My allegiance is to God, not my sexuality

I WOULD like to clarify my position concerning the article in the Belfast Telegraph (Life, October 25) concerning the talk I was giving in Bangor, called The Man In White, which was aimed at ironing out untrue, or exaggerated, rumours that were circulating about me, a celibate Christian who has repented of and turned his back on the gay lifestyle for the evangelical Christian one.

Not a few people have voiced their concern that my Christian beliefs (which are the same as all Bible-believing Christians) on homosexuality, same-sex marriage and compromise on the Bible’s clear condemnation of these, did not come across clearly enough in the piece.

Even good friends have been contacting me since to clarify whether I believe homosexuality is a sin or not. The answer is, I do.

That is the biblical response, and the verses in the Book of Leviticus that say it is an abomination for a man to sleep with another man as with a woman are voiced by God, not by men, whether Christian or not. Similarly, the verses in Romans 1 also mention lesbianism clearly in the New Testament, so it is not just an Old Testament thing, but a doctrine upheld by the early Church and Apostles.

It is still difficult to write without being taken up wrongly by either position in the brevity of a reader’s letter, but, in a nutshell, I am a Christian that struggles with homosexuality, not a homosexual that struggles with Christianity.

It is a difficult journey, but my allegiance is to God, not the LGBT position.

COLIN NEVIN Bangor, Co Down