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.
Glad to see your thoughts on this. I stay out of the debates now simply because I am convicted that it is not my role to convict others of behaviour. I leave that to the Holy Spirit. I can only say when asked--and I am often asked--that homosexuality is never a sin the Holy Spirit has convicted me of. I'm quite busy dealing with sloth, covetousness, false witness and gluttony. These are the sins I struggle against and about which I can claim some degree of insight.
ReplyDelete