For many LGBTIQ Christians, one question sits underneath years of wrestling with faith: if something in my life produces genuine love, joy, peace and wholeness, can it really be against God?
It is an important question because Christians often spend considerable time discussing rules, interpretations and doctrines while paying far less attention to what those beliefs actually produce in people’s lives. Yet Jesus repeatedly asks us to look at outcomes. Faith is not simply something we claim to believe. It shapes how we live, how we treat others and what grows within us.
That gives us another way to approach conversations about LGBTQ people, relationships and faith. Rather than beginning with fear, we can ask what is actually happening in a person’s life.
Jesus Told Us to Look at What Grows
Jesus gave His followers a surprisingly practical way to recognise whether something is good. He told them to look at what it produces.
A healthy tree produces good fruit. A diseased tree produces bad fruit. The principle is simple, but its implications reach far beyond trees.
If a belief consistently produces fear, shame, despair and self-hatred, Christians should feel able to ask difficult questions about it. Likewise, when a relationship encourages patience, generosity, faithfulness, compassion and greater care for others, those outcomes deserve serious attention.
This does not mean that anything which makes us happy must automatically come from God. Christianity has never taught that pleasure alone determines what is good. The biblical picture goes much deeper. We are talking about the kind of lasting change that shapes character.
Scripture Gives Us Something to Measure
Paul gives Christians language for recognising that deeper change when he writes about the fruit of the Spirit. He names love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
These are not insignificant qualities. Christians have recognised them for centuries as evidence of God’s Spirit working within a person’s life.
That raises an important question when we consider LGBTQ Christians.
What happens when accepting yourself allows you to love more freely rather than withdrawing in shame? What if an affirming relationship produces patience, commitment, tenderness and faithfulness? Perhaps finding a church where you can belong brings you closer to God rather than driving you away from Him.
Those outcomes matter.
They do not settle every theological disagreement in a single stroke, but neither should Christians dismiss them simply because they complicate an interpretation we already hold.
Love Is Not a Minor Detail & Applies to LGBTIQ Folks
Christianity places love at the very centre of faith. Jesus identifies loving God and loving our neighbour as the greatest commandments. Elsewhere, Scripture tells us that God is love and that those who live in love live in God.
That makes love more than a pleasant feeling or optional Christian virtue. It becomes one of the clearest ways our faith takes visible form.
Of course, Christians still need to ask what healthy love looks like. Genuine love respects dignity, seeks another person’s good, honours consent, encourages honesty and refuses exploitation or abuse. Those standards apply to every relationship, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The question therefore becomes more meaningful than simply asking whether two people are LGBTQ. We can look at the relationship itself. Does it nurture kindness? Is there mutual respect? Do both people become more generous, compassionate and grounded through loving one another?
If so, Christians should hesitate before automatically describing LGBTIQ love as something opposed to God.
What About Joy and Peace?
Joy and peace also carry deep significance throughout Scripture as a part of love. Neither means living without difficulty. Biblical joy can exist alongside grief, while peace does not require every problem to disappear. Both describe something deeper: a growing sense of life, connection and trust in God.
For some LGBTQ Christians, years of trying to suppress or reject themselves produce the opposite. Faith becomes tangled with anxiety, secrecy and constant self-surveillance. Prayer becomes frightening rather than comforting, while church becomes somewhere to hide instead of somewhere to belong.
Then something changes. Perhaps they encounter Christians who welcome them without conditions. Maybe they begin reading Scripture differently or discover that faithful Christians have reached affirming theological conclusions. Some finally stop treating their identity as an obstacle between themselves and God.
Slowly, peace returns. Prayer becomes possible again. Faith feels alive rather than threatening. Relationships deepen. Shame loosens its grip. We should not dismiss that transformation casually.
Wholeness of LGBTIQ Love Matters Too
Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means becoming less divided within yourself. Many LGBTQ Christians know what it feels like to live fragmented lives. One version of themselves appears at church, another around family, another with friends and perhaps another when they are completely alone.
Maintaining those divisions can become exhausting. Christian faith should invite people towards integrity rather than permanent fragmentation. Jesus speaks about abundant life, freedom and restoration. His ministry repeatedly brings people back into relationship with themselves, their communities and God.
When faith helps someone become more honest, compassionate, peaceful and capable of loving others, something important is happening. Wholeness deserves to be part of our theological conversation.
We Should Also Look at the Opposite Outcomes For LGBTIQ Christians
If good outcomes deserve attention, painful ones do too. What happens when a theology repeatedly produces shame, isolation, fear and despair? What should LGBTIQ Christians do when people believe they must hate part of themselves before God will accept them?
We cannot simply call those consequences unfortunate and move on. Jesus challenged religious systems when they placed unbearable burdens on people. He cared about what religious teaching did to human beings, particularly those already pushed towards the margins.
Christians should be willing to do the same. Questioning a teaching because of the harm it produces does not necessarily mean abandoning Scripture. Sometimes it means returning to Scripture with greater care and asking whether our interpretation truly reflects the character of Christ.
Look at What Is Actually Growing
When we read these biblical themes together, they create a remarkably consistent picture. Jesus teaches us to recognise truth by what it produces, while Scripture describes the fruit of God’s Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and goodness. Elsewhere, we learn that love comes from God and that Christ came to bring fullness of life.
That gives us something meaningful to consider. When love makes someone kinder, joy brings them back to life, peace replaces years of fear and wholeness allows them to approach God without hiding, we should pay attention.
Not because feelings alone determine theology, but because Scripture itself tells us that outcomes matter. Perhaps the question Christians need to ask is not simply whether something fits the interpretation they inherited.
We can also ask what grows from it. If love, joy, peace, faithfulness, goodness and wholeness are genuinely flourishing, perhaps our first instinct should not be to search for reasons God cannot possibly be there. Perhaps we should be willing to recognise the possibility that He already is.
“For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” – Ephesians 5:9
