This essay was written by Deacon Arthur C. Donart, S. F. O.; Ph. D.
It may sound like a silly question. However, given the fact that there are so many different answers coming from denominations and people who identify as being Christian, I thought it would be worth the effort to seek an answer. I am aware that Christian denominations have split, because they lacked a consensus on what their approach toward LGBTQ people should be.
I also understand that misinterpretation of the Bible has caused a good deal of pain and disagreement, among those who strive to live as Christians. For example, “spare the rod, and spoil the child” was unfortunately interpreted to mean, that disobedient children should be beaten with a rod. The Hebrew word–which was translated as “rod” in English–really meant a “measure.” The saying actually meant for parents to ask their children to examine their conscience, to see if they were living their religious beliefs.
Because I am seeking a Christian answer, I will confine my search to the Christian Scriptures. In doing so, I am aware that LGBTQ people have existed since the dawn of humankind. So have left-handed people–and in about the same proportion. The Latin word for left is “sinister.” Left-handed people were ostracized, because they were a minority that was different. There was something wrong about being left-handed. Logically, however, people do not consciously choose to be left-handed, nor do they consciously choose to be LGBTQ.
So I started with the Gospel according to the writer called Mark, because his was the earliest Gospel. Jesus taught, worked miracles, and healed people. There is nothing in Jesus’s teaching or miracles that directly deals with people that happen to fall into the category LGBTQ–other than His admonition to love one another; even our enemies. Therefore, I examined the stories in Mark’s Gospel of Jesus healing people. These same stories are also found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but in a slightly different order and a rather different version.
The first healing in Mark’s Gospel has Jesus curing a demoniac (1:21-28 The New American Bible.) “Then they came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!’ Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Quiet! Come out of him!’ The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.”
To understand this passage, it is necessary to understand first century Jews’ understanding of “unclean.” Lepers were unclean because of the lesions on their skin. Lepers did not belong. Lepers had to cry out, “Unclean,” so people could avoid them. Lepers had to live outside the city gates. Lepers were ritually unclean.
The people with power made up the rules as to what was, and was not, unclean. If you touched anything unclean, you were defiled and must go to the priest, to be restored to ritual cleanliness (with a gift, of course.) By driving the unclean spirits out of the man, Jesus restored him to society. Now, being freed from the unclean spirits, the man was no longer an outsider; he was now a part of the community. His excommunication had been dissolved. What amazed the people was that Jesus exercised the power to cast out the demon.
Another concept we have to wrestle with is “demon.” What is a demon? What is an unclean spirit? Given our definition of unclean, it would have to be a spirit that does not belong; a spirit that makes us something less than what God created us to be. Referring back to Genesis, the first book of Jewish Scripture, what God made, God saw that it was good; God made us in God’s image, a reflection of God (of God’s goodness) and our (Adam’s and Eve’s) sin was not being satisfied with being human, but wanting to be God. That made us “unclean;” the definition of sin; pretending to be what we are not.
Early Christian writers were more specific as to what these demons actually were: pride, greed, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. The Fifth Century bishop of Hippo, Augustine, wrote about these “Seven Deadly Sins,” as did Sixth Century Pope Gregory. These were not sins in themselves, but caused people to sin. For example, greed drives people to do hurtful things to acquire more money. Perhaps the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is a good current example. The lust for power motivates some people to do horrible things. Our irrational obsessions can dominate us and be real demons. Being liberated from them is to be made whole, restored to goodness. Perhaps of the 12 healings in Mark’s Gospel, this is why four of them have Jesus healing demoniacs.
In the second healing in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus heals the leper. Lepers are “unclean;” they are not to be touched. They must live outside the city wall, and they have to beg for a living. Jesus touched the leper, and, in doing so, he defied social norms. The leper had to show himself to the priest to prove he no longer had these warts or lesions on his skin, so he could resume his rightful place in the community. That was really being healed. In fact, a total of five healings were similar. Jesus even healed gentiles, heretics, and oppressors of his country. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to say, that a defining feature of Jesus of Nazareth is that foremost, he is a healer?
Wouldn’t it be reasonable to say that a defining feature of a Christian is one who brings healing to a world, that so desperately needs it? So, how does passing laws limiting toilet and pronoun usage for Trans-sexual people qualify as “healing?” Are not their lives difficult enough? Their struggle to affirm an identity is painful enough. So, to whom can they reach out for help?
Hopefully they can reach out to their parents, teachers, and friends if State legislators do not stand in the way. They should be able to get help from their Priest, Pastor, Rabbi, or Iman.
No one “chooses” to be LGBTQ–any more than they choose to be left-handed, tall, blue-eyed, or any other genetic characteristic. It is my assumption that our God loves all; to follow Christ is to bring healing to all. That is the appropriate Christian response to the LGBTQ community.