Recently, there’s been some controversy over the comments of a rather vocal Christian minority in the USA as they lay claim to what they view as God’s truth. I know I’ve written about homosexuality before, and I’ve had comments from some of my readership (in private, mind) that I need to let the issue die, however, I believe Christian people are made to dance upon injustice, not let it go unnoticed, untouched, and unaddressed.
Time and time again when people within the Church, a number of Biblical texts are used to address homosexuality. These texts are both from the Old and New Testaments, and involve the condemnation of homosexual acts. The text, on the surface, doesn’t always paint homosexuality in a positive light. However, I think sometimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in doctrines instead of letting a text truly speak to one’s heart, mind, and soul. And, as much as people do it for their own gains, the Bible, like most books, needs to be taken in its entirety, not its pieces. If you only look at the pieces, you miss the story, and ultimately, the point.
Ultimately, the Bible is a love story. Creator-God pursues people constantly, they hurt Him, yet His pursuit continues. Often it’s represented as an unrequited love story with God as perfect and man as frail and prone to stray. In fact, people like David (who, the text calls “a man after God’s own heart”), often strayed the most (thereby leaving some semblance of hope for the rest of us). Even in scripture based on law (i.e. the Old Testament), faithfulness and keeping the law weren’t/aren’t prerequisites for loving God. Attempting to walk beside Him and live in His light were.
I don’t believe scripture was meant to be read clinically. It was certainly meant to be studied, but it was meant to be interpreted with discernment, spirit, and context. Love is ultimately the reader-tool to be used. Biblical illiteracy is about more than not knowing the words within the text, it’s about misunderstanding both the cultural, and textual context of scripture. It’s not enough to know what the text says, it’s important to know what it means beyond doctrinal impart.
Understanding the text in its entirety means understanding more than the words on a single page. It means understanding entire movements of the Church, of God, and why the story happens in the first place. Someone who understands doctrine may know what it says. Yet, someone who understands scripture realizes the grace within their own life and the love afforded to them. Sometimes the text seems like a bunch of “do” and “do-nots,” but that’s because the context has been stripped from the text. Ultimately the Bible needs to be read and interpreted through a context of love. People calling for any radical action against homosexual people need to reread scripture in that love-context.
I think, in a way, this entire ‘controversy’ over homosexuality within the Church is just another grasp at relevancy the same way the church took issue with alcohol, tattoos, and dancing in different eras. Dictating how people live isn’t Christ like. Loving people where they’re at for who they are, is.
Nearly ten years ago, as a friend drove me home after babysitting his kids, I had a memorable conversation that’s stuck with me (and will probably continue to stick with me for years to come). You see, my friend was a pastor, and he’d recently baptized two openly homosexual men much to the chagrin of the denomination governing body’s chagrin. The community we were in backed his decision, and it seemed that a more formal reprimand could be on the books. His reason for his decision, however, stuck with me, and would later stick with the denominational leaders, “Who am I to stand between anyone and God?”
Why wouldn’t we accept people into our communities, our lives, and our homes? God moves in all people’s lives. People have different stories. God loves all people. And as Christian people, we’re called to the same. And, based on that story in its context, that’s the point, isn’t it?
Love.
Committing Sociology 