Homosexuality is not a Verb

Can I clarify something? Because for all the discussion on this topic, my Christian friends have not yet adopted this distinction in their vocabulary and it’s sending some really bad messages. When evangelical Christians use the word “homosexuality”, they are almost always referring to sexual behavior between two people of the same gender. When EVERYBODY else in our culture uses the word, it refers to attraction and not behavior. Homosexuality refers to a person’s attraction to the same gender and NOT to the behavior associated with that attraction.

Hate to say it folks, but the church got this one wrong and the culture is right here. Whatever you believe about homosexual behavior, homosexuality is a word that refers to attraction and not behavior. It’s not something you do. It’s not something you can “commit”. It’s an adjective; not a verb. A homosexual is someone who is attracted to the same gender. And yes, a person can be gay without ever being sexually active. This isn’t rocket science, people.

Terminology matters! Why? Because when we talk about homosexuality as a sin people commit, we are telling everybody that has ever felt attracted to the same sex that the attraction they feel makes them uniquely sinful (more so than others) and the only hope for them is to change their orientation. This is a dangerous heresy. So let me say this plainly as a bible-believing Christian: Homosexuality is NOT a sin. In other words, your orientation does not set you apart from God. Your behavior does.

If you believe (as I do) that having sex with the same gender is a sin according to the bible, then hunky dory. Believe it. But don’t let “homosexuality” become a catch all for behavior and orientation. Because many gay men and women are being told that their sexual orientation which is inextricably wired into them (by nurture AND biology), and which most will never be able to significantly alter outside of a miracle makes them dirty, untouchable, and irredeemably separated from God. That’s wrong. That’s unbiblical.