Trending
Mainline and other denominations continue to wrestle with issues involving the marriage of homosexuals and their ordination. What do you think the Christian response should be to these issues?
Too often the response of the Christian community to homosexuals has been homophobic leading to an emotional rejection of homosexual people. Our Lord does not regard the sin of homosexuality as the worst sin, but neither does He dismiss it or think lightly of it. Homosexuals are no greater sinners than are heterosexuals in that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The homosexual is our neighbor and is as much a candidate for Christian love as anyone else. I suspect that some of the most caring and supportive individuals I know are homosexuals.
This is not to argue the case for blessing same sex unions as "covenanted same-gender partnerships" or in any other way. Nor do I argue for the ordination of open, practicing and unrepentant homosexual bishops and ministers. Rather it is to initially state that as Christians, whenever homosexuals or any other group are victimized either by unfair civil laws or by humorous mocking, it is our duty to stand alongside the oppressed in their struggle for justice.
With regard to same-gender partnerships or unions, or whatever term one wishes to use, the second chapter of Genesis (specifically 2:18, 21-24) clearly records God's intent for us as sexual beings. God, the designer created us for relationship and it is only by extreme cynicism can one pretend that there is any doubt that Scripture is unequivocal in its teaching that homosexual behavior is contrary to the law of God.
After He made Adam from the dust of the earth, God did not simply create the perfect companion for Adam with "let there be" as He had created the animals; nor did He scoop up the dust of the earth and breathe life into a new human being. Instead God took a rib from Adam to create Eve. God divided the whole Adam and brought forth man and woman, male and female, a plurality in union. God divided the one into two, so that they might come together again as one into a complementary relationship. Just as God's plurality brought forth humanity, so humanity's plurality brings forth its offspring; and thus the family unit, in some way, although not fully, mirrors the image of God.
Clearly homosexuality does not fit into the picture of proper and holy sexuality because the very heart and foundation of homosexual relationships distort the image of God. Such relationships cannot possibly mirror His revelation as a single, complementary union.
Significant too, is the fact that life proceeds as a product and a blessing from heterosexual unions which cannot possibly come from homosexual unions. We cannot transcend the distinction God made between male and female so that, among other purposes, we humans might participate with Him in the creation of children (Gen. 1:27-28).
The homosexual act is non-procreative, not by accident but in its very constitution. It cannot be a sign of mutual love which, by God's blessing, is creative and fruitful. Instead, homosexual relations resemble the love of self that is forbidden and falls short of the Christian norm.
Therefore, in light of why God created sexuality, we can see why He condemns homosexual behavior. Because our sexuality is such a precious gift to be shared in relationship, God provided specific guidelines and laws prohibiting homosexual relations for the sake of our own good (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13).
Some try to escape this Old Testament ban against homosexual relations by pointing to such New Testament passages as Mark 7:19 and Acts 10:14-15, which suggest that Christians are no longer subject to the old laws. But that argument ignores Scriptural differentiation between dietary and ceremonial laws (which have been set aside) and ethical law (which is upheld and reiterated in the New Testament, specifically in Mark 7:20-23 and Matthew 5:27-28). Sections of Romans 1 as well as I Corinthians 6:9-10 also show that the Old Testament prohibition against homosexual behavior is not outdated but reiterated.
Others argue that the translation of the word homosexual from the Greek word "arsenokoites" is inaccurate because they say that Paul was not condemning homosexual behavior but a perversion of it in the form of male prostitution. The Greek word "arsenokoites" is derived from two Greek words; "arsen" meaning male and "koite" meaning couch or bed usually with a sexual connotation as in Hebrews 13:4. Thus, the combination of the two terms does not suggest prostitution but sexual contact between two men.
Scripture is clear about what God intends for us as beings created in His image. And theologians from Thomas Aquinas to Karl Barth stress the procreative end of heterosexual intercourse and the "complementarity" of male and female in the imago Deo (image of God).
Sexual relations between two people of the same gender is never blessed nor condoned anywhere in the Bible. Therefore, there is no place for covenanted same-gender partnerships in the Christian community. Rather the role of the Christian church must be to hold fast to the clear teachings of biblical revelation which has been confirmed by history – while at the same time the church must offer the homosexual the hope and promise of new life in Jesus Christ through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.