My Journey to Jerusalem - Deciding to Officiate

          I was preparing for my Lenten messages this year when God spoke to me: “Go to Jerusalem.” I was preaching every Sunday one chapter from the gospel of Mark. The eighth chapter is about halfway through the book. Jesus announces that he’s going to Jerusalem. Peter tells him not to do it, but Jesus rebukes Peter. Jesus insists God wants him to go to Jerusalem. He knows this will lead to a trial before the religious leaders. But it was what God wanted.

          While I was preparing to preach a sermon about Jesus going to Jerusalem, God says to me, “Go to Jerusalem.” I understood God to mean that I needed to officiate at my daughter’s wedding. I knew it might lead to a trial before my religious leaders. But it was what God wanted.

          My journey in coming to this decision started four months earlier in November of 2013. Sarah and Ali had been a couple for about 8 years. Sarah came home for a brief visit that November and told us, “Ali and I are planning on getting married in August of 2014.” We were excited for them.

 I was following closely the trial of Frank Schaeffer for officiating at his son’s wedding. I knew there was a chance Frank could lose his ministerial credentials in the United Methodist Church, but I was shocked by the eventual verdict and severe sentence. Frank was simply doing what any loving minister father would do for their child.

I wrote in my journal that month: “Should I officiate at Sarah’s wedding? If I do, should I try to keep it quiet or should I be willing to publicize it?” I wondered if God was calling me to support LGBT people like my daughter by “going public”. But as I watched Frank Schaeffer, I knew my decision might have significantly negative consequences.

Sarah came home for Christmas with her partner Ali. We talked more about the wedding and the possibility of my officiating. My wife Lori asked, “But what about your pension, Michael? If you’re defrocked, will you lose all our retirement benefits from the church?” I told her I’d check into it.

I called our Board of Pensions and Health Benefits the first week of January. They assured me that even if I had my ministerial credentials removed, I would not lose my retirement benefits. I told both my wife Lori and daughter Sarah about this. They were much relieved and gave their approval for me to continue considering whether to officiate.

It was the beginning of March when I was preparing my Lenten sermons from the gospel of Mark that God most clearly spoke to me. He said, “Go to Jerusalem.” I sensed that God’s will for me was to take the road of potential suffering and officiate at Sarah’s wedding. God told me I should be willing to sacrifice all for Him and for the people He loved.

I met with Dave Lundquist on March 21^st. Dave is the chairperson of the Task Force on Marriage Equality in our Conference. I told him I was thinking about officiating at my daughter Sarah’s wedding in August. We talked about both the witness and the danger in letting the news about this become public. He pointed me to some helpful resources on the subject.

A week later, March 28^th, Sarah finalizes her wedding date. We are so excited for her. She and her partner Ali put together a wonderfully worded web site on the ceremony.

I reflect in my journal the following month about the issue of whether to officiate. I write: “My primary loyalty is to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. That loyalty trumps my loyalty to the United Methodist Church. God has a tradition of welcoming and loving those treated as outsiders. I believe God celebrates our human institution of marriage. Therefore I feel compelled to officiate at Sarah and Ali’s wedding as a witness to God’s love.”

My journey to Jerusalem ended on August 17 when I officiated at their beautiful wedding ceremony. 

Fully Welcoming and Inclusive by June

          “I have a dream…” that the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church will be fully welcoming and inclusive of all by the end of June of 2015.

          I have a dream that our Conference will affirm the Biblical view that homosexuality “is” compatible with Christian teaching.

          I have a dream that our local churches will be encouraged to be fully welcoming and inclusive of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, status, economic condition, sexual orientation or gender identity.

          I have a dream that all people will be considered for commissioning, ordination and appointment in our Conference regardless of race, sex, color, national origin, status, economic condition, sexual orientation or gender identity.

          I have a dream that any church in our Conference could be the site for any wedding or commitment ceremony.

          I have a dream that the clergy of our Conference could officiate at any wedding or commitment ceremony without fear of a potential trial.

          Lord, help us be your hands and feet and voice to work towards bringing your Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. 

Thanking God for my church family

            Last night I started to tear up in front of the church group in Parchment.

 I was finishing up a two part Bible study on “The Biblical God’s View of Homosexuality”. It was the end of the hour long session. I wrapped up our review of the Scriptures by saying, “I just want to thank you.”

I said, “I want to thank you for looking at these Scriptures with an open mind and an open heart. We’ve studied the ‘clobber’ Scriptures that some Christians have used to ‘clobber’ gay people and tell them they’re going to hell. We’ve discovered that none of those Scriptures seem to represent God’s will for LGBTQ people today. They clearly denounce the abuse of any type of sexuality – child abuse, prostitution, gang rape. But they don’t declare LGBTQ people as we know them today to be terrible sinners deserving hell. Then we’ve looked at the Scriptures that highlight how God creates us just as we are and says ‘It is good.’ God loves our diversity. We’ve also seen how God has a special concern for those who are excluded or treated as second class citizens like LGBTQ people.”

I continued, “But most of all I want to thank you for the way you…”

This is when I started getting choked up.

“For the way you have supported us this year and loved our daughter and her partner.”

I went on to tell about the journey we’ve been on with this church over the past year.

“Lori first shared with you that our daughter Sarah was gay during her Lenten Talk this spring. She talked about God’s holy surprises. Afterwards, you were so supportive and encouraging to Lori. I mentioned it briefly in a message in May. I expected some negative flak for mentioning the word homosexual in the pulpit. But once again, you were supportive and encouraging. But the time you shocked me…

I have a hard time getting out the next story because I treasure the wonderful surprise of this moment…

“You shocked me on that Sunday in July when Sarah and Ali visited our worship service. I hadn’t planned to say anything. I was keeping Sarah and Ali’s wedding a secret. I didn’t want any of you to be offended or upset. I announced that Sarah and her partner Ali were with us in worship. I pointed to them.”

“Then I went on to say to everyone that Sunday morning, ‘And they’ll be getting married next month.’ You shocked me when everyone started clapping – as if you were really excited for them. That really touched me. I’ll always treasure that wonderful way you accepted and loved our daughter and her partner.”

“Thank you.”

I am thankful for my church family at the Parchment United Methodist Church.  

Summary of Biblical God's View of Homosexuality

The Biblical God’s View of Homosexuality: Part I

          I believe in the Bible. But more than that, I believe in the God of the Bible. I follow the Bible. But more than that, I follow the God of the Bible. I have learned over the years that God and the Bible are not synonymous and sometimes don’t even agree.

          Adam Hamilton recently wrote about this in his book, “Making Sense of the Bible”. Hamilton refers to the three-bucket approach to Scripture. Much of the Bible can be placed in one of three buckets. The first bucket refers to the ‘timeless will of God’. The second bucket reflects ‘God’s will in a particular time’. This includes much of the Mosaic ritual law of the Old Testament and some of Paul’s advice to churches in the New Testament. The third bucket reflects ‘the culture and historical circumstances in which they were written but never reflected God’s will.’ This includes slavery, which is found throughout the Bible. It also includes the genocide found in passages like Deuteronomy 20:16-18 and Joshua 6:20-21. Genocide and slavery are biblical, but do not represent God’s will.

          As we study the Biblical God’s view of homosexuality, we have to determine which Scriptures are God’s timeless will, which do not represent God’s will and which do not apply to what we understand to be homosexuality today.

           First, we’ll look at the passages of Scripture that some use to claim that homosexual practice is a terrible sin. These are used to support the United Methodist Discipline’s view that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” These passages are called the “clobber verses” because they are used to “clobber” homosexuals. 

          The first passage in the Bible that includes a reference to homosexual practice is the story of Sodom. This is where we get the words ‘sodomy’ and ‘sodomite’ to refer to homosexuality. The story is found in Genesis 19. It is about two angels who visit the town of Sodom and stay with Lot, the nephew of Abraham. The men of Sodom surround the house and demand Lot turn over the angels, so the men could have sex with them. Lot offers his two daughters to be raped by the men of Sodom, rather than give up the strangers he’s just met. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen. The story goes on to say that God destroyed the whole city to punish the men of Sodom.

          Some have said this proves that homosexuality is a terrible sin that demands capital punishment. This is supported by another Scripture found in the Old Testament law. Leviticus 20:13 says, “It’s disgusting for men to have sex with one another, and those who do will be put to death, just as they deserve.”

         If these two scriptures taken at face value represent God’s will then it would be the responsibility of every Christian to make sure that all homosexuals go to the electric chair for their terrible crimes.

          Instead these Scriptures should be placed in a different bucket than God’s timeless will or they do not refer to what we know to be homosexuality today.

What is the sin of the men of Sodom? The story indicates that the main sin was the gang rape of two strangers. This is different than homosexuality.

Additional answers to that question are found by looking at other Scriptures. Scripture can interpret Scripture. The Old Testament prophets refer to Sodom four different times. The sin that the prophets mention by the men of Sodom is never homosexuality. Isaiah (1:10-17) says the sin of the Sodomites was injustice and not rescuing the oppressed. Jeremiah (23:14) says their sin was adultery. Ezekiel (16-48-49) says their sin was not aiding the poor and needy. Zephaniah (2:8-11) says their sin was bullying and boasting.

Therefore the passage in Genesis about Lot and the Sodomites is not about homosexuality at all.

The passage in the Law of Moses about putting homosexuals to death belongs in the third bucket marked: “Never reflected God’s will.”

Another verse in Moses’ law that refers to homosexuality (Lev. 18:22) is a part of the Purity laws. According to the New Testament authors, these laws are in the second bucket marked, “God’s will in a particular time.” Peter learned this in Acts 10.

It’s important to note that Jesus never mentions homosexuality at any time. Jesus does say that men should leave their fathers and become one with their wives (Mark 10:7-8). Some interpret this conversation to be about how heterosexuals are on God’s chosen pathway, instead of homosexuals. But Jesus is talking in this passage about divorce. Jesus is clear about not approving divorce, but he says nothing about homosexuality.

Paul refers to homosexual practice in three places: Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9-10 and I Timothy 1:9-10. The references to homosexuality in these places probably refer to either the ritual prostitution practiced in some of the pagan temples or pederasty, the practice of older men taken young boys as lovers. It doesn’t refer to the type of homosexuality we understand today between two lovingly committed equal partners.

 Paul makes mention in these verses that this practice is not natural. He says we should not go against our nature, the way God created us to be. Today, we understand homosexuality to be the way we were born, not a choice. Paul is encouraging the Romans to act according to their nature, to the way they were born.

In other words, we might apply Paul’s words to our situation this way: If you’re born homosexual, than God wants you to live with and have sexual relations with someone of your own sex. If you’re born heterosexual, than God wants you to live with and have sexual relations with someone of the opposite sex.

The Biblical authors are clear that homosexuality when it involves gang rape, temple prostitution and child abuse is wrong. None of the Biblical references mentioning homosexual practice refer to two people of the same sex sharing their lives in a committed relationship. Therefore, it’s clear the Bible does not declare all homosexual practice to be sinful, just like it doesn’t declare all heterosexual practice to be sinful.

This leads me to reflect on what the Biblical God does think about homosexuals. I’ll talk about this in my next post.

The Biblical God’s View of Homosexuality: Part II

      The last post made it clear the Biblical God does not find all homosexual practice to be sinful. There are biblical references that indicate homosexual practice involving gang rape, temple prostitution and child abuse are wrong. But a loving relationship of two committed same sex people is not immoral or sinful in the eyes of the biblical God.

          This post will take a positive look at homosexuality from a Biblical understanding of God’s will. We start again in the book of Genesis. The first chapter of Genesis concludes with the creation of human beings (Gen. 1:26-31). The author says that God created humans “in His image” to be like Himself. The final verse of that chapter says, “God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good.”

        The creation story was written to remind us that all of God’s creation is good. Each of us is created good. “God doesn’t make junk.” Whether we’re black or white, male or female, Chinese or American, homosexual or straight, left-handed or right-handed – we’re all created good in God’s image.

       Homosexuality is not a choice. It’s a unique gift given by God to certain people and not others. It is good in God’s sight.

     The rest of the Creation story emphasizes the diversity of God’s creation. God could have made things to look alike. All plants could have looked alike. All trees could have looked alike. There could have been only one insect, only one bird, and only one fish. Instead, God chose to create the world using an amazing diversity. We’re incredibly diverse as human beings as well. We realize there’s diversity in our sexuality as well. God created us both homosexual and heterosexual. We can celebrate that diversity.

        Let’s move to the New Testament.

        We’ll start in Acts 10. Here Peter has a vision that he is supposed to eat food he thought was unclean. Then God tells him to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. Gentiles were considered unclean, sinful people to be avoided by Jews. The vision and the visit awaken Peter to his mission to reach out to the unclean people: the Gentiles. He realizes Gentiles can be Christian without following all the Jewish purity laws.

         Who are considered by some to be the unclean, sinful people in our day? Homosexuals, people in the LGBTQ community. What does Peter’s vision and visit have to do with us? We are called to reach out to those who are considered unclean. They can be Christians without following heterosexual practices. God’s grace and acceptance are for all, not for the chosen few (the clean, the Jew, the heterosexual).

           Later, Paul writes a letter to the church in Colossae. The Christians in that town have gotten caught up in rules that go beyond God’s intentions. It is similar to the problem some of the Pharisees had during the days of Jesus. The Colossians had rules about what they could and couldn’t eat, rules about what they could and couldn’t touch and detailed rituals and festival practices. They taught that one had to keep all of these rules to be a part of the church.

          Paul told them this was wrong. He said that Christ died to set them free from rules like those. He said in 2:20-22, “You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe don’t have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as: “Don’t handle this. Don’t taste that. Don’t touch this?”… So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up?”

       Later people referred to the problem in Colossae as the Colossian heresy. It’s been a problem we’ve seen throughout the centuries. We find it in rules that some churches hold on to today such as priests who cannot marry and women who cannot be church leaders. As a youth, I was a part of a church that taught that movie theaters, billiards, alcohol, playing cards and swimming with persons of the same sex were all sinful and forbidden. I’ve read about how intermarriage between the races fits the same category. It’s the Colossian heresy still with us.

        One rule that is a part of the Colossian heresy today is the rule against homosexual practice. Paul’s words to us are still helpful: “Why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up?” In the next chapter Paul goes on to tell what it should be about instead of those rules. “Love is more important than anything else.” (Col. 3:14)

        The difficult question is this: How do we know what is part of the Colossian heresy and what is God’s will? How do we decide and discern God’s will for us today?

       The answer is found at the heart of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ.
        We ask the question: What would Jesus do?

     How do we know what Jesus would do?

         We have to study the four biblical gospels of Jesus to best know what Jesus would do. We have to look at what Jesus said and what Jesus did. Let’s look at Jesus in light of the present rules people have placed against homosexuals.

      The most important thing Jesus lived and taught is found in Mark 12:28-31. Jesus was asked a question by one of the teachers of the law of Moses “What is the most important commandment?”

Jesus answered with two commandments: love God and “love others as much as you love yourself.” Jesus said, “No other commandment is more important than these.”

        In other words, the Son of God says love trumps human laws. Love is the essence of God’s true law.

      What does it mean for us to love LGBTQ people?

        Loving a person means we value and respect them and do not treat them as second class Christians. Loving homosexuals as much as we love ourselves means we allow them as many rights and privileges as heterosexuals. We allow them to love a partner and get married just as heterosexuals are able to love a partner and get married. We allow them to provide leadership in our churches just like heterosexuals.

        Jesus reveals what this love for all looks like by his stories and his life. Jesus has a special passion for those who are not treated as first class citizens. He reaches out to help the outsiders. He welcomes in those who are excluded and oppressed. This can apply today to the LGBTQ community who are often excluded and oppressed and treated as second class outsiders.

      The stories about how Jesus welcomes and includes the outsider are many. Jesus tells the story of a banquet in Luke 14:15-24 in which the host tells the servant to go out into the streets to bring in everyone to the party who is poor or crippled or blind or lame. Jesus heals an “unclean” leper in Luke 5: 12-16. Jesus reaches out to women in Luke 7:36-8:3. Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37. Jesus reaches out to a tax collector in Luke 18: 9-14 and 19:1-10. Jesus welcomes the children in Luke 18: 15-17. All of these people were considered second-class by the people of Jesus’ day. They were all excluded and oppressed. But Jesus loved them and treated them as equals.

          Jesus had strong words for those who focus on the supposed sins of others. He talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:1-5. He emphasizes our need to deal with our own problems and sins. He would not want us to “judge gays”.

         The biblical God loves homosexuals and people in the LGBTQ community. The biblical God calls for everyone to love homosexuals and those in the LGBTQ as much as they love themselves. This means we are compelled to advocate for their equal rights and equal treatment.

        Lord, help us love.  

Biblical God's View of Homosexuality: Part 2C

     How do we decide and discern God’s will for us today?

     The answer is found at the heart of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ. We ask the question: What would Jesus do?

      How do we know what Jesus would do?

      We have to study the four biblical gospels of Jesus to best know what Jesus would do. We have to look at what Jesus said and what Jesus did. Let’s look at Jesus in light of the present rules people have placed against gay people.

      The most important thing Jesus lived and taught is found in Mark 12:28-31. Jesus was asked a question by one of the teachers of the law of Moses “What is the most important commandment?”

Jesus answered with two commandments: love God and “love others as much as you love yourself.” Jesus said, “No other commandment is more important than these.”

       In other words, the Son of God says love trumps human laws. Love is the essence of God’s true law.

       What does it mean for us to love LGBT people?

       Loving a person means we value and respect them and do not treat them as second class Christians. Loving LGBT people as much as we love ourselves means we allow them as many rights and privileges as straight people. We allow them to love a partner and get married just as straight people are able to love a partner and get married. We allow them to provide leadership in our churches just like straight people.

       Jesus reveals what this love for all looks like by his stories and his life. Jesus has a special passion for those who are not treated as first class citizens. He reaches out to help the outsiders. He welcomes in those who are excluded and oppressed. This can apply today to the LGBT community who are often excluded and oppressed and treated as second class outsiders.

       The stories about how Jesus welcomes and includes the outsider are many.

        Jesus tells the story of a banquet in Luke 14:15-24 in which the host tells the servant to go out into the streets to bring in everyone to the party who is poor or crippled or blind or lame. Jesus heals an “unclean” leper in Luke 5: 12-16. Jesus reaches out to women in Luke 7:36-8:3. Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37. Jesus reaches out to a tax collector in Luke 18: 9-14 and 19:1-10. Jesus welcomes the children in Luke 18: 15-17. 

      All of these people were considered second-class by the people of Jesus’ day. They were all excluded and oppressed. But Jesus loved them and treated them as equals.

          Jesus had strong words for those who focus on the supposed sins of others. He talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:1-5. He emphasizes our need to deal with our own problems and sins. He would not want us to “judge gay people”.

         The biblical God loves people in the LGBT community. The biblical God calls for everyone to love those in the LGBT as much as they love themselves. This means we are compelled to advocate for their equal rights and equal treatment.

         Lord, help us love.  

A Biblical God's View of Homosexuality, Part 2B

     Let’s move to the New Testament.

     We’ll start in Acts 10. Here Peter has a vision that he is supposed to eat food he thought was unclean. Then God tells him to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. Gentiles were considered unclean, sinful people to be avoided by Jews. The vision and the visit awaken Peter to his mission to reach out to the unclean people: the Gentiles. He realizes Gentiles can be Christian without following all the Jewish purity laws.

       Who are considered by some to be the unclean, sinful people in our day? Homosexuals, people in the LGBTQ community. What does Peter’s vision and visit have to do with us? We are called to reach out to those who are considered unclean. They can be Christians without following heterosexual practices. God’s grace and acceptance are for all, not for the chosen few (the clean, the Jew, the heterosexual).

       Later, Paul writes a letter to the church in Colossae. The Christians in that town have gotten caught up in rules that go beyond God’s intentions. It is similar to the problem some of the Pharisees had during the days of Jesus. The Colossians had rules about what they could and couldn’t eat, rules about what they could and couldn’t touch and detailed rituals and festival practices. They taught that one had to keep all of these rules to be a part of the church.

        Paul told them this was wrong. He said that Christ died to set them free from rules like those. He said in 2:20-22, “You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe don’t have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as: “Don’t handle this. Don’t taste that. Don’t touch this?”… So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up?”

        Later people referred to the problem in Colossae as the Colossian heresy. It’s been a problem we’ve seen throughout the centuries. We find it in rules that some churches hold on to today such as priests who cannot marry and women who cannot be church leaders. As a youth, I was a part of a church that taught that movie theaters, billiards, alcohol, playing cards and swimming with persons of the same sex were all sinful and forbidden. I’ve read about how intermarriage between the races fits the same category. It’s the Colossian heresy still with us.

      One rule that is a part of the Colossian heresy today is the rule against homosexual practice. Paul’s words to us are still helpful: “Why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up?” In the next chapter Paul goes on to tell what it should be about instead of those rules. “Love is more important than anything else.” (Col. 3:14)

     The difficult question is this: How do we know what is part of the Colossian heresy and what is God’s will? How do we decide and discern God’s will for us today?

     The answer is found at the heart of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ. We ask the question: What would Jesus do?

    How do we know what Jesus would do? We'll look at that in the next post...

Biblical God's View of Homosexuality: Part 2A

The Biblical God’s View of Homosexuality: Part 2A

    The last post made it clear the Biblical God does not find all homosexual practice to be sinful. There are biblical references that indicate homosexual practice involving gang rape, temple prostitution and child abuse are wrong. But a loving relationship of two committed same sex people is not immoral or sinful in the eyes of the biblical God.

    This post will take a positive look at homosexuality from a Biblical understanding of God’s will. 

We start again in the book of Genesis. The first chapter of Genesis concludes with the creation of human beings (Gen. 1:26-31). The author says that God created humans “in His image” to be like Himself. The final verse of that chapter says, “God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good.”

   The creation story was written to remind us that all of God’s creation is good. Each of us is created good. “God doesn’t make junk.” Whether we’re black or white, male or female, Chinese or American, homosexual or straight, left-handed or right-handed – we’re all created good in God’s image.

   Homosexuality is not a choice. It’s a unique gift given by God to certain people and not others. It is good in God’s sight. 

    The rest of the Creation story emphasizes the diversity of God’s creation. God could have made things to look alike. All plants could have looked alike. All trees could have looked alike. There could have been only one insect, only one bird, and only one fish. Instead, God chose to create the world using an amazing diversity. We’re incredibly diverse as human beings as well. We realize there’s diversity in our sexuality as well. God created us both homosexual and heterosexual. We can celebrate that diversity. 

The Biblical God’s View of Homosexuality: Part 1B

It’s important to note that Jesus never mentions homosexuality at any time. Jesus does say that men should leave their fathers and become one with their wives (Mark 10:7-8). Some interpret this conversation to be about how heterosexuals are on God’s chosen pathway, instead of homosexuals. But Jesus is talking in this passage about divorce. Jesus is clear about not approving divorce, but he says nothing about homosexuality.

Paul refers to homosexual practice in three places: Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9-10 and I Timothy 1:9-10. The references to homosexuality in these places probably refer to either the ritual prostitution practiced in some of the pagan temples or pederasty, the practice of older men taken young boys as lovers. It doesn’t refer to the type of homosexuality we understand today between two lovingly committed equal partners.

Paul makes mention in these verses that this practice is not natural. He says we should not go against our nature, the way God created us to be. Today, we understand homosexuality to be the way we were born, not a choice. Paul is encouraging the Romans to act according to their nature, to the way they were born.

In other words, we might apply Paul’s words to our situation this way: If you’re born homosexual, than God wants you to live with and have sexual relations with someone of your own sex. If you’re born heterosexual, than God wants you to live with and have sexual relations with someone of the opposite sex.

The Biblical authors are clear that homosexuality when it involves gang rape, temple prostitution and child abuse is wrong. None of the Biblical references mentioning homosexual practice refer to two people of the same sex sharing their lives in a committed relationship. Therefore, it’s clear the Bible does not declare all homosexual practice to be sinful, just like it doesn’t declare all heterosexual practice to be sinful.

This leads me to reflect on what the Biblical God does think about  LGBT people. I’ll talk about this in my next post. 

Biblical God's View of Homosexuality, Part 1A

          I believe in the Bible. But more than that, I believe in the God of the Bible. I follow the Bible. But more than that, I follow the God of the Bible. I have learned over the years that God and the Bible are not synonymous and sometimes don’t even agree.

          Adam Hamilton recently wrote about this in his book, “Making Sense of the Bible”. Hamilton refers to the three-bucket approach to Scripture. Much of the Bible can be placed in one of three buckets. The first bucket refers to the ‘timeless will of God’. The second bucket reflects ‘God’s will in a particular time’. This includes much of the Mosaic ritual law of the Old Testament and some of Paul’s advice to churches in the New Testament. The third bucket reflects ‘the culture and historical circumstances in which they were written but never reflected God’s will.’ This includes slavery, which is found throughout the Bible. It also includes the genocide found in passages like Deuteronomy 20:16-18 and Joshua 6:20-21. Genocide and slavery are biblical, but do not represent God’s will.

          As we study the Biblical God’s view of homosexuality, we have to determine which Scriptures are God’s timeless will, which do not represent God’s will and which do not apply to what we understand to be homosexuality today.

          First, we’ll look at the passages of Scripture that some use to claim that homosexual practice is a terrible sin. These are used to support the United Methodist Discipline’s view that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” These passages are called the “clobber verses” because they are used to “clobber” homosexuals. 

          The first passage in the Bible that includes a reference to homosexual practice is the story of Sodom. This is where we get the words ‘sodomy’ and ‘sodomite’ to refer to homosexuality. The story is found in Genesis 19. It is about two angels who visit the town of Sodom and stay with Lot, the nephew of Abraham. The men of Sodom surround the house and demand Lot turn over the angels, so the men could have sex with them. Lot offers his two daughters to be raped by the men of Sodom, rather than give up the strangers he’s just met. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen. The story goes on to say that God destroyed the whole city to punish the men of Sodom.

          Some have said this proves that homosexuality is a terrible sin that demands capital punishment. This is supported by another Scripture found in the Old Testament law. Leviticus 20:13 says, “It’s disgusting for men to have sex with one another, and those who do will be put to death, just as they deserve.”

         

If these two scriptures taken at face value represent God’s will then it would be the responsibility of every Christian to make sure that all homosexuals go to the electric chair for their terrible crimes.

          Instead these Scriptures should be placed in a different bucket than God’s timeless will or they do not refer to what we know to be homosexuality today.

What is the sin of the men of Sodom? The story indicates that the main sin was the gang rape of two strangers. This is different than homosexuality.

Additional answers to that question are found by looking at other Scriptures. Scripture can interpret Scripture. The Old Testament prophets refer to Sodom four different times. The sin that the prophets mention by the men of Sodom is never homosexuality. Isaiah (1:10-17) says the sin of the Sodomites was injustice and not rescuing the oppressed. Jeremiah (23:14) says their sin was adultery. Ezekiel (16-48-49) says their sin was not aiding the poor and needy. Zephaniah (2:8-11) says their sin was bullying and boasting.

Therefore the passage in Genesis about Lot and the Sodomites is not about homosexuality at all.

The passage in the Law of Moses about putting homosexuals to death belongs in the third bucket marked: “Never reflected God’s will.”

Another verse in Moses’ law that refers to homosexuality (Lev. 18:22) is a part of the Purity laws. According to the New Testament authors, these laws are in the second bucket marked, “God’s will in a particular time.” Peter learned this in Acts 10.