The debate among Christians in Taiwan on homosexuality has heated up in the past few weeks, but gay Christians believe that homophobic church organizations have misinterpreted the Bible.
Several church groups organized an anti-gay parade in Taipei on Oct. 24, one week before the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) pride parade on Oct. 31. The marchers called same-sex relationships wrong, saying God would only bless relationships between a man and a woman. They warned that bigger LGBT parades could bring disaster to Taiwan.
The anti-gay parade was the first of its kind since Taipei’s first LGBT parade was held in 2003.
“We regret such hostile attitude among some Christians — they lash out at gays and want to ‘correct’ our sexual orientation and make gays disappear,” Elias Tseng (曾恕敏), the nation’s first gay pastor, who was ordained in 2004, told the Taipei Times in a recent interview.
“However, at most gay events, particularly the LGBT parade, we see mostly messages of love and tolerance, and that’s exactly what Christianity about,” Tseng said, adding that he hoped homophobic church organizations could recognize the fundamental message in the Bible and accept it.
While same-sex intercourse is mentioned in few Bible verses, same-sex relationships or sexual behavior alone are not condemned in the Bible as sin, Tseng said.
“Same-sex intercourse is only declared a sin when it’s practiced as a pagan way of worship,” he said.
“When we read the Bible, we must put it into the context of the society in which it was written,” he said. “The Bible was written in Greek and there was not a word for ‘homosexuality’ in [ancient] Greek, because it wasn’t something of a concern for the people at the time — it’s just like you wouldn’t find the Bible talking about TV or computers.”
If same-sex relationships were not a concern at the time, “how could you say that the Bible says something against homosexuality?” Tseng said.
He said he was confident God loves everyone regardless of his or her sexual orientation because of personal experience.
Tseng said he knew he was homosexual when he was in junior high school, but he did not think it would be a hindrance to realizing his dream of becoming a clergyman until he entered the Taiwan Theological College and Seminary and learned about the anti-homosexual attitude of some churches and Christians.
“I was totally shocked,” he said, adding he suspended his studies at the seminary for a while.
“I even started to have doubts on God and questioned if I could keep my faith as a homosexual,” he said.
On the recommendation of a pastor at his hometown church in Hualien, he went to a monastery in Yujing Township (玉井), Tainan County, and lived in solitude for three days, hoping to find answers to his questions.
On the first day, he blamed God for choosing to place him in the church and in such a difficult situation, Tseng said. On the second day, he asked God why He had selected him if he does not like gays, Tseng said.
“On the third day, a voice appeared in my head all of a sudden and told me: ‘I love you however you are, I picked you, because I want you to be my servant, and spread the gospel for me,’” Tseng said. “From that moment on, I knew I had God’s approval, and because God approves of me, I approve of myself.”
As Tseng struggled to find his way in the church, so did the Tong-Kwang Church.
A pastor at the Tong-Kwang Light House Presbyterian Church (同光同志長老教會), who wished to be identified only as Richard, agreed with Tseng.
The church, established in 1996, is the first — and the only church — for homosexuals in the country. The name of the church means tongzhi zhi guang (同志之光) or “light for lesbians and gays.”
Richard said many people cite the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom as proof that God abhors homosexuality.
Pastor Peter Chu (朱植森), one of the organizers of the anti-gay parade, said God rained fire on Sodom because city residents were trying to rape two angels that had taken the form of two men, and this was proof that homosexuality could lead to destruction of the country.
Richard, however, said God was upset by the sinful behavior of the people of Sodom and only sent the two angels down to see if there were righteous people in the city. God had said he would not punish the city if 10 righteous people could be found, Richard said.
“It wasn’t really because of homosexuality, but because of the sins the people of Sodom had committed previously, as well as the sexual assault on guests in town that led to the city’s destruction,” he said.
The church believes a relationship must be based on mutual trust and love, not gender, Richard said.
“As long as a pastor finds that two people are in love with each other, will stand by each other and will remain faithful to each other throughout their lives, we would give them our best wishes and enter them into union,” Richard said, adding that two same-sex marriages have been performed at the church.
The Tong-Kwang Church, however, is a “hidden church.”
“Because discrimination against homosexuals still exists, many of our members are afraid that they could be put under tremendous pressure if their identities were exposed, so the Tong-Kwang Church has never made public its meeting place,” Richard said.
The Tong-Kwang Church first met at a church belonging to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, but had to change locations after some reporters followed their members and discovered the location.
“Throughout the years, we’ve switched our meeting places several times in the Taipei metropolitan area,” Richard said. “Right now, we meet at a rented place in Taipei.”
People who want to join the church must be introduced by a church member or undergo a background check, since some reporters have pretended to be gay Christians to get into the church and expose identities of its members, Richard said.
When Tseng was ordained a pastor by the church, the ceremony was held behind closed doors and drawn curtains to prevent media exposure.
It is not just the media that church members are wary about.
A woman who belonged to the church was expelled from a theological college after the college found out that she was a Tong-Kwang member, while a man was refused entry into a theological college because he belonged to the church.
“Parents of some of our younger members have filed abduction lawsuits against pastors after they found out their children were going to the church,” Richard said. “We no longer accept members who are under 18 years of age.”
Richard said he hopes the Tong-Kwang Church could become a platform for open discussion between gays and anti-gay churches and that one day, the anti-gay churches will be able to respect and accept people of different sexual orientations.
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