How Has the Culture Influenced the Church on LGBT Issues?

I think at this point the culture has influenced Christianity on LGBT issues in some bad ways, and also in a couple of good ways. For the good, I think that the church has examined the way that it recognizes our gay, lesbian, and same sex attracted neighbors within our pews as not people who are freakish and other than we are, but people who share a common humanity and people who are tempted in like manner that we are. Some people are tempted in some aspects. Other people are tempted in other aspects, but that is a common human source of temptation. I think the culture putting these issues on the table has caused the church to reconsider the way that we speak about these issues.

Negatively, I think that there is a sense of fear among some Christians. They do not want to speak about issues of marriage and sexuality for fear of being labelled a bigot or for fear of being put on the wrong side of history. We really shouldn’t be the people who are fearful. We shouldn’t be the people who are panicked. We should be the people who speak with both truth and grace, and with both conviction and kindness on all of the issues that God has revealed including those of marriage and sexuality.