GAY TRUTH

By J. Lee Grady is editor of   Charisma  . Former Colorado pastor Ted Haggard hit the talk show circuit to promote the new HBO documentary about his fall from grace,   The Trials of Ted Haggard . When Ted and his wife, Gayle, appeared on   The Oprah Winfrey Show Jan. 28, Gayle dared to defy Oprah and her audience. Oprah tried her best to pin Ted down and get him to admit he is a homosexual. Ted balked, saying that his sexuality is complicated. He explained that he had sexual experiences in the seventh grade that confused him. He spoke of sexual impulses that he struggled with but didn't act on until he hit 50. Oprah told Ted, who is now 52, that he should just accept his "identity" rather than hiding it or running from it. Then Gayle, who has raised five kids and knows a lot about discipline, struck a nerve. She told Oprah that just because a person has certain inclinations doesn't mean he has to act on them. Oprah got upset at that point. She even got out of ...

“For the Sake of God” — Must We Surrender Sexual Morality? Ruth Gledhill calls upon Anglicans to just drop the issue of homosexuality “for the sake of God, themselves, and the common good.” Tuesday, May 18, 2010 The ordination of Mary Glasspool as a bishop of the Episcopal Church on Sunday drives yet another wedge into the already fracturing Anglican Communion — and raises some of the most fundamental questions about the church and sexual morality. Bishop Glasspool, ordained as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles along with another woman, becomes the second openly-homosexual priest to be elected as an Episcopal bishop, and the first lesbian. As the Associated Press reported, “Seven years after the Episcopal Church caused an uproar by consecrating its first openly gay bishop, it has done the same thing again — only this time with a woman.” The stage is now set for an all-out conflict within the Anglican Communion. This conflict will pit the conservative Anglican churches...

S ame-sex marriage advocates frequently ask, "How would gay marriage affect your marriage?" The question is posed rhetorically, as if marriage is a private institution with no social consequences. But The New York Times , of all papers, argues that gay unions could significantly alter marriage norms. A new study of gay couples in San Francisco shows that half are "open," meaning that partners consent to each other having sex with other people. The Times says that the prevalence of such relationships could "rewrite the traditional rules of matrimony" by showing straight couples that monogamy need not be a "central feature" of marriage and that sexually open relationships might "point the way for the survival of the institution." In the gay community, open relationships are neither news nor controversial. Many of my partnered, gay male friends are in open relationships, some of which have lasted for decades. But the Times reporter, Scott...

We have seen this coming for some time now. The public space has been closing, especially when it comes to Christian speech — and especially when that speech is about homosexuality. Now, a Christian preacher has been arrested in Britain for the crime of saying in public that homosexuality is a sin. This arrest is more than a news event — it is a signal of things to come and an announcement of a new public reality. Even if all charges are dropped against this preacher, the signal is sent and the message is clear. The act of Christian preaching is now a potential criminal offense. Street preaching has a long and well-recognized history in Great Britain. Indeed, preachers of every sort are hardly alone in continuing Britain’s tradition of public rhetoric, seen quintessentially at “Speakers’ Corner” in London’s famed Hyde Park. Dale McAlpine of Wokington in Cumbria has been preaching on the streets for years. The 42-year-old preacher, a Baptist, was arrested after telling a passerby that h...

“ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” ( Gen. 1:27 ). - Genesis 1:27 It is all too easy to come across as “holier-than-thou” when we condemn sexual sin. Yet no person merits forgiveness ( Eph. 2:4–7 ), and we sin if we portray ourselves as guiltless, explicitly or implicitly, or think we are less deserving of wrath than others ( Luke 18:9–14 ). As ambassadors of Christ, we are called to extend love and the hope of restoration to all people. His Great Commission does not send us to some transgressors and not others; we are to preach the Gospel to all people ( Matt. 28:18–20 ). Our Father can free those in bondage to homosexuality just as He frees other sinners. We must love those enslaved to homosexuality and seek their redemption. True love in this case involves calling homosexual behavior a sin. We may be ostracized when we do this, but we cannot let fear of persecution hinder us from speaking the truth. True love co...

We often think that “our day and age” differs significantly from previous eras. We tend to think that our day presents more dangerous and stubborn problems, requiring more complex and sophisticated solutions, from wiser and nobler people, namely ourselves. Someone has dubbed this attitude “chronological snobbery.” But one thing puts the lie to this self deception — the continuing existence and destruction of lust. Earlier Christians wisely included lust among the deadliest sins. For lust is the impregnated parent of all forms of sin. James explained that “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” ( James 1:14–15 ). From the first stolen bite of forbidden fruit to the avaricious gaze of mall-bound window shoppers, lust has coursed through the hearts of men like the most poisonous venom. Lust involves any strong desire, craving, or want that opposes the ho...