{"id":30995,"date":"2010-07-28T16:20:51","date_gmt":"2010-07-28T16:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/"},"modified":"2010-07-28T16:20:51","modified_gmt":"2010-07-28T16:20:51","slug":"gay-myths","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Gay&#8221; Myths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2010\/07\/19081.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p>Homosexuality is\nprobably the most emotionally divisive  issue facing our nation.\nIt&#8217;s a hot topic, as a range of <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Newsweek<\/span> covers on the issue suggests:\nJanuary 18th, &#8220;AIDS in the Arts&#8221;; February 1st, &#8220;Gays in\nMilitary&#8221;; March 22nd, &#8220;Taming the AIDS Virus&#8221;; June 21st,\n&#8220;Lesbians Coming Out Strong&#8221;; and October 25th, &#8220;Sexual\nCorrectness. Has It Gone Too far?&#8221;<\/p><p>Homosexuality is a heavy issue facing our culture and the\nchurch, and I want to address it as honestly as I know how. But I want to begin\nby making a few statements.<\/p><p>First, if you don&#8217;t hear anything else I say, I want you to\nhear this: if you&#8217;re a homosexual, you matter to God. He loves you, cares about\nyou, and has a plan for your life.<\/p><p>Second, you matter to me. Pastors and other Christians\nhaven&#8217;t always made that clear. In fact, if we&#8217;ve done anything, we&#8217;ve said\nyou&#8217;re the enemy, which you&#8217;re not. You&#8217;ve been ridiculed and rejected by\nChristians and the church all your life, and I want you to hear me say I&#8217;m\nsorry. Many Christians need to repent and ask for forgiveness for the hate\nthey&#8217;ve expressed toward the homosexual community.<\/p><p>When I was a student pastor during seminary years, I got a\nphone call from a funeral home in town, requesting me to perform a funeral.\nThey informed me that the person was not connected with my church or any\nchurch.<\/p><p>I said, &#8220;Fine. If the family needs me, that&#8217;s\ngreat.&#8221;<\/p><p>He said, &#8220;There&#8217;s something I have to tell you. You&#8217;re\nthe last pastor I&#8217;ve called. Every other pastor in town turned this funeral\ndown. You need to know this man was a homosexual and died of AIDS. None of them\nwill come to be with the family. None of them will do the funeral. None of them\nwant anything to do with it.&#8221; <\/p><p>I became extremely angry at that, and that incident marked\nme for life. Another experience that marked me was having a gay friend. Early\non in our friendship, we had a long discussion. As I was leaving, he said,\n&#8220;You&#8217;re the first Christian who&#8217;s talked with me and never made me feel\nlike a faggot. Thanks for being a friend.&#8221;<\/p><p>I share these incidents with you because you need to know\nwhat I&#8217;m going to say right now is not tinged by homophobia and insensitivity.\nI say it with compassion, not out hateful judgmentalism. I hope you&#8217;ll let me\ntalk honestly about this as a pastor who&#8217;s trying to teach what God has to say.<\/p><p><strong>Homosexuality departs from\nGod&#8217;s blueprint for sexual intimacy<\/strong><\/p><p>I want to begin by looking at God&#8217;s original design for us\nas human beings, found in Genesis 2.<\/p><p>&#8220;The Lord God said, &#8216;It is not good for the man to be\nalone. I&#8217;ll make a helper suitable for him.'&#8221; The Lord God made a woman,\nbrought her to the man. &#8220;For this reason a man will leave his father and\nmother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and\nhis wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.&#8221;<\/p><p>There are four foundational truths I want you to get from\nthat passage. First, God created sexual identity. Second, when he created\nsexual identity, the identity was male and female. Scripture says the suitable\nhelper for Adam was a woman. Third, God created sexual intimacy. And fourth,\nthat sexual intimacy was to take place as the two became one in the context of\na marriage.<\/p><p>That&#8217;s the blueprint, according to Scripture, that God\ndesigned for our sexuality. Homosexuals depart from this blueprint in two\nfoundational ways.<\/p><p>First, rather than embracing solely the  design for\nsexuality, homosexuality embraces a  preference as the blueprint for\nsexual intimacy, or at least for their sexual intimacy and expression. Second,\nthey depart from God&#8217;s intent for sexual intimacy to take place within the\nconfines of a marriage.<\/p><p>When God&#8217;s blueprint is on one side and homosexual departure\nis on the other, it should come as no surprise that when the Bible speaks about\nhomosexuality it suggests that the homosexual departure is not God&#8217;s design.\nSome Scriptural language is very clear about this.<\/p><p>For example, Leviticus says, &#8220;Homosexuality is\nabsolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin.&#8221; Leviticus 20:13 says,\n&#8220;If a man has sexual relations with another man they have done a\ndisgusting thing.&#8221;<\/p><p>Romans 1 says, &#8220;The wrath of God is being revealed from\nheaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth\nby their wickedness. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. Even their women\nexchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also\nabandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one\nanother. Although they knew God&#8217;s righteous decree that those who do such\nthings deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but\napprove of those who practice it.&#8221;<\/p><p>It is extremely compelling to me that every single reference\nin Scripture about homosexuality condemns it without question. So let&#8217;s review.<\/p><p>God created human beings as male and female. He intended for\nsexual intimacy to be there and there alone in the context of marriage. As a\nresult, the Bible sees any departure from that design, homosexuality as one\nexample, as outside of God&#8217;s will for our lives.<\/p><p><strong>Homosexuality is no different\nthan any other behavior that is outside of God&#8217;s will<\/strong><\/p><p>Let&#8217;s play devil&#8217;s advocate with the Bible. Let&#8217;s look at\nthe big arguments that say, &#8220;Yeah, but&#8221; and see if the Bible stands\nup.<\/p><p>What&#8217;s the great argument against everything I&#8217;ve just said?\n&#8220;This is how I&#8217;m made! You can talk about Scripture all day long, but this\nis who and what I am. This is in my DNA structure. It is unfair, even cruel to\ncondemn me for how God made me. I didn&#8217;t create this desire; God did. Why\nshould I be condemned for following my natural desires?&#8221;<\/p><p>Let&#8217;s acknowledge that many people who pursue a lifestyle of\nhomosexual behavior have a strong tendency toward that behavior. Some people\nseem to have a homosexual orientation that can be brought to the surface\nthrough a variety of psychological factors and personal experiences.<\/p><p>But a homosexual orientation is no different than any other\nkind of orientation somebody can have toward a particular behavior or a particular\nlifestyle that may or may not be outside of God&#8217;s will. For some, this\norientation might be pride, alcohol abuse, gambling, a quick temper, slander,\nor gossip. All of us have certain aspects of our  that shape who we are\nand make us prone to certain temptations and activities. There may be an area I\nstruggle with all my life that&#8217;s not a big deal for you.<\/p><p>But an orientation towards something is a lot different than\na legitimation of it.<\/p><p>Let&#8217;s say you believe, &#8220;I do what I do because I am\nwhat I am.&#8221; Let&#8217;s test the validity of this statement.<\/p><p>Psychologically it can&#8217;t be true. Psychologists will tell\nyou that who we are is a combination of nature plus nurture. In other words,\ndisposition joins with personal choice, and that&#8217;s how we&#8217;re formed. Saying,\n&#8220;I do what I do because of my biological &#8221; is psychologically\nnot true. You may have a particular orientation, but you make the choices that\nreinforce it.<\/p><p>Let&#8217;s determine the philosophical validity of the assumption\n&#8220;I do what I do because I am what I am.&#8221; If your philosophy is that\ndesire should shape morals, then you believe whatever you desire to do you\nshould have the legitimation to go out and pursue it.<\/p><p>But that can&#8217;t be right, because what if my desire is for\nmurder or for molesting young children? You can&#8217;t pick and choose where you\nwant to apply your philosophy. Either it&#8217;s true or it&#8217;s not. Either desire\nlegitimates behavior, or it doesn&#8217;t.<\/p><p>Does the belief that &#8220;I do what I do because I am what\nI am&#8221; hold up morally? From a moral and spiritual perspective what matters\nis not where you&#8217;re tempted but what you do with the temptation.<\/p><p><strong>Homosexual temptations must be\nresisted like every other wrong desire<\/strong><\/p><p>I may have moments, and I frequently do, when I desire to\nknock somebody&#8217;s block off because one of my weaknesses is temper. But that&#8217;s\ndifferent than giving in to the feeling. The Bible does not condemn homosexual\ndesire. But like any other desire outside of God&#8217;s will, it says resist the\ntemptation.<\/p><p>The Bible makes it clear in James that &#8220;We&#8217;re all\ntempted when by our own evil desire we&#8217;re dragged away and enticed. Then after\ndesire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it&#8217;s full grown gives\nbirth to death.&#8221;<\/p><p>Temptation comes through desire. Just because desire is\nthere doesn&#8217;t mean that what you want to do is okay. I&#8217;m a heterosexual man and\nhave sexual desires, some of which are to fulfill that sexuality outside of my\nmarriage with another woman. These sexual temptations are no different in God&#8217;s\neyes than the homosexual temptation that another man might have. When faced\nwith the opportunity, it is up to us to turn away from the desire.<\/p><p>Now, the gay person is going to say, &#8220;Yeah, yeah, yeah.\nAt least you can get your sexual appetite fulfilled in marriage. I can&#8217;t.&#8221;\nBut when you follow this logic, you&#8217;re saying that desire determines\neverything. Essentially you are saying the number one rule of life is to have\nyour sexual appetite satisfied and that if any morality says it cannot be\nfulfilled then that morality is immorality.<\/p><p>That&#8217;s a superficial understanding of life.<\/p><p>Look at 1 Corinthians: &#8220;Remember this. The wrong\ndesires that come into your life aren&#8217;t anything new and different. Many others\nhave faced exactly the same problems before you, and no temptation is irresistible.\nYou can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can&#8217;t\nstand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will\nshow you how to escape temptation&#8217;s power so that you can bear up patiently\nagainst it.&#8221;<\/p><p>There are other arguments worth mentioning briefly when\nplaying devil&#8217;s advocate. Some believe if they don&#8217;t pursue their homosexual\nlifestyle, they can&#8217;t be happy. In their opinion, it&#8217;s the only way to be\nhappy, and being happy is the primary goal in life.<\/p><p>I need to challenge that assumption with some sobering\nstatistics about just how gay gays are. Homosexual men are six times more\nlikely to have attempted suicide than heterosexual men. Between 25 and 33\npercent of homosexual men are alcoholics. The national average is seven\npercent.<\/p><p><strong>Homosexuality cannot be\ncondoned simply because the large number of homosexuals<\/strong><\/p><p>My second argument is that many\nhomosexuals claim you can&#8217;t condemn what is prevalent in our society,\nquestioning how anyone can say something&#8217;s wrong when many people are involved\nin it.<\/p><p>That&#8217;s frightening, because what they&#8217;re saying is if 51\npercent of all the people do it, then the majority is right.<\/p><p>However, recent studies have disproven this claim. It used\nto be standard operating thinking that the homosexual community made up at\nleast 10 percent of the American population. The recent study, not by the Moral\nMajority but by the Patel Human Research Center in Seattle, found that it&#8217;s\nreally 1 percent of the American population that is homosexual.<\/p><p><strong>Homosexuality does not become\nacceptable if it is practiced monogamously<\/strong><\/p><p>Third, some homosexuals claim the real issue is commitment\nand love. They&#8217;ll buy almost everything I&#8217;ve said, but they say the difference\nis they&#8217;re monogamous. If monogamy is maintained, they believe all is well.<\/p><p>This assumption is problematic in a couple of ways. First,\nfew homosexuals are even remotely interested in a monogamous relationship.\nBloomstein and Schwartz in their extensive study of American couples found that\ngay men essentially have adopted a lifestyle of adultery. The Bell and Weinburg\nstudy on homosexuality suggested a third of all homosexuals have had over a\nthousand partners in their lifetime. In fact, that study found less then 10\npercent of all homosexuals are in any kind of  relationship.<\/p><p>McWarder and Madison, themselves a gay couple, found in\ntheir study of over a hundred gay couples that zero percent of gay couples were\nsexually monogamous after five years.<\/p><p>Secondly, the argument is weak because it still contradicts\nGod&#8217;s original design in creation, which is the marriage of a man and a woman.\nEven if you have the most loving monogamous relationship in the world with\nsomeone of the same sex, it&#8217;s still a violation of God&#8217;s design because the relationship\nwas intended to be between a man and a woman.<\/p><p><strong>Homosexuals can find freedom\nfrom the homosexual lifestyle<\/strong><\/p><p>So what&#8217;s a homosexual to do? Is\nthere hope? Is there a Plan? Can they\nchange? Are they supposed to change?<\/p><p>A lot of people say, &#8220;No, you can&#8217;t change.&#8221;\nThey&#8217;ve tried and failed. They say, &#8220;Even if it&#8217;s wrong, I can&#8217;t stop the\nlifestyle.&#8221;<\/p><p>I don&#8217;t agree. I think there&#8217;s hope. Like any other\nlifestyle outside of God&#8217;s design, there can be freedom from \nyou want it. You may have an orientation toward homosexuality, but it&#8217;s not all\nnature. We make choices, and we pursue lifestyles. Like any other practice, if\nyour nature is affirmed by practices, then obviously you&#8217;re going to embrace\nthat behavior. But you can stop nurturing the behavior.<\/p><p>Just as an alcoholic can&#8217;t stop drinking by holding the\nbottle in his lap, so a homosexual can&#8217;t turn from his lifestyle if he&#8217;s\nhitting the bathhouses every week.<\/p><p>The success rate of secular attempts at counseling, such as\nthe five year program by Masters and Johnson, rated as high as 66 percent,\nwhich is quite high for human behavior modification. If you throw God into the\ncounseling mix, recovery rate is even higher. There are some Christian\nministries that have a 90 percent recovery rate for homosexuals.<\/p><p>That doesn&#8217;t mean they always find the opposite sex\nattractive. It doesn&#8217;t mean they wind up getting married and having kids; but\nit means they turn away from their desires.<\/p><p>The Bible talks specifically about this  shot at change.\nIn 1 Corinthians, Paul talks specifically about former homosexuals in the\nchurch. In 1 Corinthians 6, he says, &#8220;Don&#8217;t fool yourselves. Those who\nlive immoral lives, who were idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals, will\nhave no share in his kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards,\nslanderers or robbers. There was a time when some of you were just like that,\nbut now your sins are washed away. You&#8217;re set apart for God, and he&#8217;s accepted\nyou because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done\nfor you.&#8221;<\/p><p>What Paul says is good news. He recognizes that homosexual\nbehavior isn&#8217;t of God and that some people in the church used to be practicing\nhomosexuals but were able to receive God&#8217;s forgiveness. Paul acknowledges that\nthey were able to find freedom from the practice and that Christ gave them a\nfresh start.<\/p><p>Those of you who are homosexual, it took a lot of courage\nfor you to come today, and I hold you in high regard. You knew I was going to\nbe talking about this.<\/p><p>I want you to hear me say something in conclusion. You&#8217;re no\ndifferent than any of the rest of us struggling with temptation and desire. I&#8217;m\nnot different than you; you&#8217;re no different than me. We are just struggling in\ndifferent areas. Christ is working in all of us.<\/p><p>Mecklenburg Community Church is nothing but a colossal\ncollection of moral foul ups. You&#8217;re in bad company here. You&#8217;re surrounded by\nsins of pride, greed, pornography, , lying, stealing, and\nadultery. But through the power of Christ there&#8217;s hope for all of us.<\/p><p>I will also tell you what is different about this place.\nRather than shoving sin beneath the surface and not dealing with it, we want to\nexpose it in our lives. Instead of denying and rationalizing our sinful\nbehavior, we want to discover it, bring it to God, ask for forgiveness, and\nbecome changed people.<\/p><p>God calls all of us to become something we aren&#8217;t naturally,\nwhich is like him. So let me go back to where I began. You matter to God. You\nmatter to me. You matter to this church. It&#8217;s a safe place. The message of the\nChristian faith, though, is true. It can&#8217;t be compromised, and your life can be\ndifferent if you want it to be.<\/p><p><em>James Emery White is senior pastor of Mecklenburg\nCommunity Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is author of <\/em>Opening the\nFront Door<em> and <\/em>What Is Truth<em>?<\/em><\/p><p>(c) James Emery White<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Preaching Today Tape #191<\/h2><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.preachingtodaysermons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a><\/p><p>A resource of Christianity Today International<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[306],"tax_ctp_authors":[1797],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[],"tax_ctp_tags":[3462,3764,3765,4163,4222,4374,4409,4885,4925,4926,4955,4958,5090,5134,5169,5277],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-30995","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-james-emery-white","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-avoidance-of-sin","tax_ctp_tags-desert","tax_ctp_tags-desire","tax_ctp_tags-homosexuality","tax_ctp_tags-immorality","tax_ctp_tags-lifestyle","tax_ctp_tags-lust","tax_ctp_tags-satisfaction","tax_ctp_tags-self-indulgence","tax_ctp_tags-self-justification","tax_ctp_tags-sex","tax_ctp_tags-sexual-immorality","tax_ctp_tags-struggle-against-sin","tax_ctp_tags-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-tolerance-of-sin","tax_ctp_tags-will-of-god"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Gay&quot; Myths - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Gay&quot; Myths - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Homosexuality is probably the most emotionally divisive issue facing our nation. It&#8217;s a hot topic, as a range of Newsweek covers on the issue suggests: January 18th, &#8220;AIDS in the Arts&#8221;; February 1st, &#8220;Gays in Military&#8221;; March 22nd, &#8220;Taming the AIDS Virus&#8221;; June 21st, &#8220;Lesbians Coming Out Strong&#8221;; and October 25th, &#8220;Sexual Correctness. Has It Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Gay\\\" Myths - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-28T16:20:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-28T16:20:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"&#8220;Gay&#8221; Myths\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Gay\" Myths - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Gay\" Myths - CT Pastors","og_description":"Homosexuality is probably the most emotionally divisive issue facing our nation. It&#8217;s a hot topic, as a range of Newsweek covers on the issue suggests: January 18th, &#8220;AIDS in the Arts&#8221;; February 1st, &#8220;Gays in Military&#8221;; March 22nd, &#8220;Taming the AIDS Virus&#8221;; June 21st, &#8220;Lesbians Coming Out Strong&#8221;; and October 25th, &#8220;Sexual Correctness. Has It Read more...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/","og_site_name":"CT Pastors","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@CTpastors","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/","name":"\"Gay\" Myths - CT Pastors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-07-28T16:20:51+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-28T16:20:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/gay-myths\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;Gay&#8221; Myths"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","name":"CT Pastors","description":"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization","name":"Christianity Today","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","caption":"Christianity Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors"]}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermons\/30995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermons"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermons"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermons\/30995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30998,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermons\/30995\/revisions\/30998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_audience?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_authors?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_categories?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guides","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guides?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_format?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_multimedia","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_multimedia?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_point_editor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_point_editor?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_publications?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_sermon_series?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_tags?post=30995"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_topics?post=30995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}