Thursday, May 24, 2007
Gay rights and the church
Once again my denomination is taking up the issue of gay clergy. I just got the opportunity to read the position paper some people on the pro gay clergy side of the issue have written for approval at our conference. I find myself in a tough spot on this issue. In the open and affirming issue, I define myself as open but not affirming. I believe as a follower of Jesus I am called to love what he loves (people, all people) and hate what he hates (sin, all sin). I've tried to explain my position below in this response to the post on a denominational elist.
This is amazing. I envy the word smithing ability of these people. I've found that the best way to bamboozle people into going the wrong way is to add sixty five pounds of verbage which appears to have immense kindness and compassion while at the same time making your opponent look like a neanderthal heathen. I believe the apostle Paul very clearly and concisely showed us where we are all wrong on this issue in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
He lists a whole bunch of sins and says very clearly that these people do not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Period. Smack in the middle of that list is Homosexual offenders. Now before all the people with homophobic leanings start high fiving each other, let me point something else out. There are a lot of other sins in that list and most of us at one point or another have fallen into one of those categories. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All sinners need Jesus. I think sometimes the only reason we gang up on the homosexual crowd so hard is it's the one sin most of us are not committing. All sinners need Jesus. Now before any of those anything goes people start high fiving, lets look at verse 11. After Paul says that all those people will not inherit the Kingdom he says and that is what some of you WERE, translation Jesus washes you clean and the sin is in the past tense. You're not living in it anymore, instead you are sanctified and justified by the blood of Jesus, trusting Him and living in obedience to His teaching. To me it all comes down to this. Sinners belong in the church because the church is where we find Jesus who washes away our sin. There is no hope of leaving sin behind without Jesus. At the same time the church has no business at all of endorsing sin. We cannot affirm what the Bible does not.
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(1) comments
Once again my denomination is taking up the issue of gay clergy. I just got the opportunity to read the position paper some people on the pro gay clergy side of the issue have written for approval at our conference. I find myself in a tough spot on this issue. In the open and affirming issue, I define myself as open but not affirming. I believe as a follower of Jesus I am called to love what he loves (people, all people) and hate what he hates (sin, all sin). I've tried to explain my position below in this response to the post on a denominational elist.
This is amazing. I envy the word smithing ability of these people. I've found that the best way to bamboozle people into going the wrong way is to add sixty five pounds of verbage which appears to have immense kindness and compassion while at the same time making your opponent look like a neanderthal heathen. I believe the apostle Paul very clearly and concisely showed us where we are all wrong on this issue in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
He lists a whole bunch of sins and says very clearly that these people do not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Period. Smack in the middle of that list is Homosexual offenders. Now before all the people with homophobic leanings start high fiving each other, let me point something else out. There are a lot of other sins in that list and most of us at one point or another have fallen into one of those categories. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All sinners need Jesus. I think sometimes the only reason we gang up on the homosexual crowd so hard is it's the one sin most of us are not committing. All sinners need Jesus. Now before any of those anything goes people start high fiving, lets look at verse 11. After Paul says that all those people will not inherit the Kingdom he says and that is what some of you WERE, translation Jesus washes you clean and the sin is in the past tense. You're not living in it anymore, instead you are sanctified and justified by the blood of Jesus, trusting Him and living in obedience to His teaching. To me it all comes down to this. Sinners belong in the church because the church is where we find Jesus who washes away our sin. There is no hope of leaving sin behind without Jesus. At the same time the church has no business at all of endorsing sin. We cannot affirm what the Bible does not.
