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.
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?
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.
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