Growing Up Evangelical and Gay with Jonathan Merritt

About this sermon

It’s an origin story we’ve heard time and time again; a young person trying to figure out who they are as they grow up—in the context of their families, their religious beliefs, and their sexuality. And when all of those areas conflate, there can be fallout and damage—especially when they discover how and who they choose to love isn’t embraced by their faith or family structures. Award winning journalist and writer Jonathan Merritt navigated this particular firestorm in his own life by pursuing a Masters in Divinity and Theology and becoming a journalist who asked hard hitting questions at the intersections of faith and culture. But it would take years for him to sort out who he himself was in the midst of it. Growing up in the family of an evangelical mega-pastor, Jonathan was taught that in regards to gay people, Christians were called to “love the sinner, but hate the sin.” Jonathan didn’t see a lot of love with this practice, just a lot of hate. And it kept him from being open to who he himself might be—a gay man. It took an event that shattered his life into pieces and caused his private process to become very public; which ultimately sent him down the road to really pursue his identity and recalibrate his relationship to his family, his faith, and his purpose. For the first time, he talks about this process, and shares a moment where he and Jen’s paths crossed in a significant way that would also blow up a few sacred cows in Jen’s life and introduced her to an early version of cancel culture, circa 2016. Welcome all, to this first, powerful episode in our Faith Shakers series. * * * Thank you to our sponsors! ➤ Betterhelp | Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/forthelove. ➤ Catalina Crunch | Head to catalinacrunch.com/forthelove for 15% off your first order plus free shipping. ➤ Jen Hatmaker Book Club | Join the sisterhood in nerdiness today at jenhatmakerbookclub.com! #ForTheLove #ForTheLovePodcast #JenHatmaker _________ CHECK OUT Resources Mentioned in This Episode: ➤ Love is the Game Changer of Our Faith: Bishop Michael Curry - https://bit.ly/3BQ2FUl ➤ How to Create a Politics of Love: Lisa Sharon Harper - https://bit.ly/3IdV3gW ➤ Jen Hatmaker: Trump, Black Lives Matter, Gay Marriage & More - Jonathan Merritt - https://bit.ly/3IhrUS0 ➤ Christian Rock Star Comes Out as Gay in Letter to the World - Jonathan Merritt - https://bit.ly/3siB9Ms ➤ Eugene Peterson on Changing His Mind About Same-Sex Issues and Marriage - Jonathan Merritt - https://bit.ly/3LXWlyX ➤ Leading Evangelical Ethicist is now Pro-LGBT (David Gushee) - Jonathan Merritt - https://bit.ly/3LVOTUV ➤ A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars - Jonathan Merritt - https://amzn.to/3IhXbED ➤ Dr. Michael Lindsay - Sociologist & Author - https://bit.ly/3HjJbZz ➤ James Martin - Jesuit Priest - https://bit.ly/3JRab4d CONNECT with Our Guest! ➤ Website: https://www.jonathanmerritt.com ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan_merritt/ ➤ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonathanMerritt?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor ___ ➤ JEN HATMAKER BOOK CLUB - Join the sisterhood! https://jenhatmakerbookclub.com ___ WATCH more videos from Jen: ➤ For the Love of Small Wins series: https://bit.ly/FTLsmallwins ➤ For the Love of The Enneagram series: https://bit.ly/FTLenneagram ➤ Happy Hour: http://bit.ly/JensHappyHour ➤ Monday Mornings with Jen: http://bit.ly/MondayMorningsJen ___ CONNECT with Jen! ➤ FOLLOW Jen on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker ➤ FOLLOW Jen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ ➤ LIKE Jen on Facebook: https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker ➤ SUBSCRIBE NOW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker?sub_confirmation=1 ➤ VISIT: http://jenhatmaker.com/ ___ For more “For the Love” . . . ➤ SUBSCRIBE on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastApple ➤ LISTEN on Spotify: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastSpotify ➤ HEAR IT on Stitcher: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastStitcher ➤ LISTEN on iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastiHeart

Topics

• Spiritual Growth