Last updated on October 11, 2020
Question:
Hi,
I am a fifteen-year-old boy. My situation is that I like a guy more than I like a girl. I long for the touch of another guy more than I long for the touch of a girl.
My questions are:
- Is it okay in the eyes of God to be gay? Will He still love me like His other children?
- Is it sinful to masturbate thinking about a person in a sexual way?
Answer:
Read through Homosexuality. Having sex with someone of the same gender is forbidden. It is not wrong to have friends of the same sex and deeply enjoy their company, but it is wrong to sexualize that relationship. David loved his friend Jonathan more than his wives, but this doesn’t mean they had sex. See: How did David and Jonathan show their love for each other?
The idea that God will accept people who continually violate His laws is false. A love for God is shown by obeying God. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (I John 5:3).
Thinking of someone you are not married to as a way to sexually excite yourself is a form of lust. The reason we are not to watch pornography is that it causes you to sexually lust for someone you are not married to. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (I Thessalonians 4:3-5). Though Jesus was speaking of a man lusting after a woman, the principle applies to any other sin: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). It is just as bad to imagine yourself having sex with another guy as it is to actually do it.