Following Jesus as a Gay Christian: The Cost, Courage, and Calling of Celibacy and Community - w/ Johanna Finegan

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2019

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover how gay Christians committed to a traditional biblical sexual ethic are faithfully navigating identity, theology, celibacy, and spiritual friendship in Part 2 of the Revoice series. Mike Erre speaks with Dr. Johanna Finnegan—MIT PhD, philosopher, and follower of Jesus—whose journey of faith, sexuality, and discipleship offers a deeply personal and thought-provoking perspective. Johanna's story unfolds with raw honesty, intellectual rigor, and unwavering commitment to living a life shaped by Christ.

In this powerful and deeply reflective episode, Johanna shares how she came to faith in Jesus after growing up in a largely secular household, how being gay shaped her youth and adulthood, and what it means to submit her sexuality to Christ while finding joy, meaning, and even romantic love in ways that defy simple categories.

Key Takeaways: • Facing the Tension Between Faith and Sexuality – Johanna discusses discovering she was gay at a young age and how that reality collided with traditional Christian teachings, leading to deep depression and eventual spiritual awakening. • Encountering Authentic Discipleship – Her transformation was fueled by the love, witness, and persistence of Jesus-following friends who embodied both grace and truth. • Reframing the Goal – Why orientation change isn't the aim of the Christian life; Christlikeness is. • Gay and Celibate, Yet Flourishing – Johanna unpacks the hard but life-giving reality of choosing celibacy, the "better treasure" of following Jesus, and how friendship and community became essential spiritual lifelines. • Marriage, Mystery, and Surrender – The unexpected love story that unfolded with her husband, Tim, showing that obedience doesn't always mean perpetual loneliness or a denial of God's goodness. • Responding to Conservative and Progressive Critics – Why language like "gay Christian" need not threaten biblical fidelity, and how faithful celibacy is often misunderstood from both ends of the spectrum. • Why Revoice Matters – Understanding the emergence of the spiritual friendship and Revoice movements as third-way communities that affirm traditional Christian teaching while offering love, visibility, and hope to LGBTQ+ believers.

Guest Highlight: Johanna Finnegan – PhD in Philosophy (MIT), co-laborer with the Revoice and Spiritual Friendship movements, and a compelling voice speaking courageously about the lived experience of gay Christians pursuing holiness, community, and authenticity.

Resources Mentioned: • Revoice Conference – revoice.us • Philip Yancey – Disappointment with God • Wesley Hill – Washed and Waiting • Bridges Across the Divide (dialogue project) • Johanna's website – johannafinnegan.com

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Learn more about the Voxology Podcast Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify Support on Patreon Spotify Music Channel: Voxology Radio

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	everybody, Mike here, welcome to the Vox podcast. So glad that you're tuning in. Thank you so
0:14.2	very much for allowing us to be a small part of your life. Last fall interviewed a guy named Nate Collins, and so it was several
0:24.8	episodes ago, who was the founder of something called Revoice. And Revoice was a conference
0:31.2	that was also kind of emblematic of a bigger movement of people who identified as gay and people who were committed
0:41.1	to following the kind of traditional classic understanding of biblical teaching around sexuality.
0:50.5	And we interviewed Nate, a guy named David Bennett, who had written, come out with a book called
0:56.1	A War of Loves, and then a friend named Tyler Ternisky, who is a pastor.
1:03.0	And there is this growing sort of movement represented by this re-voice conference that I find really, really fascinating.
1:13.8	And so there's another re-voice conference coming up.
1:17.4	I'm recording this in April 2019.
1:21.8	The conference this year is in, let's see here. it is June 5th through 8th, 2019 in St. Louis, called Revoice 19.
1:35.3	If you go to revoice.us or dot us, you can find out more about it. And I've gotten some questions from folks on both sides of the LGBTQ conversation about why it is that we are highlighting these stories so consistently.
1:56.0	And those are very fair questions.
1:58.0	My answer is, first of all, I'm always interested in people
2:03.8	and who are trying to find kind of a middle ground between the polarities. And so we have
2:11.8	very non-affirming Christians. We have very affirming Christians. And here are Christians
2:17.1	that kind of are falling in the middle so that they get criticized from both sides.
2:22.3	They identify as gay, so they get criticized from the conservative side, and yet they hold to the traditional understanding of Christian sexual ethics,
2:32.3	so they get criticized a bit from the progressive side,
2:36.3	because they make the argument, and this is where Joanna, the gal we're going to meet today,
2:42.8	they make the argument that following the teachings of Jesus is not harmful for gay people.
2:49.7	And one of the, I think, the biggest arguments for the,
	...

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