Hi Concerned Mom, This is such an important question. So many LGBTQ persons have been treated hatefully by Christians or abusively by churches or, at the very least, relegated to second-class status. I think all churches have a responsibility to clearly articulate their position on this.

Our church is a member of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which, as a denomination, has been open and affirming since 2013 – and that is our position at OSC as well. To be open and affirming means that an LGBTQ person is free to participate in all the rights and responsibilities of membership at OSC…

Hi Lisa, Honestly, in our church we don’t place much emphasis on the afterlife. We are much more concerned with how being Christian leads us to live good and ethical lives of impact here and now.

The possibility of an afterlife was a subject of much debate in the Judaism of Jesus’ time. In fact, Old Testament prophesies about the “new creation” don’t describe an eternal state of living forever, but rather an idyllic life lived on earth…one which eventually ends in death. Consider this passage from Isaiah…

Hi Jordan,

Our church doesn’t have a position on this, but I’m definitely not a fan of the doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment in hell. The idea that God would inflict an eternity of torture on anyone – even the worst among us – seems entirely antithetical to the revelation of God’s true nature in the person of Jesus Christ.

Christ did refer to a final judgement in several times, most vividly in Matthew 25:31-46. In that passage, Christ warns that those who fail to help the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned will face…