LGBT+ and the Church

Chapter I. Defining a Christian

Peace be with you.

In my separate work, An Apology, I had written an entire chapter on what it means to be a Christian. I go into not only the biblical verses but of course the Tradition of the Church on this matter. As it is a much longer investigation, I do recommend reading it as I am not going to rewrite it to the same proportion. However, I will offer a brief summary, and then bring it into the second topic of this chapter: "Can there be LGBT+ Christians?" and what the position of the Church is on this type of delicate matter.

I will first note that simply saying what you personally believe does not obligate me to accept your answer. I align my beliefs with my Church, which is far more important in that regard than me aligning myself with your opinion however you may feel about it.

I do not hold, for example, that God hates homosexual people nor that I should. It says: "For You love all the things that exist, and You detest nothing of the things You made; for You would not even make anything You hated. How could anything continue to exist unless You willed it? Or how could anything be preserved unless it was called into existence by You? You spare all things, because they are Yours, O Master who love human beings." (Wisdom 11:24-26) Therefore, I will not accept accusations that apply to others which do not apply to me.

And now onto what it means to be a Christian.

When we open up the Bible and begin reading it, we see the activity of God in our lives. In accepting God into it, He begins to change it, and we conform naturally to His teachings and produce what are called "fruits" which are of the Spirit Who resides within us to make these changes by grace. These fruits of the Spirit are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23)

In our continued reading, we see the foremost of these—love—discussed at length. In loving our Lord and God, in loving our neighbour, in loving our enemies. It is the very thing that produces such peace, such kindness, goodness, gentleness, and more. And so St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13)

Thus the earliest Christians defined a Christian also by the extent to which they produced these fruits. As St. Justin Martyr wrote in his Apology (that is, Defence) to the Roman Senate: "And let those who are not found living as He taught, be understood to be no Christians, even though they profess with the lip the precepts of Christ." As later saints, among them being St. Justin Popovich, would agree: "He who has no love cannot be called a Christian [...] The whole Gospel is summarised in compassion."

There is much more that goes into it—again, you'd have to read my other chapter for this definition—but love is a major component to actually being able to describe yourself as one. Doing acts and trying to call it love, when love is clearly absent, does not count either, as the measure is by what He taught not what we assume.

The Lord Himself says: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matt. 7:21-22)

Therefore, we judge according to the fruits they commit. It is how we discern false prophets: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 Jn. 4:1) As we are told of them: "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction." (2 Pt. 2:1)