Should a Christian be a Homophobe?

As homosexuals try to fight for the ability to marry and be recognized as legal couples with the same rights as heterosexuals, American Christians are making grave mistakes by going to extremes in either accepting or rejecting gays.

The first extreme is outright homophobia. Should a Christian be a homophobe? No. At least, no more than they should be and adultery-phobe, or a fornication-phobe, or a lying-phobe.

The Bible tells us a few things we should remember when dealing with the homosexual issue. The first is that we are all sinners, we all fall short, and we all need a savior.
Romans 3:²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The Bible tells us that sexual immorality in general is wrong. It does not specify that one type is worse than another. Sin is sin, and sexual immorality in all its types is sinful. This means that we should not exclude a homosexual man or woman anymore than we should exclude an adulterer or the couple that is living together for marriage. In fact, if anything, we should welcome them for the healing, change, and improvement that faith in Christ will bring into their lives if a person accepts him wholly and sincerely.

The other extreme is to downplay the sinfulness of being gay. We can accept being a person who has relations with the opposite sex, but what it comes down to is that it is still a sin, and we should not accept the sin. Let me make this clear; I'm not picking on one type of sexual sin. Anything outside of a heterosexual monogamous marriage is contrary to the will of God, as he has outlined in the Bible. Christians should accept all sinners, as all of us are sinners, but pretending it is not a sin for public image purposes is just as wrong as rejecting the sinner completely.

I think the worst part is seeing religions allow gays to become leaders.

1 Timothy 3 says this about church leaders:
 ¹ Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. ² Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
 ⁸ In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. ⁹ They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰ They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. 
¹² A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. ¹³ Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. 


And Titus 1 says this:
An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. ⁷ Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. ⁸ Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Leaders will of course fall short sometimes, but they should not be participating in the serious sins as outlined in Galatians 5:
¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

A person who is trying to be a leader but who will not follow God's Word and follow Christ fully cannot effectively lead the church in following Christ fully and correctly.


The beautiful thing about follow Christ is this: that he promises to make us new, to help us abandon the old man and put on the new, to guide us out of our sins and into a relationship with God. We are born as sinners. Some sins are more inherent to a person's nature than others. Those who feel that they were born homosexual do not have to feel that God does not love them. Instead, they can rejoice in the changes that God can make in them. It is the job of Christians to see it as a sin, to accept the sinner, and to support them in letting Christ change them into what he wants for them.