2. 2010 was significant for those advocating
just and equal treatment of LGBTs.

3. Some Christians believe that giving
gays civil rights is endorsing sin.

4. In the meantime, last year saw a huge surge in
bullying of gays in school and in teen suicides.

5. How many of us know and
love people who are gay?

6. My Two Goals

7. My Two Goals
CAREFUL

8. My Two Goals
CAREFUL CARING

9. My Two Goals
CAREFUL CARING

10. A Very Difficult Passage
Romans 1:24-27

11. ROMANS 1 21 ...they knew God, but didn’t honor him as God
or thank him. Instead, they learned to think in useless ways, and
their unwise heart grew dark. 22 They declared themselves to be
wise, but in fact they became foolish. 23 They swapped the glory
of the immortal God for the likeness of the image of mortal
humans--and of birds, animals, and reptiles. (N.T. Wright)

12. When We Suppress the Truth
We Should Know About God

13. Godʼs Wrath / 1:18
Godlessness and Injustice / 18
Worship of Non-gods / 23 Sin Twists
Foolish, False Confidence / 22 All of Our
Twisted Thinking & Thinking
Darkened Hearts / 21
When We Suppress the Truth
We Should Know About God

14. Then and Now
A Spectrum of Views on Homosexuality

15. Then and Now
A Spectrum of Views on Homosexuality

16. Then and Now
A Spectrum of Views on Homosexuality
Sinful and Cultural- Natural, Not a
Unnatural Choice accommodation Sinful Choice
Jewish people Elite Romans Greeks
Even today, sin still twists all of our thinking.

17. Then and Now
A Spectrum of Views on Homosexuality
Sinful and Cultural- Natural, Not a
Unnatural Choice accommodation Sinful Choice
Jewish people Elite Romans Greeks
Even today, sin still twists all of our thinking.

18. Then and Now
A Spectrum of Views on Homosexuality
Sinful and Cultural- Natural, Not a
Unnatural Choice accommodation Sinful Choice
Jewish people Elite Romans Greeks
Even today, sin still twists all of our thinking.

19. ROMANS 1 24 So God gave them up to uncleanness in the
desires of their hearts, with the result that they dishonored
their bodies among themselves. 25 They swapped God’s truth
for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen. (N.T. Wright)

20. Sinful humans have violated
the very structure of the
created order (Gen 1-3)

21. Sinful humans have violated
the very structure of the
created order (Gen 1-3)
Made in God’s image as male and female

22. Sinful humans have violated
the very structure of the
created order (Gen 1-3)
Made in God’s image as male and female
“Be fruitful and multiply” > celebrating male-
plus-female complementarity > exemplifying God’s
life-generating capacity

23. Sinful humans have violated
the very structure of the
created order (Gen 1-3)
Made in God’s image as male and female
“Be fruitful and multiply” > celebrating male-
plus-female complementarity > exemplifying God’s
life-generating capacity
“Bring God’s order to the garden”
Something deep within the world’s structure
responds to the uniting of like with unlike.

24. “This* is not what the
human race was made for.”
Apostle Paul
Not ‘there are some exceptionally wicked people out there who do these
revolting things’ but ‘the fact that such clear distortions of the Creator’s
male-plus-female intention occur in the world shows that the HUMAN
RACE AS A WHOLE is guilty of a character-twisting idolatry.’

25. “This* is not what the
human race was made for.”
Apostle Paul
Not ‘there are some exceptionally wicked people out there who do these
revolting things’ but ‘the fact that such clear distortions of the Creator’s
male-plus-female intention occur in the world shows that the HUMAN
RACE AS A WHOLE is guilty of a character-twisting idolatry.’
Same Sex Attraction is just one of the signs that the entire human race
is out of joint with the way God originally designed everything to be.

26. ROMANS 1 26 So God gave them up to shameful desires.
Even the women, you see, swapped natural sexual practice for
unnatural; 27 and the men, too, abandoned natural sexual
relations with women, and were inflamed with their lust for one
another. Men performed shameless acts with men, and received
in themselves the appropriate repayment for their mistaken
ways. (N.T. Wright)

27. So God gave them up...
Adam and Eve by Marvin Werlin

28. So God gave them up...
...to uncleanness in the desires of their
hearts, with the result that they dishonored
their bodies among themselves (24)
Adam and Eve by Marvin Werlin

29. So God gave them up...
...to uncleanness in the desires of their
hearts, with the result that they dishonored
their bodies among themselves (24)
...to shameful desires, so they swapped
natural sexual practice for unnatural (26)
Adam and Eve by Marvin Werlin

30. So God gave them up...
...to uncleanness in the desires of their
hearts, with the result that they dishonored
their bodies among themselves (24)
...to shameful desires, so they swapped
natural sexual practice for unnatural (26)
...to an unfit mind, so that they would
behave inappropriately (28)
Adam and Eve by Marvin Werlin

31. God Gives Us All Choices
But what if you honestly don’t believe you chose
whom you would be attracted to?

32. God Gives Us All Choices
But what if you honestly don’t believe you chose
whom you would be attracted to?
Following Jesus is a clear choice of equally flawed human beings.

33. God Gives Us All Choices
But what if you honestly don’t believe you chose
whom you would be attracted to?
Following Jesus is a clear choice of equally flawed human beings.
“There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (3:23)

34. God Gives Us All Choices
But what if you honestly don’t believe you chose
whom you would be attracted to?
Following Jesus is a clear choice of equally flawed human beings.
“There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (3:23)
“Trust the same Spirit to guide me that you trust to guide you.”

35. God Gives Us All Choices
But what if you honestly don’t believe you chose
whom you would be attracted to?
Following Jesus is a clear choice of equally flawed human beings.
“There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (3:23)
“Trust the same Spirit to guide me that you trust to guide you.”
As we each learn to submit individually to the Spirit’s guidance and love, we can also
choose to be part of Redemptive Communities of fellow flawed human beings.

36. How many of us know and love
people who are greedy, envious,
boastful, unloving, or unmerciful?
Romans 1:28-32