Christianity and Homosexuality

[Young Conservative]

Temptation and thoughts are certainly not an inherent sin, but the consensus remains among most church bodies that being openly homosexual and engaging in the actions is a sin and by refusing to repent you repeatedly deny God. The catholic and evangelical churches continue to support traditional beliefs, while mainline protestant churches support it. Interestingly enough, evangelical churches are growing and mainline churches are shrinking. 
Two Questions:
1. Can you be a "gay" christian?
2. Are mainline churches' progressive stances turning away members?

[Young Conservative]

1. I think that to be a true Christian you must be inclusive of all people and suit to the times. I don't think that shrimp-eaters should be banned from Christianity because the bible states that eating seafood is a sin. I am not a Christian so I cannot speak for myself, but this is really my main beef with religion of taking text so seriously that you cannot adapt to the times.

2. I don't seem to see that evangelical churches are growing, more stagnating. I think the reason that mainline church popularity is decreasing is that the mainliners are just leaving or not caring due to the radical extremes within Christianity, and so the more "moderates" are getting sick an leaving. I think that if all churches were to ban or condemn being gay or other social issues they may just push more and more people away and just continue to lose popularity

Please understand though that God cleans all foods in acts. Also, evangelical protestant sects of methodist and presbyterian church's grew while the mainline declined (PCUSA, UMC)

[Young Conservative]

I have heard of Christians who take a very convoluted position by believing the church should be open to gay members as part of the community, and that while nothing is wrong with homosexuality, civil marriage is allowed but church marriage is strictly for opposite sex couples.

Cognitive dissonance probaby plays a role in positions like these, where on one hand they sincerely believe in equality but are also strong believers in church teachings.

Anywho, to answer your questions:

1. I'd say yes. The Bible (and most religious texts, for that matter) is very unclear about homosexuality in itself. You can use it to argue against same-sex marriages in the church, but it's much harder to do so with homosexuality itself.

2. I would echo NeverAgain's post above for this. Religious attendance is dropping across the board, but evangelical churches seems to doing a better job of holding on to some members and attracting some disaffected non-evangelicals, usually the most hardcore members anyways.

It is fairly clear on the issue in the old testament though.. and remember that globally evangelical churches grow rapidly  (due to their evangelical nature lol)

[Young Conservative]

I'd argue that the reason for the relatively greater decline of the mainline churches compared to the fundamentalist churches isn't the specific doctrinal positions taken, but the means by which they've taken them. The mainline protestant churches have generally taken an approach to scripture that at a minimum involves textual criticism and at the extreme involves a considerable analysis of the validity of various passages.  That's well within the enlightenment tradition, but it places a premium upon individual opinion and hence individual thought.  That individuality leads towards a lesser emphasis placed upon being strongly committed to a church.

(My own multiple church going has more to do with other reasons, yet if I did feel more strongly I might well limit myself to just the one.)

As someone who was raised in a liberal Protestant tradition but now attends a much more fundamentalist church, I can affirm this.  I've heard "I'm not sure" or "This is what I think this passage" means many times growing up.  At the church I now attend, I hear a lot more statements like, "This is what God said about the subject," "The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it," or "This is God's word, period....I don't care what your opinion is about the subject, if it's against the word of God, it's wrong."  I don't relish in uncertainty; I'd rather have a strong, certain faith than one that is lukewarm and unsure.

THIS>>>>>>

[Young Conservative]

Anyway, to answer the questions in the OP, (1) yes, you can be a gay Christian (I'm not a Christian, but I'm pretty sure heterosexuality is not considered a prerequisite to being one), and (2) you're making the assumption that people are leaving the liberal churches because they're liberal. I think this is a very bad assumption to make. I could be wrong, but I suspect most people are leaving liberal churches because they're either dying, or leaving religion altogether.

You are wrong. Just last year the PCUSA lost hundreds of congregation memberships (as in entire  churches not individuals) because o their new position on homosexuality

[Young Conservative]

And the Bible is clear that no practicing homosexual will enter the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9).  If one takes the Bible seriously, then allowing gays as ministers is a sign of a church that does not take the full counsel of God seriously. 

I'll point out in passing that the meaning of arsenokoites as used by Paul in 1 Corinthians and Deutero-Paul in 1 Timothy is questionable, and has historically has not always been interpreted as a generic homosexual.  I say in passing because frankly, if one holds that the Bible is inerrant and that its teachings are immutable, then Leviticus alone provides a fairly clear place to decide upon it.  That said, I'm not one of those who treat the Bible as a fourth member of the Trinity.

There's still Jude 1:5-8 and Romans 1:26-28.

Jude 1?  You've got to be kidding me.  You do realize that linking Sodom exclusively to homosexuality was not something that happened in the 1st century.  Indeed, for a number of languages today the primary meaning of "sodomy" is bestiality. All one can infer from the text alone is don't engage in unnatural sex, but it leaves the interpretation of unnatural very much in the air.  Romans 1 suffers from the same problem as its presumed blanket condemnation of homosexuality hinges upon the presumption that procreative heterosexual sex is the only "natural use".  The only solid prescription of homosexuality to be found in the Bible is in Leviticus.

Jesus also says multiple times that a man will come of age when it is time to marry a woman.