GAY TRUTH

Below is my response to an email I received that asked the following question: “I believe church should be for all of God’s children. No exceptions. I am a gay man . My question is, would I be fully accepted with no judgment and fully welcome and able to serve at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church ?” I have changed all of the identifying information, but other than that, my response is in full below. I hope that it will be helpful to others facing similar questions.    Dear D, Welcome home to the beautiful Bluegrass. It is great to hear from you and to hear of your previous connection with Ashland. What a ministry this church has had for almost 100 years. As to your question, it depends on what you mean by “I am a gay man” and what you mean by “accepted completely with no judgment and fully welcome and able to serve at Ashland Avenue?” If by “I am a gay man” you mean that you struggle with same-sex attraction , recognizing any sexual activity outside of a covenant marriage

Years ago, I was assigned to write a series about the huge growth of Christian colleges in the United States and I got to select the 10 I wanted to profile. To no one’s surprise, four of them were in California because I wanted to go someplace warm. While enjoying the March sunshine, I also learned there are tons of Christian colleges all over the state, ranging from a Nazarene university on the ocean to a Catholic college in the orange groves east of Santa Barbara. Religious higher education is a huge industry in the Golden State and this has been the case for decades. Sports and civil rights are important too, as everyone knows. That's why journalists everywhere, including California, did that full-court press the other day following the death of boxer Muhammad Ali. However, the media – even newsrooms in California – seem to be ignoring a bill going through the California state legislature that would have a huge impact on dozens of religious colleges in the state and, even

Biola University (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This latest news about the existence of the " Biola Queer Underground " should set alarm bells ringing. Faculty and administration of Christian colleges all over the country are learning that LGBT students exist on campus, and it is getting increasingly difficult to ignore these students or expect them to stay silent and invisible. The students of BQU are not demanding that Biola University change its policy against same-sex sexual intimacy. They are asking to be open about their identities without fear of repercussions.  They want to attend a Christian college but ignore scripture and its mandate. Last year One Wheaton , a group of LGBT Wheaton students and graduates, expressed similar concerns about Wheaton College , about the fear and hiding and hurt they've experienced as students there. This year GCN ( Gay Christian Network ) executive director Justin Lee has been travelling and speaking at Christian college