This is a sensitive issue. Let’s
be sensitive to those around us whose beliefs may be strongly held and deeply
personal. So let’s start with what the Bible says about how we treat each other
in these kinds of conversations:
- Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, lest you be judged.”
- John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”
Now, we will focus on what the
Bible says about marriage.
·
Genesis
o
1:28 God
blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth
o
2:20 But for
Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God … made a woman
·
Jeremiah
29:6
o
Take wives
and have sons and daughters … multiply
·
Hebrews 13:4
o
Let marriage
be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will
judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
·
Ephesians 5
o
22 Wives,
submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
o
25 Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ loved the church
·
Mark 10
o
6 at the
beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife
·
1
Corinthians 7
o
1 “It is
good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
o
9 But if
they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry
than to burn with passion.
o
28 Yet those
who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
·
1 Timothy
3:12
o
Let deacons
each be the husband of one wife
Key themes here:
·
We are
commanded to be fruitful and multiply as man and wife
·
God created
woman to be man’s partner
·
Marriage is
sacred and should not be defiled with “sexually immoral” acts
·
Marriage is
like the relationship between Christ and the Church
·
Marriage is
better than to “burn with passion”
This is a sensitive issue. Let’s
be sensitive to those around us whose beliefs may be strongly held and deeply
personal. So let’s start with what the Bible says about how we treat each other
in these kinds of conversations:
·
Matthew
7:1 “Judge not, lest you be judged.”
·
John
15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”
Then, let’s start with what the
bible says about homosexuality
·
Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with
a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable
act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon
them"
·
1 Cor. 6:9-10, "Or do you not know that wrongdoers
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites, nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. "
·
Rom. 1:26-28, "For this reason God gave them
over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for
that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men
abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward
one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own
persons the due penalty of their error.
These are strong statements against
homosexuality. I was not able to find scripture that suggested homosexuality
was not a sin. This is not entirely surprising. The Old rules around sexuality are
focused on procreation and heredity, two concepts that are counter to
homosexuality. In the New Testament Paul and Jesus extol the virtues of
celibacy.
Since I failed to find a
counterpoint in scripture, I turned to the writings of more progressive
writers. They tended to dismiss the relevance of these older texts and authors.
Arguments in favor of the
acceptance of homosexuality by Christians nearly always include the questioning
of the relevance of Old Testament laws. They point to other laws around marriage
and sexuality that few Christians acknowledge today:
·
Deuteronomy 22:
o
If a married
person has sex with someone else's wife, the Bible commands that both
adulterers be stoned to death.
o
If it is
discovered that a bride is not a virgin (and she and was presented as
otherwise), the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning.
·
Deuteronomy
25 and Mark 12:
o
If a man
dies childless, his brother is obligated to sleep with the widow until she
bears children
·
Leviticus
18:
o
The Bible
forbids a married couple from having sex during a woman's period
·
Mark 10:
“What if a man divorces his wife and gets married to another woman? He commits
adultery against her.”
Some argue that Jesus and Paul
specifically invalidated many of these Old Testament laws:
·
Colossians 2
o
20 Since you
died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as
though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not
handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?
o
22 These
rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use
[Similar points are made in Romans 14 and Galatians 4]
·
Matthew 15
o
11 What goes
into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth,
that is what defiles them.”
Others claim that Jesus specifically
did not change anything.
·
Matthew 5
o
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. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and
earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will
by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
It should be noted also, that
while Jesus challenged the crowd on stoning the adulterous woman, he also
challenged her to stop sinning.
·
John 8
o
7“Let any
one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
o
11 “Then
neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Now, I want to expand on judging
the individual. Many Gays believe their struggle is the same as the civil
rights struggle of Blacks. Their argument is that they were born that way, as
God made them. Again, let’s start with scripture:
Jesus: Matthew 19 “For there are
eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs
by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of
the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Science:
·
In 1991, Dr.
LeVay reported subtle differences between the brains of homosexual and
heterosexual men. Subsequent studies suggested that this may
·
Michael
Bailey and Richard Pillard, ( Northwestern and the Boston University School of
Medicine), examined 56 pairs of identical twins, 54 pairs of fraternal twins,
142 non-twin brothers of twins, and 57 pairs of adoptive brothers (1991,
48:1089-1096). Their Reported Findings
o
52% of
identical (monozygotic) twins of homosexual men were homosexual (48% of women)
o
22% of
fraternal (dizygotic) twins were likewise homosexual (16% of women)
o
11% of
adoptive brothers of homosexual men were homosexual (6% of women)
o
9.2% of
non-twin biological siblings reported homosexual orientations (Bailey and
Pillard, 1991, “A Genetic Study of Male Sexual Orientation”)
o
Women: (Bailey
and Benishay, 1993, “Familial Aggregation of Female Sexual Orientation”)
·
Dean H.
Hamer of the National Cancer Institute allegedly linked male homosexuality to a
gene on the X chromosome. His team
investigated 114 families of homosexual men
o
Of the 40
pairs of homosexual brothers, he found that 33 had a matching DNA region called
q28
o
In many
families, gay men had gay relatives through maternal lines.
Conversion:
·
2/3s of
bisexuals convert to hetero over 10 year period (Moch & Eibach 2011)
·
Master’s and
Johnson conversion reports refuted
Demographics
·
2.8% of the
male, and 1.4% of the female pop self ID gay, lesbian, or bisexual (Laumann, et
al., 1994) Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS)
·
8 percent of
men and 4 percent of women were exclusively homosexual for a period of at least
three years during adulthood. Four
percent of men and 2 percent of women were exclusively homosexual after
adolescence (Kinsey 1994, 331:923).
·
The total
population of the U.S. is 285,230,516; households in the U.S. is 106,741,426; same-sex
households is 601,209 = 0.42% of those households (2000 census)
Summary: Jesus and scientists
conclude that its nature AND nurture.
NY and Same Sex Marriage
·
The Marriage
Equality Act was signed into law on 7/24/2011
·
Allows same
sex couples to marry
·
Prohibits
courts from penalizing religious groups that refuse to recognize or perform
same sex weddings
·
No residency
requirement
·
NYC
Controller’s offices estimates $210M growth in state economy due to 1st
year weddings
·
Law was denounced
by Catholics; Supported by Unitarian Universalists
Discrimination and the LGBT Community
·
Federal law
that protects does not cover workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation. (Federal employees are protected)
·
Workplace
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not legal in NY
·
Outside of
the workplace, other laws may apply
o
Defamation
or slander
o
Invasion of
privacy
o
Anti-harassment
The purpose of this section is to
highlight how other churches have and are handling issues of homosexuality and
same sex marriage. The goal here will be to highlight:
The key questions and challenges
facing churches and
·
How do we
protect the church/congregation from legal action and confusion about our
beliefs?
·
Do we
preach/believe that orientation and/or practice is a sin?
·
What level
of acceptance do practicing LGBT individuals have in our church?
o
Attendee
o
Take
sacraments
o
Associate/full
membership
o
Marriages
recognized/performed
o
Hold office/Teach/Preach/Pastor
Range of positions churches have
taken.
·
Progressive:
Episcopalian, Unity, Unitarian
Conservative: Catholic, Presbyterean, Mormons, and most Baptists
Comments
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