There is a sinister movement that has crept into the Church. It goes by a few names, some of which include “Gay Celibate Theology” or “Side B Christianity.” I like to call it demonic.
Those who identify as Gay Celibate Christians will mostly affirm that God created two genders, male and female (Gen. 1:27), and that sex is reserved for marriage (Gen. 2:24). So far so good, right? Wrong. While Gay Celibate Christians affirm these Scriptural truths, the movement teaches that men can live God-honoring lives as self-identified homosexuals with unrepentant homosexual desires so long as they refrain from homosexual sex acts. These insidious ideologies are so wrong on so many fronts that my brain can’t even comprehend them as I write this article.
First and foremost, GCT completely violates what Scripture has to say about sinful sexual desires. Jesus said that if you look at a woman with lust you have committed adultery with her in your heart (Matt. 5:28). Many GCT adherents will describe their homosexual desires as an unchangeable “orientation,” which is not how Scripture ever speaks of sinful sexual desires. Scripture repeatedly affirms that all sexual immorality originates from the heart as desires (Matt. 15:19; Mk 7:21; Jm. 1:13-15), not from an unchangeable genetic orientation that men cannot find freedom from. As Christians, we pray for God to change our hearts, not our chromosomes. The belief that sinful desires don’t have to be crucified and that homosexual desires are nothing more than an immutable orientation is just a prideful excuse to relentlessly live in sin.
Can you imagine if a married man said to his buddy, “I know I’m married and I would never cheat on my wife, but all day I dream of having an affair. I’m not in sin, so long as I don’t engage in the physical behavior.” This man is clearly in sin and doesn’t understand that God longs to change his heart (Ez. 36:26), not just keep him from sinful behavior. Someone who claims to be a Christian should be surrendering their sin to God, not directly going against the teachings of Scripture by holding onto wickedness unrepentantly.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7 that God gives the gift of celibacy so that an individual can serve the Kingdom in a unique capacity that requires unfettered attention that a married man would not be able to accomplish because of his familial responsibilities (1 Cor. 7:32-35).
GCT doesn’t teach that celibacy is solely given because of this unique ability to serve the Kingdom with unfettered attention, but rather that celibacy can be given as a fallback option because one has sinful sexual desires for their own gender that could never be sanctified. As a result of this teaching, GCT adherents believe they are imprisoned to live in supposed “celibacy” as victims unable to be sanctified to become healthy men who enjoy marriage and fatherhood. I think instead of calling it “Side B Christianity” they should call it “Plan B Christianity.” Even still, it wouldn’t be Christian.
Nowhere in Scripture are we taught that God gives the gift of celibacy to an individual because of sexual immorality in their heart. To make this claim one would have to argue that God gives something that he calls a “good gift” (1 Cor. 7:7) because of something that is inherently not good. “You have a disordered identity, undealt with childhood wounds, and unrepentant sexual immorality of the heart, therefore God has gifted you the good gift of celibacy,” is not taught anywhere in Scripture.
If struggling with sexual immorality can keep someone from experiencing God’s design for marriage, then no one could experience God’s design for marriage because we all have broken sexualities due to sin coming into the world (Gen. 3; Ps. 51:5). GCT adherents have ostracized themselves as the “unique one’s” within the Church with a distinct sin struggle that puts them in a whole class of their own. All other men in the Church can be sanctified out of their sexual sin and enjoy marriage and family building according to God’s design (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:22-33), but those who struggle with homosexuality cannot? This is a victim mentality and quite frankly toxic.
When we surrender to Christ as Lord and Savior all of us are surrendered to Him, including our sexual brokenness. Scripture tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), not to hold onto our dirty flesh and pridefully argue for its perpetual existence in our lives (Pr. 8:13). The belief that homosexual desires are permanent implies that God is not powerful enough to deal with homosexual sin. If you have sinful sexual desires in your heart, God’s desire is for you to repent and be fathered into a healthy masculine sexuality (1 Thes. 4:3; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5). This must be stressed again but the line, “If a man has sinful sexual desires he must refrain from marriage and fatherhood,” is not taught anywhere in Scripture — yet GCT prides itself on such an anti-scriptural pillar. Men who struggle with homosexuality and refuse to repent from their sinful desires will never get to that place where the Holy Spirit begins to counsel them in their wounds, traumas, and brokenness.
