Highlight : The gay community and Christ-like love

“They’re not votes to be had, or villains to be made. I really think they are victors that Jesus wants to crown.”

When it comes to the homosexuality issue, we as a church have settled. The question is, where have we settled? Caleb Kaltenbach was raised in a home with two gay parents; he says we settle by writing off the entire community as villains, or we settle by freely accepting someone while ignoring biblical values. Caleb shares more in his book .

We can’t write off the community. Jesus has people to be redeemed from it, as He does from every community. It’s a messy road from rebellion to redemption, but if we love someone, we’ll help him or her come to a place of healing. We also can’t celebrate something that God’s Word clearly prohibits. What’s the answer? We love them as Jesus does. And Jesus never wrote someone off.

Caleb warns us against the habit of categorizing. Categories are not redemptive but simply a way for us to diagnose a problem without getting involved in the healing. Christians can’t put all homosexuals into one category for the sake of simplifying the discussion. Politicians do this constantly as a way to further their own platform; followers of Christ have a different mission.

“People grab a hold of this issue and they use it for their own agenda. Many Democrats see the LGBT community as votes to be had, and there are some Republicans who see the LGBT community to be villains who are made. Most of the community is not the activists or extremists that we see; that’s a small minority.”

In an effort to win votes and expand their own platform, too many politicians paint the movement with a broad brush one way or the other. Many on the right condemn them; many on the left try to win their votes. Caleb calls us to reject both mindsets.

“I really think that the only person who really truly cares about the LGBT community is Jesus Christ.”

We as Christians have a responsibility to love our neighbors without strings or agendas, and that includes those who are living with same-sex attraction. If we reach out to someone who is far from Christ, it can’t be as a Democrat or Republican but as a follower of Jesus.

“Somehow we’ve got to separate American politics out of it, because we take advantage of any community because of politics.”


Caleb Kaltenbach is lead pastor at Discovery Church in Simi Valley, California. The author of , Caleb speaks widely on faith, reconciliation, and sexual diversity to people on all sides of the LGBT issue.

Key Scriptures: Romans 8:1; Romans 1; Matthew 5:44-46

Featured Songs: Impossible by Meredith Andrews; Strength of My Heart by Rend Collective; Sinking Ships by Lincoln Brewster

Truth, grace, and biblical conviction