How brave of Sam to come forth so he can help others and bring understanding to those of us who do not understand SSA.

what a wise man! I thank God for him and this wise sermon! may God bless all Christians who struggle with these attractions

This man s every word had liberated so many lives. God abundantly bless him.

excellent insights, explained so graciously and clearly! Thank you.

A thoughtful and thought provoking message for all Christians

I thank God for this precious Pastor who delivers the truth with such compassion and clarity! We've all been broken and Jesus is our only hope! He is our Savior from all sin and the one who restores us to who He's created us to be!

Wise words, and such a lovely and likable guy.

"God's word is good, often, because of the ways it contradicts us." Sam Alberry

Sexual orientation is a misnomer. A person’ssexual orientation is not about sex. It is about identity. This unfortunate label is, in my opinion, a lot of the problem with our society’s inability to see gay persons as it sees everyone else. We cannot say “homosexual” without conjuring mental images of “what they do.” I call this the “ick” factor. It has to be wrong, because it’s “icky.” Why do we want to think about what ANYONE does sexually? Do you think about what your supervisor does with his wife? Do you think about what your parents do? (Now, THAT’S icky!) If the ick factor is a litmus test for right and wrong, it is definitely a sin for our parents to have sex, is it not? Not to mention our married daughters. Let’s not think about these things! Not about heterosexuals, not about homosexuals. I hope I live to see the day when our culture will stop calling gay people by “sexual” labels.

In spirit and in truth. AMEN!

Well said. I share the same testimony. I would love to talk to you. I’ve been teaching like you are for 15 years too. Thank you!

STUFF CHURCH PEOPLE LIKE TO SAY: 1. “Love the sinner, Hate the sin.” This is probably the Church’s favorite response to the issue of homosexuality. It does have a nice ring to it, but it’s flawed on at least two levels. First, it assumes that homosexuality is a sin. And second, I have yet to see what that love for the sinner looks like. It is overshadowed by the hate for the sin. If we believe someone is living in abominable and repulsive sin, does he sense God’s love radiating from us? Imagine being told by someone that he loves you, but he hates your Christianity. Therefore you can be acceptable only if you don’t act upon it. Don’t attend church. Don’t tithe. Don’t share your faith. Ridiculous, isn’t it. How can a person separate himself from the person he is? Henri Nouwen said it this way: “Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from being with the other.” I challenge us to refrain from SAYING this overused platitude, and to pray instead that we will be filled with God’s love. 2. “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” This one is so trivial on so many levels, but some find it catchy. Without giving it more attention that it merits, here’s my quick response: God created trees, so does that mean he didn’t create broccoli? If Adam had green eyes, would that mean that God didn’t create people with brown eyes? Were we to take the time to examine the Hebrew words from which Adam and Eve were translated, there would be more fodder for discussion, but I’ll move on . . .

As a Muslim I admire this man's deep and valuable insight. It's true even in Islam Jesus peace be upon him was chaste and unmarried his whole life.If we internalize the message that though we need romantic relationship if we are deprived we can still find fulfilment we will be liberated . God bless Sam Allberry and have Mercy on him ❤

While I commend Sam for living his life based on his love of Christ, his story sounds too unique and seems to have caught a series of lucky breaks most gay people don't experience. Unless he omitted it, he never seems compelled to act on his feelings even before he discovered Christ and has never been ostracized for having them. Most gay people have been badly persecuted for just having same sex attractions that it amplifies their desire to act on them. I don't feel people like Sam have lived through this kind of turmoil.

I can relate to Sam so much having struggled with my sexuality myself.

hi pastor. how can i contact you. i am fr the Philippines

rarely a thing is something else.

Well, if they can’t change, they should just remain celibate.” Some choose this path, just as do some heterosexuals, but history (and Scripture) has shown us that celibacy is not the overall answer. We are created as sexual beings, and that sexuality will likely come out perversely if not naturally, especially, I believe, in men, even if entered into with the sincerest of intentions. Consider, for example, the Catholic priesthood. And consider personally being told to live celibately. Not them. You

Homosexuality has no boundaries. Gay people are born into families of every race, every culture, and every religion. Gay people have apparently existed in every culture of every time period and are in every local church family, at least as children. We lose them as adults though because they hear our condemnation and in confusion leave to escape it. Gay people are businessmen, public servants, waitresses, parents, siblings, sons, and daughters. Gay people are as varied as their heterosexual counterparts.

SO I’M SAYING THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A SIN? Let’s look at a hypothetical scenario. We probably all choose to think of nuns as asexual beings, but that is not reasonable, as sexuality is a part of the human experience. Nuns, however, have chosen a life of celibacy, choosing not to act on their sexuality. But does that make them less heterosexual or homosexual? No, it doesn’t. If she is heterosexual but celibate, the church reveres her. If she is homosexual and celibate, do we call her a sinner? If so, we are wrong. If not, we must then realize a distinction between orientation and behavior. And if we cannot even fathom the concept of a homosexual celibate nun, we are disillusioned and are choosing to live in our own box, isolated from much of God’s Truth. So, yes, I am saying that sexual orientation, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is not a sin. What is done with that orientation is indeed a choice and can certainly lead to sin, for both homosexual and heterosexual people. Promiscuity. Adultery. But not mere orientation. SO IF HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A SIN, HOW SHOULD A GAY CHRISTIAN LIVE HIS LIFE? How should a heterosexual Christian live his life? First and foremost devoted wholly to God, and second, actively loving and caring for others. Jesus said this is the greatest commandment. For all of us. Further, like a heterosexual person, a gay person should seek a committed monogamous relationship with a compatible Christian (unless he chooses celibacy), and should flee from all promiscuous or adulterous behavior.

So sex, covenantal devotion, love and commitment are all sin, duly noted.

If celibacy is so great, why doesn't everybody practice it?

Your sexuality IS part of who you are. Only one part but it's still an aspect of your identity.

Gay people cannot be a part of God’s family unless they repent and change.” According to our Christian doctrines, we are all in need of repentance, but orientation is not a factor in that. Gay people do not need to repent of their orientation any more than heterosexual people need to repent of theirs. What we choose to do with our orientations, perhaps, but not for the orientation itself. Sexual orientation has no direct correlation with whether a person is or is not Christian. (Indirect, yes, because the churches have shunned the homosexuals)

Lovely man, I would love to go to the pub and chat with him over a drink. But I don't agree with Sam here. hard as he tries to convince. The celibate life imposed on homosexual Christians is cold, lonely, isolating, frustrating, desperate and depressing. Jesus helps a bit in stopping you self-harming or losing your mental health too much. But it is miserable and I ask myself : 'God, did you not love me enough to give me the good things of life?' and 'Why oh why are some Christians apparently called to make a thousand times the sacrifices others are called to make? ' Blessings to all. DAVID from the UK

Jesus never said anything about same-sex attraction.

Read David Kennedy's comments. He is far more interesting than Mr. Allberry. So, you are not your sexuality? Apparently we are, if we are risking eternal hellfire for acting on our basic desires. Apparently God cares about our sexuality. Where is God's love? We are to be denied the greatest pleasure known to humanity: romantic and sexual love. And if we pursue it -- damnation. Doesn't seem fair. I know that celibacy is now all the rage, but that idea runs counter to how we were made. And by whom were we made? That's a cruel trick to play on someone.

How can you say that Jesus gives us an example of a complete human who was celibate? How do we know he was celibate? We hear nothing of the sex lives of (pretty much) anyone in the NT. are we to assume that they were all celibate? Depending on which gospel you read, Jesus seems to have had varying degrees of self knowledge, but however you look at it, he was pretty special (unless you subscribe to the idea that he was merely a human preacher, and all the supernatural elements of the story are mythical). He was not, like the rest of us fumbling around in the dark, relying on faith. For the rest of us, sexual and romantic fulfilment IS a core part of what keeps us going. Of course everyone experiences romantic and sexual drives in their own way. I have friends who seem to need a sexual outlet much more than I do. I consider myself fortunate in that - however much I am secretly a littler jealous of it too. The thing I take most issue with (and perhaps this is just me) is that this debate always focuses on sexual activity, but I define my “gayness” in terms of who I form romantic attachments to. Am I condemned to a life without love? The love of friends and family is a mere shadow compared to the love of a partner. What a grey life it would be to deny all Romantic feelings. No wonder the suicide rate is high. I’m glad that the speaker was not rejected by his religious friends for his SSA, but why is this issue so triggering at the moment. I believe it is because religious people can see themselves becoming more and more irrelevant. Christianity is in terminal decline. Islam survives only because of the bully boy tactics it uses, but despite Pakistan banning Wikipedia (for example) people are much less insular in this internet age. People with SSA make up about 3% of the population. That’s a lot of people worldwide, and the more visible they are the more difficult it becomes to scapegoat them.

If he were straight he would never say "you are not your sexuality".

"homosexual” did not even exist in the languages from which the Bible was translated, so to even have the word in our English translations is fodder for hours of discussion. For those on the “case closed” side, would you explain away the following Scripture passages? The words are in the Bible. Shall we apply them directly to our lives? Gen. 6:2-4 Uncircumcised males have broken God’s covenant and should be cut off from God’s people. (bad pun?) Ex. 21:22 When a man hurts a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage, “yet no harm follows” (Huh???), he shall be fined. Wow - that would make a really bad sanctity of life sermon. Ex. 31:14-15 Whoever does any work on the Sabbath shall be put to death. (!) (Num. 15:32-36 tells about a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath who is stoned to death at God’s command!) Matt. 23:9 Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father who is in heaven. Lev. 3:17, 11:6-7, 14:11ff Eat neither fat nor blood, hare nor swine, ostrich (I hope my favorite roast pork dish at Mambo Grill is exempted!) Lev. 11:10 Eating water creatures that don’t have fins and scales is an abomination! (Let’s boycott and picket all seafood restaurants!) Lev. 15, 20:18 A menstruating woman is unclean, and also the man who has relations with her (cut off from people) Lev. 19:19 Don’t let cattle mix-breed, don’t sow two different kinds of seed in one field (corn and beans?), don’t wear clothes made of two different materials (cotton and polyester?) Lev. 19:27-28 Don’t round off your hair at the temples or mar the edges of your beard; no tattoos (uh-oh! surely that doesn’t mean today’s kind of tattoos!) Lev. 20:18; Deut. 21:18-20 A child who curses his parent shall be put to death (!); If you have a stubborn and rebellious son, turn him over to the elders to be stoned to death. (!) Lev. 20:10 Adulterers shall both be put to death. (This would thin out the population, wouldn’t it!) Lev. 24:17-20 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, fracture for fracture (opposite of Jesus’ teachings to turn the other cheek) Lev. 25:39-46 Rules for owning slaves Num. 5:2 All with a discharge and all who have been in contact with a dead body shall be put out of the camp. Mark 10:2-12 Remarriage is adultery. (Who would be left if our churches rejected all remarried people?) Mark 16:17-18 Jesus said the signs of those who believe will be: casting out demons, speaking in tongues, picking up serpents, drinking poison without being harmed, and healing the sick (Can we call ourselves “believers”?!) 1 Tim. 2:9-15 women, do not wear braids, gold, pearls, or costly apparel; don’t teach or have authority over men; you will be saved in child-bearing (huh?? Now that’s a salvation plan we don’t hear from the pulpit!) Deut. 22:13-21 A woman found to be not virgin (by her husband’s testimony that her garment was not soiled), shall be stoned. Deut. 23:1 A man with crushed testicles or a cut off penis cannot enter the assembly of the Lord. (I’m not making this stuff up!) Deut. 23:2 Nor a bastard, even to the 10th generation of his descendants (10th generation?! This is plain ridiculous, and mean! To my younger readers for whom bastard has changed meanings: A bastard is a child born to unmarried parents.) Mark 12:25 No marriage in heaven (not many sermons on that one!) 2 Kings 2:23-25 Elisha curses young boys for calling him “baldhead”, and wild bears tear 42 of them. (Again, not good sermon material!) 1 Cor. 7:14; 15:29 Paul says an unbelieving spouse is consecrated through the believing one (He also admits these are his own words.); then he defends baptism on behalf of the dead. (Two more plans of salvation we Protestants don’t preach, and we condemn other groups who do.) 1 Cor. 11:14 Long hair on a man is degrading. (Did Jesus have long hair?)