“Coming Out” and Christians… Reflections on Ray Boltz

Have you ever heard the songs, “Watch the Lamb” or “Thank You (for giving to the Lord)” or “Feel the Nails”?

If you were (or are) a fan of Christian singer Ray Boltz, these are familiar songs to you.  What may not be familiar is the recent news that Ray Boltz has “come out” as a homosexual.  I learned about this sad news on Monday morning when I received an email about it, and a link to the story online here.

It seems that with the cultural push to normalize homosexuality, many prominent people of influence, including prominent personalities in the Christian Community, are “coming out.”

While it is still incredibly difficult for them to do this because of what it may cost them in terms of career, credibility, and friends and family, many are finding a kind of acceptance, safety, and security despite the price they will have to pay in other ways.

In the case of Ray Boltz, he has found solace in a pro-gay church that teaches a brand of theology which wipes homosexuality cleanly off of the list of sins that keep people bound and out of relationship with God (see 1Tim. 1:8-10).

The real sin according to this brand of faith is to deny one’s gay-ness, and to pretend to be a heterosexual.  The other sin in this system is to agree with the plain teaching of the Bible and call homosexuality a sin, and to teach that it is actually sexual brokenness and confusion.

You can read the article for yourself to see how Boltz (who was married to his wife for 30+ years with four kids) – processed his coming out with his family first, then, eventually made his sexual preference for men public, in a magazine article.

What I want to do here is try to put some handles on this for believers who might wonder whether or not there really is such a thing as a “gay Christian.”

This post is the first in a short series about this issue (one would be WAY too long).  Today I want to address…

The Sin Question… “Is Homosexuality Really a Sin?”

There is no escaping the biblical teaching about human sexuality.  Bound up in the very physical traits of men and women is the notion of their sexual orientation.  It is obvious from the creation account (and from human physiology) that man was “made” for woman, and woman was “made” for man (Gen. 2:26-28).

This is affirmed in the Levitical code when God reminds his people that the sexual act is never to be expressed toward the same gender, toward the spouse of another person, toward a blood relative, or toward other creatures in God’s creation (Lev. 20:10-16).

But some will object and say that this is “just Old Testament Law.” However, God’s design for human sexuality can be seen before and after the giving of the law.  If no foundational statement about human sexual relations had been made before the law, and none had been made after it, we might say that the text in Leviticus is just some obscure and out-dated idea (like the laws about shell fish, skin rashes, and pork, etc.).

Jesus affirmed what is taught in Genesis, however (Mat. 19:5), and so did the Apostle Paul (Eph. 5:31).  In other words, no matter where you go in the Bible, the notion of male-female being the normal, God-ordained pattern for human sexuality can be found.  Wherever we find the mention of homosexuality in the Bible, it is spoken of as contrary to God’s created order.  In that sense, homosexuality displeases God, and God would never “make” someone gay.

In fact, whenever the Bible talks about a husband, it joins the idea of husband together with wife.  And when talking about one’s wife, there is always a husband.  There is never an account in all of the pages of the Bible that mentions “a man and his husband,” or “a woman and her wife. “This is why we can say with confidence that embracing homosexuality (or gay marriage) as a God-approved practice is unbiblical.

Unbiblical means “the Bible does not support and/or condone homosexuality.”

Homosexuality is a sin.  But let’s be careful; so is lying, adultery, murder, stealing, hypocrisy, slander, gossip, fornication, and coveting.

Homosexuality is a practice that fails to glorify God, and fails to demonstrate God’s highest expression of human sexuality (1 man + 1 woman in the bonds of marriage).  In that sense, it is a sin. 

But homosexuals are not “worse sinners” than liars or gossips.  Their sin has different implications, but it is just as destructive to the human identity as every other sin.

Next time we’ll look at the Response that Ray Boltz gave in his interview… “I’ve always felt this way since I was a Child.”

I hope you will be in prayer with me during this time in History. Our task is great – but our God is greater. May God equip us to love and reach out to dear people who are trapped in sin; including the sin of homosexuality.

Until next time…

Pastor Kenny