sin.

How can that be? How can they support the right of gays to marriage and yet still believe it is a sin? I first heard this view in the comments section of a progressive Christian website awhile back and it caught me by surprise. Since then I have heard it many times from Christians of various denominations and non-denominations.

The view is that homosexuality is sin just like lying or adultery. These particular Christians are okay with sinning as long as they repent afterward. They also don’t believe the state should necessarily make the homosexuality illegal any more than they don’t believe the state should make lying or adultery illegal. They also maintain the view that you love the sin but hate the sinner.

Here is my problem with this. In the case of homosexuality, the alleged sin is an important part of the alleged sinner’s life. We are talking about love here. If someone is gay, they are attracted to people of the same gender. They can no more choose to be attracted to someone of the opposite gender than a straight person can choose to be attracted to someone of the same gender. Of course there are people who are bi-sexual and can be attracted to both genders, but that isn’t what I am talking about here.

By claiming that homosexuality is a sin, these Christians are basically saying that gays can’t love anyone without “sinning.” I maintain that in the case of gays, hating the “sin” amounts to hating the sinner. It would be the same as saying that having blue eyes is a sin and still loving blue eyed people.

As long as sin is being defined as a moral wrong-doing, one cannot claim that homosexuality is a sin and still maintain the view that they love gay people. The two views are simply not compatible. You can’t call someone evil and then turn around and say that you support them.

If someone I love steals, can I still love them but hate the stealing? Yes, because they can learn not to steal. Gay people can’t really learn not to be gay. So called, “Gay conversion therapy” is a sham and it amounts to torture. Christians have to decide. They either stand with their ancient mythology and believe that being gay is an abomination which should be punishable by death or they need to stand with human empathy, human compassion, reject the Bible as a moral instruction book, and support their gay friends and family members.

I see very little middle ground. If a Christian still believes that homosexuality is a sin, then they are still part of the problem! Let us not forget that it wasn’t all that long ago that Christians were having a similar debate about interracial marriage. The verse about not wearing mixed clothing was widely interpreted as a metaphor for people not marrying outside their race. It was seen as sinful. Now, we look back at that and laugh at the ridiculousness of it even though there are still a small handful of Christians who hold to that view.

How will history judge the Christians of today? How would a Christian (assuming there are any) in the future view the Christians of today who continue to hold that homosexuality is a sin? History is being written right now. We are the authors of that history. We are the shapers of that history. But that history in many ways has been shaped and written already. The names have changed and the groups are a little different, but history has the tendency to repeat itself. Just we laugh now about the sinful natural of interracial marriage, so too will we laugh tomorrow at those who consider homosexuality a sin today.