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Gay and Evangelical

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Gay and Evangelical

Category Archives: Personal

On the Pubcast!

17 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by David L. Gill in Christianity, Personal, Politics, Theology

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

friendship, homosexuality, interview, loneliness, podcast appearance, politics, relationships, repentance, sanctification, sexuality, theology

Tanner & Les.

Tanner & Les.

Two really cool guys had me on their podcast (The Reformed Pubcast) recently. They’re Calvinists who talk about Arminians, theology, and beer. But at minute 23 of this week’s podcast, they talked with me about being Gay and Evangelical.

The reaction on the blog has been mixed, but I think is largely good. I have a sense that hearing from a real-life Calvinist who wrestles with his sexuality and identifies as gay (but with the qualification that he is celibate unless he marries a woman at some point) is utterly foreign territory to some. That’s ok…and if you’re visiting from the Pub, welcome!

One question I was asked on the Facebook group has to do with whether or not the word “love” can be used for me to talk about those to whom I’m attracted. I’m well aware of popular Calvinistic teachers who do not like for the word “love” be associated with anything same-sex related. However, since I was asked why I used the word love, this is what I replied. I share it here because I imagine that there are many people who would secretly ask the same question.

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Thinking or Loving?

27 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Christianity, Personal, Theology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Church, communion, education, Eucharist, theology, worship

Liturgies aim our love to different ends precisely by training our hearts through our bodies. (James K. A Smith, Desiring the Kingdom, pg. 25)

Several years ago (2008ish, I think) my parents and I embarked on a small group at the church that we were attending at the time which was working its way through The Truth Project, a curriculum designed by Focus on the Family for use in churches to expose adults (primarily) to worldview issues and good teaching on a Christian worldview. The strength of such curriculum is that, as thinking beings, we need to think consciously about how we think and what we accept uncritically.

The problem with such programs (and yes, I saw most if not all of the DVDs and participated in maybe half of the discussions in the group–so I’m speaking from some measure of experience) is that they don’t aim at the heart. Christianity is reduced to a worldview in abstraction.

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Fair and Sensible?

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Christianity, Personal, Theology

≈ 7 Comments

It’s the day after Christmas. The new phone case I got from my brother is on my phone, the new peacoat and scarf I got from my mom & dad are on the back of my chair, the new book on the music of hymns which a mentor and friend gave me is on my shelf and I’m making good progress on a book about the Eucharist.

What does it mean to be reasonable? Google’s definition says,

(of a person) having sound judgment; fair and sensible.

That seems fairly straightforward…”fair and sensible.”

What happens when someone you know holds the opinion that they are, in fact, reasonable–when in truth, they are not? Is it loving to confront them? How often? To simply navigate the situation so that the fewest people are hurt?

What happens when the person accuses you of upsetting the way things are due to the fact that you’ve sought advice and/or counseling about them in the past? How does one love that person well?

Put on your happy face. Now.

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Exhaustion from…emotions?

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Personal

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

borderline personality disorder, counseling, emotions, energy

In my counseling class at seminary, we’ve been talking about family dynamics. It’s been a tough discussion, what with all of the talk about abuse, narcissistic families, borderline personality disorder and digging into one’s own story.

It’s especially tough when some of what the class dredges up is your own story, your own anxiety, your own muck.

I see a counselor regularly. I had a two hour session today. It was one of the hardest two hours I’ve ever experienced. What I didn’t exactly anticipate was my utter exhaustion after the session.

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When I look in the mirror…

26 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Personal

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

body image, friendship, homosexuality, insecurity, masculinity

That gay men are often vain is nothing revelatory. The latest styles of outer or under-wear, designed to make the most of whatever God’s given us body-wise tend to fill our closets and hang on our bodies. There’s nothing quite like the feel of a new pair of shoes or a well-designed suit on one’s body…not merely seeing a photograph of it, but actually wearing it.

I’ve loved clothes for a long time. I remember when I went to college, my goal became to own clothes that I really loved…a goal I finally achieved after college when I had my first ‘real’ job.

But one of the reasons I love clothes is that they hide a body of which I am ashamed.

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Friends and brothers

04 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Christianity, Personal

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

friendship, homosexuality, loneliness, sexual sin, temptation

I’m house-sitting for a few days, watching dogs and eating the owners’ food. Well, sort of. I ordered out for Chinese last night.

I got two phone calls yesterday which affected me greatly. The first was from a ministry director whom I’ve never met. I’ve applied to work with the organization he represents and I filled out an application. It had many questions on it, but one of them was something like this:

Have you done anything in the last ten years which could be considered worthy of reproach in your conduct?

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The Desperation of Being Emotional

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Personal

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

emotions

Most days I need to hear that there is, in fact, a point to my struggles with sexuality and emotion.

Most days it feels like there isn’t.

Here’s something that will shock my friends: I’m an emotional guy. I’ve always known this, but for a long time I didn’t understand what was happening when emotions would show up, unannounced and often unwelcomed, on my doorstep. I felt them as they assaulted me (or so it sometimes seems), but I wasn’t always sure from whence they came and whither they were going.

Lately, I’ve been much more able to allow myself to think through and allow myself to experience the pain of emotion. My counselor assures me that my ability to feel is a wonderful gift. Most days, however, I’d rather grab this gift and drop it off somewhere, like the white elephant gift I got at a Christmas party that I didn’t really want. Emotion on many days just seems like pain–who wants that sort of life?

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Encouragement from God and Others

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Personal

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

calling, depression, encouragement, friendship, homosexuality, insecurity, loneliness, relationships

Quick thought:

I was hanging out with single folks from my seminary the other day for dinner and dessert. We were discussing how difficult it is to get a job in the PCA and EPC if you are single…and I chimed in, “Yeah…but because I’m gay, I’ve got two strikes against me.”

Immediately, my phone beeped. This is the text message I received:

Hey brother, been thinking about you a ton lately. I think God is going to use you to do things you can’t even imagine for the glory of his name. Praying for you and the work He has laid out for you to do, work we don’t even know yet. Love you.

Continue reading →

Complicated Relationships

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Christianity, Personal, Theology

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ministry, relationships

Relationships are, for me, complicated. It’s not a complication I retreat from…not as a bona fide extrovert. No, no…relationships are the lifeblood of my existence. I’d sooner do without air than friends. It’d be less painful. Continue reading →

Link

Presumption? Despair?

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by David L. Gill in Personal, Theology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

depression, despair, homosexuality, hope, reparative therapy

Wesley Hill has written a great article over at the First Things blog. One of my favorite moments of the article is this:

This is what bothers me about what I hear from certain kinds of reparative therapies: offering hope to gay people seems to amount to a prediction of orientation change (assuming the correct regimen is followed). And whenever a Christian expresses doubt about the surety of that prediction, the response can often take the form of, ‘Well, you just don’t have enough faith.’ (Or as a licensed professional counselor, a Christian with a certain angle on reparative therapy, once said to me, ‘That sounds like depression.’)

Yeah…something like that. 😦

Check it out.

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