This is a hard, sensitive page to write, because the people who come here come carrying very different questions — some asking what scripture teaches, some asking whether they belong, some asking why this is so painful. Scripture Search is not the right place to argue out a doctrinal verdict. It is the right place to name what is true regardless: you are loved by God.
Psalm 139 is the place to start. "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God's love for you is not contingent on figuring everything out today.
Christian traditions hold different views on questions of sexuality and faithfulness. That is a real disagreement, and one we believe is best worked through with a pastor who knows you, in a community that loves you, not on a search page. What we will not do is hand you a verse that tells you you are less than beloved. Romans 8:38-39 says nothing — not your past, not your sexuality, not your confusion, not your fear — can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
If you are in distress, please reach out. LGBTQ+ young people experience elevated risk of suicidal ideation, especially in religious contexts. The Trevor Project (1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678) is staffed 24/7 by people trained for exactly this conversation. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is also there. You are not alone, and you do not have to be alone tonight.
Whatever you decide about belief, scripture's first word to you is not directive. It is "thou art mine" (Isaiah 43:1). See also identity, shame, and loneliness.
Verses
Psalms 139:1-16
O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD. You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”— even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You. For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 43:1-4
Now this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.
Reflection
What is the question you have been afraid to ask God directly?
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