Last updated on October 1, 2020
Question:
Can bisexuals go to heaven in a certain manner? My friend who is 15 is a bisexual. He said that for years he struggled with sexuality and couldn’t change. He prayed every day for his sexuality to change, but he had an epiphany. Can a bisexual person in a same-sex relationship go to heaven if they follow the rules of God, e.g. don’t have premarital sex, don’t rape, etc., if he repents? He said that he believes salvation is achievable if you repent to God and say, “I am sorry for offending you or sinning in any way.” Wouldn’t he achieve salvation for repenting? He can’t resist sin, neither can any other human. We are all sinners and can get into heaven if we repent and have faith. So why couldn’t he go to heaven?
Please respond soon, thank you.
Answer
The only person who can define what it takes to be saved is God. See: What Must I Do to be Saved? Your friend is correct that repentance is one of the requirements for salvation. However, repentance is not being sorry that you sinned. Sorrow over sin is what leads a person to repent, but the sorrow is not the repentance. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (II Corinthians 7:10-11). Repentance is changing your mind about sin — no longer seeing sin as being acceptable — and changing your behavior.
As Paul pointed out, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). If you have repented of your sin, then you are saying you are committed to no longer sinning to the best of your ability.
When a person says they are bisexual, he is saying he doesn’t care who he has sex with — male or female doesn’t matter to him. This is not about what he finds sexually attractive. It is a statement about whom he is jumping naked into bed.
The simple fact is that sexual sins will keep a person out of heaven. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-10). Fornication is having sex with someone you are not married to. Adultery is being married but having sex with someone else. Homosexuality is having sex with someone of the same gender. Therefore, but these definitions, you cannot be a bisexual and expect to go to heaven. Again, this is not talking about being sexually attracted to people you are not married to or finding people of the same sex attractive — those are temptations to sin, which might turn into lust. But being tempted is not a sin.
Your friend asked if he can be in a same-sex relationship and go to heaven if he follows the rules of God. The statement is self-contradictory. Having sex with someone of the same sex is violating the rules of God. You cannot claim to repent of something that you intend to continue doing.
He also claims that he cannot resist temptation. This also is false. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (I Corinthians 10:13).
Can he get to heaven? Of course! All it requires is that he give up his sins and follow God. Among the Corinthians were former homosexuals (I Corinthians 6:11). If they can change, so can he.