Homosexuality and same sex marriage have become a lightning rod in the western world charging the tension between an ever evolving culture and the traditional tenets of Christianity. That tension exists even between different people who profess the Christian faith. What seems to be an impossible tension to people is not an obstacle to God. God loves people who identify as homosexual as much as any heterosexual person. There is no difference to God. We all need Him, and He is there for us. Here are some stories.
David Bennett grew up in an agnostic/atheist home in one of the largest gay and lesbian communities in the world in Sydney Australia. He saw and felt the clash between the gay and lesbian community and the church at an early age and added gay activism to his atheism. He deeply felt the injustices perpetrated on the gay & lesbian community by the church.
David was very involved in the college arts community and sought out an interview with a young film producer who was a finalist in the Tropfest Film Festival for a short film she did on the handicapped. Something about her was different. She radiated love and confidence. Then she asked him something he had never been asked before: “Have you experienced the love of God?”
When she prayed for David, he felt God asking, “Do you want Me?” He felt a love he had never felt before. He responded affirmatively, though his mind was questioning at the same time what was happening. He has never been the same since.
Following is the final except of an hour long discussion between David Bennett and Brandon Robertson hosted by Justin Brierley. I encourage you to listen to the whole discussion from the beginning. What David Bennett says at the end, however, is very profound, regardless of orientation or identity.
Becket spent 25 years pursuing a gay lifestyle. His identity, he thought, was gay. Christianity, he thought, was not for him. Then, he met someone who invited him to church, and everything changed.
Stephen Black was molested at the age of six by a neighbor that he trusted, and set him on a course of guilt and shame. He became attracted to same sex that grew out of control as a teenager and believed he was born gay. He thought he was a misfit, and that drew him further into the darkness, walling himself off from his father, and disconnecting from his family. He became immersed in the gay community, and that continued until his little brother passed away suddenly. That trauma led him to cry out to God, confronted with the reality of death. That’s when things began to change.
Kegan speaks with grace, love and sincerity about his own life and the difference Jesus made for him. God loves us. He came 2000 years ago and lived in a tent of flesh so He could save us from ourselves.
Jeff had same sex attraction from a very early age. He was also raised in the church, and he loved God. But the same attraction remained, and he vacillated between toying with it and suppressing it. As he began to mature spiritually and grew more secure in who he was, he began to experience the renewing of his mind.
Daryl felt same sex attraction early on, but he was raised in a strict Pentecostal home in a large family. His father was absent, and he felt a lot of hostility toward him. He was called “sissy” and “girl” and shunned by the other boys, and he wondered where his father was when he needed him to defend his worth. These factors came together, causing him to become a target for another boy in church. He was very conflicted. He knew it wasn’t right, and he did everything he could to become right with God, but nothing never happened. The feeling kept growing. He wondered why God didn’t deliver him from the hell of molestation. When he did take a stand, the church let him down, so he decided to walk the other way. He embraced the gay life and dove into it. For 11 years, he lived the lifestyle, but he began to realize he was “chasing a ghost”. There was no life in it. In the onslaught of suicidal thoughts, he had an encounter with Jesus.
Kevin was adopted, and he felt a disconnect as a result. Even though he had great adoptive parents, he experienced a lot of rejection. Kevin craved acceptance and connection that he wasn’t getting in other ways, and that led him to homosexuality. With homosexuality came confusion, but he became a rebel, fueled by anger. He rejected what he knew to be right, and he felt rejected by God. He thought he found acceptance in homosexuality, but the deeper he went into the lifestyle, the more he realized the he had needs that were deeper then anything that the lifestyle could fulfill.
Sam Allbery tells his own story and how Jesus Christ has made a difference in his life.
Here is another amazing story of God’s love and salvation. We are all in need of that love and salvation.
Nathaniel began to live a gay lifestyle as a teen and followed an “exciting new life”, but that also led him to drugs and selling himself for money. After years of living the club scene, he saw the emptiness in the lifestyle he was living, and he also felt God tugging on his heart, but he could not escape the cycle that he was in until he asked Jesus to save him.
David Arthur lived as a woman for years, but he is here to say the truth will set you free. Jesus is the Truth.
The child of a broken home, Adam Hood turned to drugs and homosexuality and “had it all” in the gay community of San Francisco. But, he also began to get acquainted with the dark side of life, and it led him to a psychiatric ward where he cried out for Jesus. Jesus responded and delivered him our of the darkness, out of homosexuality and into the light and a new life!
In this part two, Adam Hood gets very specific and honest about homosexuality.
These are stories from various same-sex attracted people who have found their ultimate identify in Jesus Christ.
Beckett Cook came out to his best friend in 2nd grade and found out that he was same-sex attracted too. From that point on he knew he was gay, and Christianity was not an option for him. He moved to LA and lived life in the fast glamorous lane, but he was empty. When he encountered a table full of Bibles one day, he was curious. He struck up a conversation and visited a church. That’s when the Holy Spirit made Himself known. His life changed forever.
Navigating by Faith 
The compassion, ability to withhold advice/criticism, and referral to sincere stories of people who have been there and know exactly what they are talking about in this post is refreshing. Thank you!
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As beautiful as testimony of deliverance from sin can be, this article attempts to address in one brush stroke something that is so personal and unique to each individual that it reads more like a recruitment pamphlet than an attempt to address the purity of God’s message.
I have encountered young people who identify as members of the LGBTQ community and when they ask, when God brings this individual and I together; I acknowledge that the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin, but I also acknowledge that homosexuality is neither the worst, or only sin.
I remind these young people that “All have sinned, and fall short of God’s glory. ”
Romans 3:23
Indeed, I find that when confronted with this simple truth many of these young people ask why Christians don’t live by this verse?
I have concluded, that Pride is the most common sin. That many choose to see themselves as better than others.
Even in acknowledging our own sin, we fall short by allowing our pride to imply that our sins aren’t as bad as the sins of others.
We as People who follow Christ can not and should not attempt to address this sin as if it were and addiction or a choice.
We as People who follow Christ should be examples of God’s unfailing love without Judgment or pride. We should do this one person at a time, one day at a time.
M. Josef Wolfe.
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What i hope people find in these stories is hope. Every story is unique, as you say, but there is a God who uniquely and intimately knows us. The stories really speak for themselves.
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Absolutely true.
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