When questioning whether Christianity and homosexuality are reconcilable, there are many subtopics within the issue that could be explored in their own right. For the sake of brevity and getting to the practical heart of the subject, I am going to skip over convoluted questions that could lead us down a bunnyhole.

The intention here is to articulate the three most prevalent positions when addressing homosexuality and Christianity, and show how, from a biblical perspective, each view holds partial aspects of truth but misses the bigger picture. These three main positions being:

1. From some church-goers: Homosexuals go to Hell for being gay, burn them!
2. From some church-goers: Homosexuality is no sin, let’s fully embrace gay love!
3. From pro-gay, anti-Christians: Homosexuality is an expression of human rights; those religious nutbars are closed-minded, joy-draining bigots!

I’m willing to bet you’ve heard each of these opinions voiced loud and proud, and without a doubt, Christians have managed to do an immense disservice to their homosexual neighbours and friends when addressing this issue. In believing either of the first two aforementioned positions, Christians not only trivialise the grievous hurt that the church has caused the homosexual community, but they also completely misrepresent the Bible they claim to live by.

I didn’t always see the complexities of this issue. In fact, until recently, I sat staunchly in the third position. As an atheist, I scoffed at the ‘Christian’ view that homosexuality on its own earns a road trip on the highway to hell. And when, after 19 years of being an atheist, I became a Christian – I still scoffed at it! As The New York Times Best Seller Tim Keller articulates so directly, you go to Hell for being homosexual like you go to Heaven for being heterosexual, i.e. no correlation, no causation, no contention. To raise up homosexuality as a primary issue like so many outspoken churchgoers do is to manipulate Jesus’ purpose not only for sex, not only for sin in general, but also on the most critical issue of all – the purpose of Jesus’ existence.

Jesus’ purpose is not centered on the redemption of our sex lives, and it’s not concerned with redeeming our morality so we could obey the Ten Commandments and be a “good person”. It is centered wholly on redeeming us to himself. No strings attached. When someone comes to Jesus admitting that they are less than perfect (falling short of perfection is named sin in the Bible), and that they need him to be their perfect fulfilment of all that God calls us to, this is when we are free. Free to live in perfect relationship with the eternal, sovereign God of the Universe who loves us no matter what imperfections we have because they were all cast on Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago. No matter who you are or what type of sin you choose (homosexuality included), Jesus is willing, able, and overjoyed to have died for you so that you can be reconciled to him.

So we can live out the Christian life in love, not in some judgmental, anger-filled attitude towards those who live differently. We are all born with sin in us, though it presents itself in different ways. You may have been born gay, or bitter, or with a predisposition to depression, and I may have been born jealous, lustful, or with a predisposition to crippling anxiety. What is important to know when thinking about Christianity and homosexuality is that the Bible doesn’t talk about homosexuality as if it is the single most affronting sin. While it does affirm that it is sin (throughout the Old and New Testaments), there are other things that are mentioned ten times more often, and frequently with weightier language. One of these things is pride, or self-righteousness. The task of identifying people who are often associated with acting self-righteously doesn’t need a prolonged game of ‘Guess Who?’, but take one guess…  Christians? That was easy.

Certainly, Christians have earned themselves a bad rep, even those who aren’t as clearly rage-fuelled from incorrectly handled scripture like the Westboro Baptist Church. What Christians miss in dealing with the issue of sin, and particularly homosexuality, is that there cannot be truth without love, or love without truth. Watering down the Bible to say it does not call out homosexuality as one sin among many (while forgetting that Christians sin every day so are no more morally upright than anybody else) is to speak a lie masquerading as compassion and progress. But preaching condemnation purely because of one’s sexuality is manipulating truth without compassion, and fails to comprehend that the playing field is level at the cross and nobody can earn a moral high ground.

In all of this, what is the big “so what?” Do we learn anything from this biblical perspective of how to reconcile Christianity and homosexuality? For a start, as author Trevin Wax points out, “to differ is not to hate”. While we may differ in how we think about homosexuality, we can respect one another and continue to discuss how to pursue the knowledge of truth.

To the Christian reading this, remember that Jesus calls you to love your neighbour and seek his good, even during the times you don’t see eye to eye. As Paul the Apostle writes in his letter to the Corinthian church included in the New Testament: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” When Jesus died for you on the cross, he forgave all your sin, and because of this unsurpassing act of love, it is infinitely worth forgiving others and treating them with a glimpse of the compassion that Jesus showed you.

To the person reading this who identifies with the third position put forth, know that I feel your frustration with the anger that you have received from the Christian community. Realise that the Bible does not condone the hate speech you may have received, but also that it does not shy away from calling homosexuality a sin, alongside plenty of things that Christians forget are sinful.

So can Christianity and homosexuality be reconciled? Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. The question is wider than just homosexuality. It is whether, on the whole, we can have a relationship with God that is not conditional on our lifestyle. Most relevant here, it is whether Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was all encompassing enough to include homosexuality, and how we should, both Christian and non-Christian, respond to that.

To raise up homosexuality as a primary issue like so many outspoken churchgoers do is to manipulate Jesus’ purpose not only for sex, not only for sin in general, but also on the most critical issue of all – the purpose of Jesus’ existence.

What I wish I knew as an atheist

Justin Vernon and his nine-piece band form the spectacle that is Bon Iver. Their near two-hour set encompassed songs from both albums and their first EP, illustrating why they deserved the 2012 Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album. Vernon’s famous falsetto was even more impressive live, hitting every note with an ease that would make any eunuch jealous. But we know how high his voice can go–on this night, it was his lower vocal register, emphasized infrequently on recorded material, which really showed off the range he is capable of.

Vernon’s bandmates provided him with able support, most of them playing a couple of instruments across the night– complex combinations of percussion, saxes, trumpet, synth, keyboard, guitars and violin. It’s hard to believe no two members, all of whom were introduced by name and American state, hailed from the same place, a testimony to the many hours of practice that must have been required to achieve such a tight ensemble.

That said, the highlight of the night was unambiguously Vernon’s solo song, ‘Re: Stacks’. After expressing his delight at the intimacy shared by the band and the crowd, despite their geographical and experiential differences, Vernon poignantly described ‘Re: Stacks’ as a song about being alone. The air was electric as he commandeered every fan’s full attention; in the crowd’s silence, you became eerily aware of the fact that the person behind you was actually breathing.

This tender moment, however, was offset by plenty of songs utilising the ostentatious drumset, lighting sequences, and full harmonies available with the nine-piece band and touring tech support. A well deserved standing ovation left the band gushing, “we will never forget this show”. Neither will we, Bon Iver. Neither will we.

We act badly, we expect punishment. If somebody avoids these conditions, we resent them and believe it to be unfair and an injustice—for there is no such thing as a free lunch, right?

I once heard a saying, “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.” Now, I admit I eat a lot of meat, but I bet a wild pig in the savannah doesn’t consider whether it is fair that a lion eats it because that fat cat is further up the food chain. Nor do I think the plant meditates about the just or unjust implications when your nose rejects the pollen it is trying to use to reproduce in those schnoz hairs. In fact, justice or a lack of it seems only to be understood by people, our superior intelligence rendering it a distinctly human concept. However, if there is so much manmade injustice in the world—corruption, war crimes, inequality based upon race and sexual orientation and wealth—is there a way in which justice can truly ever be served?

I think there is, and if you give me but five minutes of your precious procrastinating time, I will tell you. I am a new believer in God. No, this is not the time for me to tell you my story on how I got “saved”, nor is it my goal to try to “convert” you. However it is relevant to know I came to know God less than three months ago, previously considering myself to be a strong atheist who held all the questions that would stump theologians and disprove Christianity. Half of the student population may have stopped reading this the moment I confessed to being a Christian, so thank you to those who give my words justice by reading them.

In coming to faith, I was faced with some of the biggest questions humans will ever have to ponder: Was Jesus a real guy who performed miracles? Where is the compelling evidence for that? Will my perception of reality be altered if I do believe? And perhaps most personally threatening, why should all this religion stuff affect me? If I am a rational person who likes to delve into science and history and base my beliefs upon solid facts, why should I give the time of day to something that looks supernatural and irrational? Or why should I have to pick one religion when so many people seem satisfied with taking a bit of every spiritual belief and chucking them together without boxing themselves into a rigid category?

This idea of justice through conditionality (good works = reward/evil works = punishment) is one that sits well with us animals who possess the gift of morality. And that seems to me to be precisely why Christianity causes us such discomfort, such disdain. In reformed Christianity, you or I do not receive worth through the actions we take. Instead, we are justified by believing in the actions Jesus Christ took. This concept within Christianity is important to grasp as it is different from the modern-day, media-hyperbolised view that Christianity is, in essence, corrupt or all about the money or anything else negative that I always assumed in my stance as a media-influenced atheist.

What I am first and foremost hoping you are questioning is this idea of justice in Christianity. If we are living as humans in the prison of conditionality, how does Christianity affect us? In order to answer that, I’m going to give you a word-economical run down of the need-to-knows of Christianity. Here is the essence of it. If you cannot be certain of how the universe and everything came to be (which nobody’s belief can account for 100 per cent accurately, including mine), then you should accept that there is a possibility, however small in your mind, that God created this universe. If He did that entirely unsurpassable action, He is capable of doing anything supernatural, from raising Christ from the dead to creating us in His own image. In believing this, we are said to have been first created perfect and holy like God. In His delight to give us good things, He gave us free will, which we used to satisfy our own selfish pleasures and began to sin. When we sinned first (as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden), we fell from the image of perfection that God had made us in, so we became separated from him and were cast out from the garden.

As our Father, He loves us so much that He gave us a way to get back to Him. Our selfish and fickle hearts meant we wanted to walk in our own glory instead of seeing God for the amazing things He has done. Now, we try to make our own lives satisfied by worldly pleasures. God so loved us that He sent his son Jesus so that we could understand the love of God in the only form we can understand (human form). Jesus was persecuted because we could not stand to see our own glory being nullified by our Creator’s glory. Christ was crucified, and on the cross, He took the burden of our sins. He, in so much love for us, took every bad thing that every human has ever done, and all that sin died with Him. So, the love of God was shown by Him sacrificing His only son so that we could find a way to get back to God’s perfection and sit at His right hand. This is the way to believing in Christ’s finished work for us on the cross. In bearing the full brunt of our horrible trespasses against the only being who unconditionally loves us until the end of time, Jesus becomes the mediator to God’s love and we have a share in that not through our own works, but purely by resting in the faith of what He did for us.

Keeping in mind that this is all the word space I can possibly use for a much larger and more scientifically and historically evidential version of these events, we can now look at justice in God’s light. Now, justice can truly be served because humans’ redeeming qualities do not come from helping old ladies across the street or giving money to churches. If you are an Afghani prostitute who is stuck in a terrible situation in this life, you can trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross to be assured of a place in heaven for eternity through faith in this work alone. This is the ultimate flip from the human prison of conditionality in which we try to earn our worth. This justice is terrifying because it cannot be bought with promises or bribed by tears, and we have to be dependent on someone else’s works. That fearful reliance on Christ can only be a legit, solid standing because He was sent sinless and perfect, and we are fallen from this standard.

As I said earlier, I am not here to convert you. I am writing this so you can make an informed decision to look into something that, if true, is life-changing and freeing beyond any means of worldly satisfaction you have ever tried to obtain! If “fairness” has the means to be achieved beyond that proposed by William Shatner or Lord Denning, I hope you and I can see the way we are so graciously served up a plate of deliciously hot justice. Now that’s something to get your mouth watering