I wanted to address this topic the same way I have from the beginning. Stop! the Bridge is Out!
Jennifer Knapp is somebodies child that made a choice to cross the bridge that is washed out with sin. Can I love Jennifer and still call homosexual a sin against God? Can I express my care for her to tell her that she made not have heard the Gospel before, nor question that she truly repented and placed her complete trust in Jesus Christ as her only and highest Treasure. Here is an article from Charles White in 2000.
Jennifer Knapp --- The Way She Is
Ten years ago, something amazing happened to Jennifer Knapp. This event caused her to begin a journey that would lead her around the United States and to distant lands like Estonia and the Dominican Republic. It would lead her to take up her guitar and become both a popular and critically acclaimed figure in the recording industry. It would cause her to examine who she is and what she believes. What happened to Jennifer Knapp ten years ago? Jennifer saw God and it changed her life forever.
Jennifer was born and raised in the state of Kansas. At the age of three, her mother and father divorced. She spent the remainder of her childhood living with her father and stepmother and had little contact with her biological mother. At the age of 18, Jennifer earned a music scholarship to attend Pittsburgh State University in Kansas. During her freshman year, Jennifer found her self at a low point in her life. She was spending hundreds of dollars a month on alcohol, unable to realize what she was doing to herself.
“When I was a teenager, I was pretty angry and bitter. I liked to party, so I drank a lot, I smoked several packs of cigarettes a day at my worst, and I fell in the area of sexual purity. When I started college at the age of 18, I was at the bottom of my low. I had nothing left. I had no idea who I was half the time and how to get to my own home. I set out to abuse my body because I didn't care about life."
In the midst of the alcohol and her self-abusive lifestyle, Jennifer saw God in the person of a neighbor. Jennifer reflected on this in a recent interview. “In the midst of this behavior during my freshman year, there was a girl living across the hall from me who simply loved me day after day with the love of Christ. I thought she was geeky for being a Christian, but time and time again, she’d put me to bed when I’d come home and not know which room was mine because I was so drunk.”
These countless acts of mercy by her neighbor and dozens of other Christian schoolmates caused her to take a hard look at how she was living her life. In these Christians, Jennifer saw something different, something special. "I ran into some people that I could just see differences in their lives. It was like they were talking about a trusted friend." Jennifer found a group of people that were excited to be alive. Their peace, joy and belief in God touched her.
This caused her to struggle for many months to determine what she believed. As she struggled, she remembered the powerful witness of her neighbor and her Christian schoolmates. This led her to eventually turn to prayer and the Holy Scripture for answers. "The more I prayed and the more I read the Word, the more it started to make sense to me. More than that, I felt like I was hearing from a living God."
The result of her struggle was a deep awareness of Christ's presence in her life and a desire to live a life in Christ. This struggle also helped her to see how self-destructive she had become. With the aid of friends and the power of her faith, Jennifer began a long journey to kick her addiction to alcohol and tobacco; a long battle that she eventually won.
With her dedication to Christ came a change in her music. Music became a way for her to share her joy and her faith in God. It became a way for her to share the love of Christ with others, just as her neighbor had done for her on countless occasions. "Wherever you go, people are largely the same. They want to be loved, they've experienced hurt and heartaches and they want to be encouraged and music is a great way to do that."
Her hard work and dedication have earned her the accolades of fans and garnered her critical acclaim. At the 1999 Dove Awards, Jennifer was honored as the Dove Award's "New Artist of the Year" and captured an award for "Rock Song of the Year." Her debut album, Kansas, spent eighty weeks among the top 25 on the Christian charts. This same year she received a Billboard video award and was invited to join Lilith Fair.
2000 brought her similar success. Her second release, Lay It Down, has been certified as Gold and has earned her a Grammy nomination as the only female artist in the Best Rock Gospel Album category. Lay It Down was hailed by Amazon.com as one of its critically chosen 10 best Christian and Gospel CDs of 2000.
Her hard work is not confined to music, however. Remembering the example of her neighbor in college, Jennifer works to touch the lives of others through her work with organizations at home and abroad. Jennifer constantly performs work with international philanthropic agencies in countries such as Estonia or the Dominican Republic. At home, she has worked with Children's hospitals, Mercy Ministries, Ronald McDonald House and various Children and Women's shelters. "It has shown me that God does some pretty amazing things."
As one listens to the powerful lyrics and haunting melodies of Jennifer Knapp, you hear not the ringing of the cash register, but the cries of someone who continues to struggle each day with her faith. As she struggles, she cannot help but share her life and her belief with others. It is her conviction and willingness to continually wrestle with her faith that makes both her music and her presence a powerful witness to the awesome power and love of Jesus Christ. In her music, we can hear echoes of the psalmist who wrote, "Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit. Open my lips, O Lord and my mouth shall proclaim your praise."
Here is part of the Larry King interview with Jennifer Knapp.
Why did you stop singing?
KNAPP: Oh, that's a long story.
KING: Shorten it.
KNAPP: Well, I'd done about three records. And I got fairly burnt out. I was doing about 150 shows a year for about three or four years. And I just didn't know why I was doing it anymore. I lost the joy of what I was doing. So, I really decided I needed a break.
KING: Did you know early on you were gay?
KNAPP: No, I wouldn't have put it that way.
KING: When -- was there a realization?
KNAPP: Yes, when I fell in love with a beautiful woman. That was a pretty good indicator. But I was -- at the time I was actually involved in sharing my faith in music. I was celibate for 10 years.
So, I really kind of put my own personal desires out the window and kind of put all that to the side. And it wasn't until I actually met someone that was really quite difficult for me to ignore anymore.
Jennifer Knapp is somebodies child that made a choice to cross the bridge that is washed out with sin. Can I love Jennifer and still call homosexual a sin against God? Can I express my care for her to tell her that she made not have heard the Gospel before, nor question that she truly repented and placed her complete trust in Jesus Christ as her only and highest Treasure. Here is an article from Charles White in 2000.
Jennifer Knapp --- The Way She Is
Ten years ago, something amazing happened to Jennifer Knapp. This event caused her to begin a journey that would lead her around the United States and to distant lands like Estonia and the Dominican Republic. It would lead her to take up her guitar and become both a popular and critically acclaimed figure in the recording industry. It would cause her to examine who she is and what she believes. What happened to Jennifer Knapp ten years ago? Jennifer saw God and it changed her life forever.
Jennifer was born and raised in the state of Kansas. At the age of three, her mother and father divorced. She spent the remainder of her childhood living with her father and stepmother and had little contact with her biological mother. At the age of 18, Jennifer earned a music scholarship to attend Pittsburgh State University in Kansas. During her freshman year, Jennifer found her self at a low point in her life. She was spending hundreds of dollars a month on alcohol, unable to realize what she was doing to herself.
“When I was a teenager, I was pretty angry and bitter. I liked to party, so I drank a lot, I smoked several packs of cigarettes a day at my worst, and I fell in the area of sexual purity. When I started college at the age of 18, I was at the bottom of my low. I had nothing left. I had no idea who I was half the time and how to get to my own home. I set out to abuse my body because I didn't care about life."
In the midst of the alcohol and her self-abusive lifestyle, Jennifer saw God in the person of a neighbor. Jennifer reflected on this in a recent interview. “In the midst of this behavior during my freshman year, there was a girl living across the hall from me who simply loved me day after day with the love of Christ. I thought she was geeky for being a Christian, but time and time again, she’d put me to bed when I’d come home and not know which room was mine because I was so drunk.”
These countless acts of mercy by her neighbor and dozens of other Christian schoolmates caused her to take a hard look at how she was living her life. In these Christians, Jennifer saw something different, something special. "I ran into some people that I could just see differences in their lives. It was like they were talking about a trusted friend." Jennifer found a group of people that were excited to be alive. Their peace, joy and belief in God touched her.
This caused her to struggle for many months to determine what she believed. As she struggled, she remembered the powerful witness of her neighbor and her Christian schoolmates. This led her to eventually turn to prayer and the Holy Scripture for answers. "The more I prayed and the more I read the Word, the more it started to make sense to me. More than that, I felt like I was hearing from a living God."
The result of her struggle was a deep awareness of Christ's presence in her life and a desire to live a life in Christ. This struggle also helped her to see how self-destructive she had become. With the aid of friends and the power of her faith, Jennifer began a long journey to kick her addiction to alcohol and tobacco; a long battle that she eventually won.
With her dedication to Christ came a change in her music. Music became a way for her to share her joy and her faith in God. It became a way for her to share the love of Christ with others, just as her neighbor had done for her on countless occasions. "Wherever you go, people are largely the same. They want to be loved, they've experienced hurt and heartaches and they want to be encouraged and music is a great way to do that."
Her hard work and dedication have earned her the accolades of fans and garnered her critical acclaim. At the 1999 Dove Awards, Jennifer was honored as the Dove Award's "New Artist of the Year" and captured an award for "Rock Song of the Year." Her debut album, Kansas, spent eighty weeks among the top 25 on the Christian charts. This same year she received a Billboard video award and was invited to join Lilith Fair.
2000 brought her similar success. Her second release, Lay It Down, has been certified as Gold and has earned her a Grammy nomination as the only female artist in the Best Rock Gospel Album category. Lay It Down was hailed by Amazon.com as one of its critically chosen 10 best Christian and Gospel CDs of 2000.
Her hard work is not confined to music, however. Remembering the example of her neighbor in college, Jennifer works to touch the lives of others through her work with organizations at home and abroad. Jennifer constantly performs work with international philanthropic agencies in countries such as Estonia or the Dominican Republic. At home, she has worked with Children's hospitals, Mercy Ministries, Ronald McDonald House and various Children and Women's shelters. "It has shown me that God does some pretty amazing things."
As one listens to the powerful lyrics and haunting melodies of Jennifer Knapp, you hear not the ringing of the cash register, but the cries of someone who continues to struggle each day with her faith. As she struggles, she cannot help but share her life and her belief with others. It is her conviction and willingness to continually wrestle with her faith that makes both her music and her presence a powerful witness to the awesome power and love of Jesus Christ. In her music, we can hear echoes of the psalmist who wrote, "Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit. Open my lips, O Lord and my mouth shall proclaim your praise."
Here is part of the Larry King interview with Jennifer Knapp.
Why did you stop singing?
KNAPP: Oh, that's a long story.
KING: Shorten it.
KNAPP: Well, I'd done about three records. And I got fairly burnt out. I was doing about 150 shows a year for about three or four years. And I just didn't know why I was doing it anymore. I lost the joy of what I was doing. So, I really decided I needed a break.
KING: Did you know early on you were gay?
KNAPP: No, I wouldn't have put it that way.
KING: When -- was there a realization?
KNAPP: Yes, when I fell in love with a beautiful woman. That was a pretty good indicator. But I was -- at the time I was actually involved in sharing my faith in music. I was celibate for 10 years.
So, I really kind of put my own personal desires out the window and kind of put all that to the side. And it wasn't until I actually met someone that was really quite difficult for me to ignore anymore.
Was it time to say enough to the One who took the Wrath of God on the Cross for her sin nature, for her law breaking (ten Commandments) so she would not have to be punished Eternity in Hell. Do we have the right to say Stop! This is too much! If she didn't summit to her feelings toward this other women. Isn't that a small right to give up for the incredible love that was displayed on the cross for her sin? The fact that the Christian life and suffering go hand in hand is denied in modern Christianity today. Please take a look at this video of John Piper talking to young people the same as Jennifer Knapp. After seeing this message I wished so much that Jennifer would have been their also.
The Suffering Christian
PASTOR BOB BOTSFORD, SR. PASTOR, HORIZON CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: He was in the interview also and this was in the closing moments of the interview:
KING: Why point a finger at Jennifer?
BOTSFORD: Jennifer is in a position of great influence. A lot of people look to her life. I wouldn't want her example or lifestyle --
KNAPP: You don't want the young teenage girl that's sitting in your congregation, who says, gosh I think I might have to choose between my sexuality and my faith -- you want her to choose faith.
BOTSFORD: I do. I want you to choose faith.
KNAPP: You want her to deny any part of her process, to go through the process of shame without truly discover -- let's say that she doesn't want to choose to be homosexual. At which point does that become honest, because you guilted her into don't be like Jen?
BOTSFORD: I am just coming back to the Bible. Clearly God has an opinion on this issue. I'm just wanting to stand up for the truth of God's word.
KNAPP: I will repeat to you what I said to you back stage, that the next time you want to talk about an example of what you actually need to teach to your followers, please use the words "this is the congregation and how we are going to talk about homosexuality within our church." Don't use my name -- do not use my name as a substitute for the word homosexuality.
BOTSFORD: Listen, I am to be a light in a dark place. There is a lot of justification now. Let's just open up our arms of grace and welcome Jen back into the Christian community.
KNAPP: When was I gone? Where did I go?
In this closing video Greg Koukl gives the Biblical understanding of Homosexuality. Not Cultural, not emotional understanding but a straight text understanding from the Bible.
Please Pray for Jennifer. The Gospel is still available
