The Church and Homosexuals

A person who is a practicing homosexual cannot be a true follower of Jesus, according to the director of a network of church and ministry leaders in the Greater Charlotte area.

So begins an article on Christianpost.com. Dr. Michael Brown, head of Coalition of Conscience in Charlotte, N.C. (and whose comments are quoted above), is taking aim at Harry Knox, director of Faith and Religion for the Human Rights Campaign next week in a head to head debate on the subject.

At the core of Brown's remarks is his errant understanding of human sexuality and his--in my opinion--distorted interpretation of the Bible.

When confronted with the question of whether homosexuality is sinful, Christians typically turn to the same couple of Biblical passages (heads up, these can be downright severe):

Leviticus 18:22 "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."

Then it gets rougher:

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

Of course, in the same passage, you'll find this little gem:

Leviticus 18:23 "Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion."

You get the drift. Here's the problem. One of the most fundamental tenets of the Christian faith is that the Old Testament (where you'll find the books of the law, including Leviticus) exists to point the way for Jesus and his New Testament. As a matter of fact, Jesus told his disciples that he would be fine with removing all the commandments (not just the famous ten) and replacing them with the two most important ones - namely love god and love your neighbor as yourself. But Jesus also told his disciples:

Matthew 5:17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

So, depending on which Jesus you decide to listen to, it may or may not be a Christian necessity to follow the law laid out in the Old Testament. But that's a mire. Jesus never actually referred to homosexuality, only vague ideas of adultery and deviancy as laid out in the Old Testament. Paul, too, the great letter-writer who almost single-handedly continued the early church past Jesus' death, only discussed general depravity.

So, where does that leave us? It leaves us with a topic covered loosely and broadly in the Bible and therefore open to wide interpretation. You might say, "it's not loose. Leviticus clearly prohibits homosexual relations." Well, Leviticus also prohibits doing any work at all on Saturday (which, somehow, mysteriously morphed into Sunday for Christians) while encouraging men to control and even punish their wives. You see? Many evangelicals have decided to hold onto the idea that homosexuality is sinful while turning a (rightful) blind eye to many other commandments. And there's a very simple reason - homosexuals scare them. I'm not saying that every Christian is a homophobe, but I am suggesting that we tend to fear that which we don't understand. And they've proven, time and again, that they don't understand homosexuality. Take a look at Dr. Brown again:

Brown said he believes "no one is born gay" and although one may experience homosexual feelings as part of man's fallen nature and personal life experiences, change is possible.
"According to Scripture, all of us are born with a fallen nature. The fact that something is natural does not mean it's moral," he said.

This is the crux of the evangelical argument - that homosexuality is a choice.
I truly believe that most Christians honestly believe this. Why would God create someone one way but demand that they become something else? It would be unfair and dispassionate. The only other way to understand this dilemna scripturally is to come to the conclusion I did. Moses, Jesus, and Paul got it wrong. And therefore the Word of God is not infallible and therefore:

Revelation 22:18 "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

That's the way it is folks. All or nothing. You either buy it all or you don't. I didn't and that's why I turned from my beliefs.