So I don't know if you know this, but back in May, the United Methodist Church voted to lift a ban on

same-sex clergy and clergy performing same-sex weddings. Seems like there's a growing movement

within the church, we might say, of questioning those passages in the Bible in the Old Testament

and the New Testament that seem to prohibit homosexuality or to call it a sin.

So this is a debate.

This is something that many Christians, many churches, many denominations are wrestling with.

What does the Bible have to say about homosexuality?

And more importantly, for you, if you consider yourself to be gay, or if you have a loved one who's gay or lesbian,

does the Bible say that you can go to heaven and be gay?

Years ago, I had an encounter with another pastor in the neighborhood where I minister who had just written a book arguing essentially that the Bible doesn't prohibit homosexuality.

He was using the Bible. He was making biblical arguments and saying the way in which the church has interpreted these passages in the Old Testament and in the New Testament is wrong. We've abused those passages, or we've used

those passages to abuse people who are in loving, gay, and lesbian relationships. And so I, you know,

because this was another pastor in my neighborhood, got a copy of the book, and I read it,

and I disagreed with it. I thought that the way in which he was approaching the scriptures

was incorrect, that rather than just letting them speak for themselves and understanding them

in their context, he was twisting them and allowing essentially the current cultural,

social ethic to drive his interpretation of the Bible,

which I think is not a good thing for us to do.

And so I read the book, and I wanted to have a conversation with him.

I sent him an email, hoping to hear back, didn't hear anything back.

And then in God's Providence, one day I'm at a coffee shop working on my sermon. I'm the only guy in the coffee shop, and he happens to sit down right by me. I presume to work on his sermon or some meetings that he had as a pastor that week, but he sits right by me and we struck up a conversation. Now, I was hoping to get into the text of scripture. I introduced myself, I told him, and I read your book, and was curious to talk with you about these things.

Would love your perspective on some of these things.

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