Introduction

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..." Jeremiah 1:5

The Adventist Review recently published an article by Don Schneider, President of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.  In it, Schneider asks Adventists to consider the following: 

It’s not possible to truly worship and yet stand apart from one another.  Pause a moment.  Is there any tribe, race of nationality whom you cannot embrace?  Are you estranged from any person or family?  Do you hold a grudge against your spouse or parent or child?  Can you accept Jesus’ forgiveness without offering forgiveness, and even love, to your fellow beings?  Can you praise God, from who all blessing flow, without blessing your neighbor?¹ 

Gay and lesbian Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) read these kind words, but know that they remain outside the worship and fellowship of the church — these words are meant for others.

To many "mainstream" heterosexual Adventists and the institutional Adventist church, homosexual Adventists represent an oxymoron (see Appendix A).  As a gay Adventist struggling to maintain some connection to the institutional church, I am usually not welcome in Adventist faith communities after I candidly identify myself.  I have been shunned from Adventist churches.  I have been dismissed from Adventist institutions.  I have endured derisive "gay jokes" from Adventist clergy.  I have watched with an unspeakable empathy as the lives of my gay/lesbian Adventist peers have been threatened or destroyed by the institutional church.  As I know the Savior and the Savior knows me, I have tried to understand.  I have tried to understand why my church (and I am a third generation Adventist) continues to subject homosexuals to cruelty and banishment.  I have tried to understand why my church insists that gays/lesbians "be moral” rather than calling them to live by a higher moral standard.  I am still trying to understand.

My goal is to share reasonable and scholarly viewpoints, but I also want readers to know me as a person--and gay man.  As a gay man, I laugh, cry, and bleed as other human beings.  As a committed Christian, I pray, study, and struggle as other Christians--as other Adventists.  Please do not forget my name as I dream of sharing an Adventist church pew or classroom.  Please consider the possibility that I am trying to live by Christian moral standards.  Know that I struggle in my Christian journey as I plead with the institutional church:  if the church cannot consider helping me more, would the church consider hurting me less? 

The primary intent of this report is to review the topic of homosexuality in an Adventist context, with particular regard to theological concerns and a survey of some of the scientific literature.  It is my hope that this paper will continue to propel a dialogue on this topic within Adventism.   And, I hope some readers will be willing to explore the cited references, resources and bibliography (see Appendix C).    

1.  Don Schneider.  “The Word Unites Us In Worship.” Adventist Review.  September 27, 2001, 26-27.