Strange Things Are Happening to Celebrity Christians...

Does it mean you perceive being gay as a sin? Do you think that being gay is a sin?

Amy Grant, the Hermeneutic of Love, and the “Welcome Table”

Who loves us more than the one that made us? I mean, none of us are a surprise to God. Nothing but who we are, what we've done. You know, and I just feel like that's why to me it's so important to set a welcome table.

Because I was invited to a table where somebody said you're loved right now. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You're loved. And like, music can do that. Music is the easiest conversation you can have with somebody.

Gay, straight, it does not matter. It doesn't matter how we behave. It doesn't matter how we're wired. We're all our best selves when we believe to our core I'm loved.

But, to hear Amy say on this episode that I am welcome at God's table as a gay man is so affirming. Thank you, Amy Grant. You've changed my life in so many ways. God has worked many of her greatest wonders in my life through you.

I call God she to fight the patriarchy.

Grant's words were celebrated by Kelly and other members of the LGBTQ community on social media. This, of course, is the end result of the hermeneutic of love and the hermeneutic that tells you don't worry about that sin stuff, don't worry about that holiness stuff.

The Bible's all about us. It's all about how much God loves us. It's all about how much he wants us to succeed and to be happy. It's all about man. You have to really stop reading the Bible at all to get that.

Nothing here about redemption, sacrifice, wrath, power. No, no, no, no. That's not for today's world. That's not what is attractive.

Does it mean you perceive being gay as a sin? Do you. Do you think that being gay is a sin?

Switchfoot, Affirmation, and the Problem of “Gay Rights”

We have a pretty major development. Remember this?

Well, last night this happened. Hey, Grace. Yes, I support your rights and freedoms. I want you to feel loved and supported. In fact, it breaks my heart to think that you would not be accepted. Let me correct that.

You and your journey and your story are welcome at a Switchfoot show. You love different than me. You are beloved doubters, believers, haters, lovers. No one else is an expert on someone else's experience, and I can't pretend to know your pain.

But I know what it's like to wrestle with depression and anxiety. I know it's like to feel voiceless in a hypocritical culture that feels deeply flawed. With all love and respect, I hope to see you around sometime.

That's as close, I think, as we're going to get. That was like a gay rights. Right? Like he said, LGBTQ. I'm pretty sure at the very beginning he said, yes, I support gay rights. He said, yes, I support your rights.

Oh, well, you're gay. I took the night to kind of just like have a moment to myself. John, I don't know if you know how meaningful that affirmation was. I am interpreting what you said as being affirming.

If I'm incorrect in that, then I really hope you would clarify because I think for many queer people of faith, the bait and switch of like hearing such encouraging words like yours and then finding out that it means something else can be heartbreaking.

But I don't think that's you.

The “Inclusion” Reading of Jesus and the Gospel

In the name of advancing the gospel, we don't want to be a stumbling block and we don't want to offend people. So what we will do is we will keep talking about the same thing. We just won't directly refer to Jesus, but everybody who's a Christian will know exactly who and what we're talking about until they don't.

Does it mean you perceive being gay as a sin? Do you think that being gay is a sin?

Why Christian Arguments Against Gay Marriage Are Rejected

Not meaning to stir things up, but is there a non-speculative or non-slippery slope reason why gays shouldn't marry? I don't hear one. I just don't see a negative effect to allowing gay marriage. No societal breakdown.

No war on traditional marriage. Anyone? Tweeting scripture verses to settle my questions of gay marriage isn't helpful. Simple answers to complex questions equals meh? So many gay couples display more loving characteristics and healthy relationship practices than most traditional married couples.

One of the most common objections to the Christian position on homosexuality is that homosexuality can't be wrong if it doesn't harm anyone. Well, that assertion is based on a false premise. And the false premise is that no one is harmed by homosexuality.

Homosexuality is sin. The Bible makes it very clear that it is a sin. Romans chapter 1, for example, makes it very clear that homosexuality is a sin. So again, it's a false premise the idea that you can have sinful practices that don't harm anyone.

They harm the people who engage in them and they harm the message of the gospel.

Does it mean you perceive being gay as a sin? Do you think that being gay is a sin?

Celebrity Christians, Youth Ministry, and Sexual Identity

What Jesus taught was a radical message of welcome and inclusion and love. I feel certain God loves me just the way I am and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people. When I think of myself at 13, sobbing into that carpet, I just want to help anyone in that situation to not have to go through what I did to show that instead, you can be yourself a person of integrity.

Does it mean you perceive being gay as a sin? Do you think that being gay is a sin?

A Christian Brother’s Response to a Gay Family Member

If one of your kids, let's say one of your male sons comes to you at 20, 23 years old and says, hey dad, this is my husband, we're engaged, we're going to get married next month and I want you to be in the wedding.

What would you say? My thing is like this, my brother's gay. I don't condemn him, I don't look down on him for him being attracted to the opposite sex. Same sex? Yeah, or the same sex, excuse me. I don't condemn him.

If anything, we'll dialogue so that I can have a better understanding because I don't profess to be like, I got this all figured out and I know the way this should be. I'm trying to read the Bible, I'm trying to have conversations with people and I'm trying to understand the perspective.

I feel like anybody who wants to come at a person negatively, like if you was a Christian and you came at me negatively, then it's like you're not giving me the grace and the space to be a learner. Give me the space and the grace to learn and that's how we move forward.

You can point something out to me and say, hey, this is what it says, McCray, you should know better, you should know this. Well, give me the grace and the space to take my time and understand the perspective on it and understand why these people think it this way and that's the perspective I have.

I'm more of a learner and I give people the grace and the space as I'm processing and as I'm learning. Just walk with people through that, you know what I mean?

Be a lifelong learner, man. Even if you compromise and you get an opportunity to eventually preach the gospel, some are going to mock you, some will hear you further and some will believe. You know what happens when you don't compromise and God opens an opportunity for you to preach the gospel, some will mock you, some will listen to you further and some will believe.

So why bother compromising in the first place? Compromising is not going to save anyone.

Uncertainty About Homosexuality and a Call to Read the Bible

Does it mean you perceive being gay as a sin? Do you think that being gay is a sin?

Do you feel that homosexuality is a sin? You know, I can't honestly answer on that. I have too many people that I love that they are homosexual. I don't know. I can't say one way or the other. I'm not God.

So when people ask questions like that, that's what my go-to is. I just say, read the Bible and find out for yourself. And when you find out, let me know because I'm learning too.

The other problem with this line of argumentation of course is that Paul in Romans chapter 1 also addresses women who engage in unnatural practices with other women. So if all Paul was dealing with was the practice of pederasty in the pagan Greco-Roman world where men use boys for sex, then please somebody tell me why he also addressed women who engage in that practice with other women when that wasn't the same as pederasty in the Greco-Roman world.

See, Matthew Vines is just hoping that we just sort of look over that.