Responding to my critics: Should our identity be only in Christ?

As an openly gay Christian, I have my fair share of critics. This is the first in a series of videos where I'll offer unscripted responses to some of the critical comments I get-this time, to a comment about where I should find my identity.
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[@everlastingarms3065]

It's interesting that most "Christian musicians" I know (and I'm one of them) refer to themselves as... well... "Christian musicians", rather than "musical Christians", or "Christians that perform and/or write music." And thus, "Christian" becomes the adjective, while "musician" becomes the noun. So.... is the "identity" the musician? Or the Christian? Which "identity" is the primary one? What tangled linguistic webs we weave. ;-) Having said that, I appreciate and thank you for the clarification as to what you consider your "primary identity" to be, even though it seemed to be obvious, at least to me. Hopefully this will help those on all "sides" of the issues. God bless, sir!

[@ItTakesCourage]

Love this! You can absolutely be gay and Christian, and I'm so glad you took the time to talk about how much you love your faith AND how much you love your identity as a gay man. Can't wait to see you dig into more comments!

[@jacksmales4973]

The problem is that a lot of Christians don't actually know what the word gay means, it means someone who is attracted to the same sex, but when they use the word "gay " they just look at the negative stereotypes of gay people so they think that's what gay means which is wrong (not to mention that there are straight people who also fit those stereotypes)

[@cassiekray]

That's a good response! In the same way, God uses adjectives to describe other parts of Himself. There's nothing wrong with that in its essence. The danger is when we start to idolize those adjectives and place them above our Christian identity. But that's not the gay Christian's intention. Also, I think that the papers in a bowl is a great idea!

[@mrcase77]

The other part of that comment you were probably too nice to mention... In a lot of churches, it’s fairly obvious that a lot of Christians would be happy to believe gay people are not in their midst. That gay people are “those people over there...off in places like California or something somewhere else...certainly not here”. Because if you’re forced to admit to yourself self that, no, you know gay people. They are in your circles and in your community hearing the words you say, seeing who and what you vote for and support politically, and seeing how you treat people, you might have to think differently about your behavior. You might have to face that the gay people you’re hurting aren’t these nameless, faceless people. It’s your neighbor. Those kids that come over to play with your kids all the time...it’s their family. And that’s uncomfortable.

[@JanetDax]

It sounds like a sneaky way to disavow the LGBT community. Of course my identity in Christ should be the focus of my life. But it doesn't negate that I am a transwoman and lesbian oriented. It isn't what I do it is what I am.

[@pricklypear7497]

I am human. First of all. These guys that say their identity is only in Christ think that they are better than others. Why not identify yourself first of all as human and the chief among sinners as Paul did? All the rest that is good about you is by grace alone and nothing to boast about. That includes salvation and the ability to truly love, being gay or straight.

[@gregaryelwell4090]

Justin, you are such an inspiration to so many people, yes you are gay, yes you are Christian, but also , yes you are a man of integrity and faith. God is using you to touch so many hearts, even this military side B Christian. Keep smiling brother. Sorry, should I have not mentioned I am military, Gay, Christian, now I'm confused which one do I use???

[@tryingartist42]

Thank you for talking about this you’ve been a big help to me as I’ve struggled for the past few days, also love your All Might mug in the background

[@GeekyJustin]

PLUS ULTRA!

[@Rodan727]

Go beyond plus ultra with Faith Hope Love

[@musicsmith14]

Looking forward to hearing more in future videos!

[@clownfish5205]

I want to hear you respond to more of your critics! You got this bro , Go for it! Have no fear

[@WHR0306]

This is such a powerful video!

[@tomdennis4353]

Justin, that comment also suggests the being gay is only a feeling...which isn't true...it only reveals the commenter's misunderstanding of what being gay is.

[@markie10ful]

Perfectly said!

[@pastoraaroncrowley]

These are great responses. And I love that you see yourself as one who was bought with a price ;)

[@natashabonica4205]

So true. I did a Psyche course our first module was identity and there was a picture of a puzzle. We have so many parts and as we go through life more gets added. I don't understand how people can imagine we are all cookie cutter the same. My Mum says I just want my family to be together in eternity. But I really feel it is not me she wants to be with but her version of what I should be or some robot going Hallelujah. Anyway thanks Justin you nailed this question for me.

[@alecbunting8116]

I HIGHLY approve of the All Might mug. Well played Justin!

[@BodyandMindfulness]

Love you Justin! 💛🌈

[@Rodan727]

God bless you Good job

[@caraboska]

Yes, exactly. Being gay or trans or whatever is a factoid of similar importance to, say, where I went to university, what I do for a living, where I was born, what color my skin is, how many and which languages I speak, what instruments and what kind of music I play. Unfortunately, society (and Christian society in particular) assigns greater importance to some of these details than to others. So the problem is not the identity of a gay or trans person. It is the impure, dirty mind of society, and Christian society in particular, which insists on obsessing about sexuality and sex and objectifying people based on their perceptions of these people's sexuality. Of course, telling someone plainly that they have an impure, dirty mind is not necessarily the right way to deal with this issue. In many cases, it is no doubt better to find some sort of leading question to get them to figure it out for themselves. Although that said... I remember a certain old friend who was at the time an atheist. He was sort of trying to quit smoking, but I discovered that he still had a small stash of cigarettes in his desk. So I decided to swipe them while he was stepping out for a moment to use the facilities. But later I regretted it and came to him to apologize, saying, "I admit, making a big deal about this was like telling you that you need to wash your hands when what you actually need is a bath." And so he asked me, "What, are you trying to tell me that my soul is dirty?" And I replied, kind of tongue in cheek, but nonetheless: "Yeah :P" I got away with that because we knew each other very well, and he therefore knew what it _didn't_ mean when I said that. Well, he was a doctoral student in a STEM field, and not too long after that, he had a very frustrating situation with his experiments. The data points were all over the map, and he couldn't see any pattern in them. It finally got to a point where if he didn't find a pattern, he was going to have to give up that project and start his doctoral research over from scratch. So, after seeing him that night, I prayed for him to have wisdom as I walked over the bridge to my home. And then next time I saw him, it turned out the Lord's hand had acted mightily, and my friend was now in a position to bear me a wonderful testimony. He had realized that the equation describing the function governing the data points was parametric, and the problem was that he needed to fill in the missing parameters. Once he did that, everything made perfect sense. And the best part is that he knew where that insight had come from, and proceeded to tell me, "I now believe in God." So, yes, this kind of blunt talk can be used to good effect by God, _provided_ you have a good relationship with the person and they know that you said what you did in love.

[@nikouchiha4514]

❤️❤️❤️

[@theblackswiftie4091]

I would’ve sat at your lunch table