Cover Story by Shawn McAniff Despite resigning his pastoral position, he finally felt free.

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Cover Stories | Send mail to The Voice Pastor advocates for a biblical homosexuality "I didn't want to give up my relationship with God to be gay," the Rev. Cole said 13 years ago when he embraced his sexual orientation. Today, he believes God approves of homosexuality. -Shawn McAniff, photo "She made her way, bent and stooped into the synagogue," the Rev. Roy Cole said, referring to the woman in Luke 13:10 who had an infirmity for 18 years. The Rev. Cole paused, his hands and purple liturgical robe swaying. He told his 11 a.m. congregation that many of them came weekly--to Metropolitan Community Church in Northeast Portland--bent and stooped from fears. He bent over, held an imaginary cane, and hobbled across the raised platform at the front of the sanctuary. Throughout the well-dressed congregation, men sat arm in arm, occasionally petting or lightly kissing each other. "We find freedom," the Rev. Cole said earnestly, "in God's presence and in His Word. And we find this freedom in answering God's prayer for us. "Instead of asking, 'Is God answering your prayer?'" the 45-year-old Oregonian preached, "you should ask, 'Are you answering God's prayer?'" The Rev. Cole said he had answered God's prayer for himself 14 years earlier in November, 1988. The Rev. Cole grew up in a healthy Baptist family. He always believed in God. And as early as he can remember, he was attracted to the same sex. When he became a Christian at age 18, his same-sex desires didn't go away. Nor did they go away during the next 13 years, despite anguished prayer, fasting, confession, engagements and preparation for the ministry. Then in 1988, while a pastor at the Reno, Nev., Church of God, the Rev. Cole told his congregation that he was gay. Despite resigning his pastoral position, he finally felt free. For the Rev. Cole, his decision ended a 31-year struggle to either accept or suppress his sexual orientation. The Rev. Cole is not alone. A growing contingent of American Christians believe those who genuinely profess Jesus is Lord can be practicing homosexuals. The national gay movement, and subsequently the gay Christian movement, started in the 1950s with organizations forming to advocate gay acceptance and eventually gay rights. During the next 50 years, books proposing a pro-gay theology, churches welcoming gay clergy and membership, and prominent gay Christian leaders advocating God's approval of homosexuality advanced the gay Christian movement. In 1973, the American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. From this point forward, society began viewing homosexuals as normal. Just five years earlier, the Rev. Troy Perry, a former Church of God minister and a practicing homosexual, founded the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. Disturbed by the American church's widespread rejection of homosexuals, the Rev. Perry wanted homosexuals to know God accepted and loved them as they were--homosexual. Within 30 years, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches has grown to include more than 300 churches worldwide and more than 32,000 members. Today, at age 45, Rev. Cole pastors the Northwest's largest gay and lesbian church, which has 300 members. For the first time in its 2,000-year history, the Christian Church is divided over whether a Christian can be a homosexual. The Rev. Cole calls himself an evangelical. He knows Jesus Christ as his Lord. He believes in the inerrancy of the Scripture's autographs, the authority of the Bible, the illumination of the Spirit, and God's free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus. And he believes "homosexuality is a gift from God to be enjoyed." Jason Thompson, also an evangelical, disagrees with the Rev. Cole. From the age of 13, Mr. Thompson struggled with and practiced homosexuality. He hated his lifestyle and at age 20 sought help at Portland Fellowship, a ministry that helps individuals overcome homosexuality and find healing through Christ. Five years later, Mr. Thompson is heterosexual, is happily married and is co-director of Portland Fellowship. To be a homosexual Christian is impossible, Mr. Thompson said. "To be a Christian means to be a follower of Christ," he said. "To be a homosexual means to be a follower of your flesh." Dr. Tony Campolo, a professor of sociology at Eastern College in St. Davids, Penn., believes Christians can be homosexual, but he advocates that they remain celibate. "I believe that the Bible does not allow for same-gender sexual intercourse or marriage," Tony Campolo wrote in the May-June, 1999, issue of "Sojourners" magazine. In the same article, Dr. Campolo contended that "God can do anything, but the fact is, in this imperfect world, most homosexuals probably are going to remain homosexual. We need to pray for them, encourage them, and call Christian homosexuals to a Christian lifestyle. I call them to celibacy because I believe the Bible demands that." But even celibacy, Mr. Thompson said, does not change the unhealthy way homosexuals fantasize about and relate to their own sex. The Rev. Cole disagrees with Dr. Campolo for different reasons. "Scripture tells us celibacy is a gift from God," the Rev. Cole said. "To say to people who are gay or lesbian by virtue of your sexual-orientation, 'you now have this enforced celibacy' is not in concert with the word of God." The Rev. Cole believes God's best intention can only be expressed in a monogamous relationship. Because society does not recognize gay marriages, however, the Rev. Cole said relationships should be founded on honesty and integrity. Both the Rev. Cole and Mr. Thompson rest their cases on the Bible. The Rev. Cole believes God destroyed Sodom in Gen. 19, because its citizens broke hospitality laws. Mr. Thompson, however, believes God wiped out Sodom because of wickedness, which included homosexuality. The Rev. Cole said Christians are no longer under the Levitical laws; thus God's admonition against homosexuality in Lev. 18 and 20 does not apply today. Mr. Thompson counters, however, the Levitical laws still reflect God's moral standards, which include forbidding homosexuality. Before coming out of the closet, the Rev. Cole wrestled with Paul attributing homosexuality to idolatry in Rom. 1:26-27. "I struggled with the sense that I had somehow forsaken God and chosen homosexuality," he said. Commentaries he read suggested that Paul was talking about idolatry and temple prostitutes in first-century Rome. The Rev. Cole came to understand that God must have created him with the same-sex orientation because he had never worshiped idols. Nor had he ever forsaken God. "I don't believe [Rom 1] is about idolatry," Mr. Thompson countered. "Paul is very specific that the moral decline results when one pursues his own fleshly desires. He will go to the extent of exchanging the natural relations with unnatural." Romans 1 teaches, he said, that men engaged sexually with the same sex, which is a detestable act in God's eyes. Mr. Thompson said he believes Paul makes an even clearer case against homosexuality in 1 Cor. 6:9-10 listing the effeminate among those who will not inherit God's kingdom. The Rev. Cole maintains the Greek words for effeminate and fornication are ambiguous and culturally bound. "The word homosexuality," Mr. Thompson said, "didn't exist in the Greek language. Effeminate fit the description of a homosexual male." Mr. Thompson charges that pro-gay theology manipulates 1 Cor. 6:9 and that homosexuality fits Paul's intent. "Paul starts by saying, 'Do not be deceived,'" he said. "He gives a list of sins including homosexuality. That's why I firmly believe Paul is addressing the person who falls into the deception that it's OK to be gay and Christian. No, it isn't. "Then [Paul] goes on to say in 6:11, 'That is what some of you were." Mr. Thompson added, "That's what I did. That's my testimony. I was once this. Now, I'm free." Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Cover Stories | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2001 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.