Thursday, December 16, 2004
Homosexuals & The Church
Last week I heard Bishop Gene Robinson on NPR. I just finished watching a program on PBS which featured a "black, gay, and Christian" man. I found some interesting similarities that I'd like to share with the blogging public.
1. Homosexual Christians focus on their spirituality. Robinson mentioned how the bishops who ordained him were Christians of a deep prayer life. The man on the television (Herndon Davis) said that he came to embrace his homosexuality by way of communicating with God (prayer).
This is a smart move on the part of homosexuals. The man who argues with another who claims to be really spiritual can be made to look like a real jerk.
Yet, what credence does "deep spirituality" make for a position that is wrong? It does not validate it. That is what those who would use their prayer life as a ticket to do wrong must realize.
2. The biblical texts that condemn homosexuality are "put in context" by homosexuals and made to say anything but what they actually say. So, the prohibition of men being with men found in Leviticus 18 is about men not treating men like men treat women when they have sex. "It all refers back to how the conquerers treated the conquered back in those days. The conquered were horribly raped, and that's not how God wants us to treat each other." Did you see that? That's the "Exegetical Gymnast" (TM) doing cartwheels around the text. If they claim that the Scriptures are inspired by God (and I have heard that sort of language), why would God put this kind of language in Scripture for His church to have and obey if He actually did not mean a word of it? We should always smell a rat when we see the "Exegetical Gymnast" (TM).
3. The homosexual community takes offense at being told that they need to change. As they see it, they are homosexual. That's just how they are. Yet, I don't think that they understand that everybody is being told to change by the Spirit's power. Pastors just don't get up and say, "All you ho-mo-sex-u-als need to stop having relations with men and start having relations with women". Pastors are called to bring us to repentance. My pastor is called to tell me to repent of my lust, my arrogance, my greed, my laziness, my covetousness...all my sins. He calls all of us to repent and believe in the Gospel. "But I'm born this way!" Okay! You're a sinner. Welcome aboard. We all are, and we are all on this journey. We beg God to be merciful because of Jesus' death and then we beg Him to help us change. It's not easy, but I personally know people who have repented of their homosexuality and strive to live a life pleasing to God. And I struggle with a lot of sins that are heinous. I'm called to renounce them and believe in Jesus. The playing field is level.
Don't get me wrong, reading public, I love homosexuals. I know them, and I find them to be just like everybody else. I don't want to lynch them, and I don't want to single them out. All I am asking is that the part of the church who says that "it's okay to be gay" would stop. Let God be the righteous Judge. Let God be the merciful Savior. That's the only hope that they have. They have no hope in trying to call that which is sin no sin. There only hope is in Jesus.
1. Homosexual Christians focus on their spirituality. Robinson mentioned how the bishops who ordained him were Christians of a deep prayer life. The man on the television (Herndon Davis) said that he came to embrace his homosexuality by way of communicating with God (prayer).
This is a smart move on the part of homosexuals. The man who argues with another who claims to be really spiritual can be made to look like a real jerk.
Yet, what credence does "deep spirituality" make for a position that is wrong? It does not validate it. That is what those who would use their prayer life as a ticket to do wrong must realize.
2. The biblical texts that condemn homosexuality are "put in context" by homosexuals and made to say anything but what they actually say. So, the prohibition of men being with men found in Leviticus 18 is about men not treating men like men treat women when they have sex. "It all refers back to how the conquerers treated the conquered back in those days. The conquered were horribly raped, and that's not how God wants us to treat each other." Did you see that? That's the "Exegetical Gymnast" (TM) doing cartwheels around the text. If they claim that the Scriptures are inspired by God (and I have heard that sort of language), why would God put this kind of language in Scripture for His church to have and obey if He actually did not mean a word of it? We should always smell a rat when we see the "Exegetical Gymnast" (TM).
3. The homosexual community takes offense at being told that they need to change. As they see it, they are homosexual. That's just how they are. Yet, I don't think that they understand that everybody is being told to change by the Spirit's power. Pastors just don't get up and say, "All you ho-mo-sex-u-als need to stop having relations with men and start having relations with women". Pastors are called to bring us to repentance. My pastor is called to tell me to repent of my lust, my arrogance, my greed, my laziness, my covetousness...all my sins. He calls all of us to repent and believe in the Gospel. "But I'm born this way!" Okay! You're a sinner. Welcome aboard. We all are, and we are all on this journey. We beg God to be merciful because of Jesus' death and then we beg Him to help us change. It's not easy, but I personally know people who have repented of their homosexuality and strive to live a life pleasing to God. And I struggle with a lot of sins that are heinous. I'm called to renounce them and believe in Jesus. The playing field is level.
Don't get me wrong, reading public, I love homosexuals. I know them, and I find them to be just like everybody else. I don't want to lynch them, and I don't want to single them out. All I am asking is that the part of the church who says that "it's okay to be gay" would stop. Let God be the righteous Judge. Let God be the merciful Savior. That's the only hope that they have. They have no hope in trying to call that which is sin no sin. There only hope is in Jesus.
