DOES GOD HAVE A GAY AGENDA?

King challenges mainstream Evangelical thinking on same-sex relationships in this revisionist Christian work.

Although the book’s title may seem ridiculous at first glance, King isn’t being facetious. The author, the founding pastor of the Reignite Palm Springs Apostolic and Prophetic church, argues that God does, in fact, have a plan for the LGBTQ+ community and that it’s telegraphed in Scripture. While addressing the six so-called “clobber passages”—those lines in the Bible that conservative Christians most frequently cite to argue that God deems homosexuality to be immoral—King lays out how misinterpretations, misunderstandings, and ahistorical homophobia have caused people to use these references in ways that the writers of Scripture did not intend. He also analyzes the history of the modern church, arguing that Evangelicals, in particular, have lost their way, suffering from the “spirit of stupor” mentioned in the Book of Romans. According to King’s interpretation, God has a plan for the LGTBQ+ community, just as he had a plan for the gentiles in biblical times. Specifically, the author says that God intends to make the LGBTQ+ people “the object of His affection,” which will awaken the Evangelical community “from their spirit of stupor.” When Evangelical Christians persecute LGBTQ+ people or attempt to expel them from their ranks, he asserts, they are, in fact, working against God’s plan—the last thing that any devout Christian should want to do. King writes with urgency and precision, whether offering close biblical analysis or sifting through salient research: “Sexual orientation is a fundamental attraction; it’s the way a person is wired.” That said, King says that he believes that the Bible is the literal word of God, and that it does indeed have plenty of criticisms of nonreligious members of the LGBTQ+ community. As such, his arguments are unlikely to draw many secular people to religion, which one of his stated aims. Still, his willingness to challenge the status quo should be of interest to Bible scholars and theologians, and his interpretation could aid LGBTQ+ Christians and their allies as they look to counter anti-gay arguments.

An unconventional but sometimes persuasive biblical reading.