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What does God want us to
do? When finally we begin to ask how we should relate to homosexual people in the church there are a number of questions we must ask very seriously. If I feel negative towards homosexuals, where does the feeling come from? Is it my fear from the prejudices I have collected down the years about homosexuals? eg the lies that characterise homosexuals as promiscuous, or child molesters, and so on. How do I feel about my own sexuality? Do I deep down feel dirty about my own sexual urges? If so, how can I judge fairly the nature or rightness of other people's attractions? Have I been the victim of sexual violence? How has the sexual violence done to me affected my view? Am I judging all homosexual people on the basis of one person? Is the Bible talking about all homosexual people when it condemns homosexuality? Did Paul know of claims of a love between two people of the same sex which was uplifting of people and glorifying to God in the way a heterosexual relationship can be? If I wish to exclude homosexual people from the church, or aspects of the church's life, because they are sinners, what does that say about me? Will I leave too?
Where Do We Go? We might also conclude that the subject is far more complex than we realised. In fact, we may be left feeling confused. 'How can we come to a decision?' we may ask. 'We do not feel competent to judge the arguments of different scholars, especially when they disagree. What do we do now?!!' I think we must ask again 'What is the church's present experience of the issue?' It is especially important to read what homosexual people say about themselves and their experience of God, both today, and in the section on the historical experience of the church. we face that question honestly I think all participants in the debate- whether they be radical gay activists at one extreme, or violent homophobes at the other- face two incontrovertible facts.
1. There are people who are our committed brothers and sisters in Christ, who will say to us, 'I was in bondage to homosexuality, and I was healed. I am no longer a homosexual.' I believe Scripture speaks to us in two ways. If we attempt to condemn homosexual Christians on the basis of biblical texts alone, without listening to them, then Jesus says, 'Judge not that you be not judged.' How can we dare to presume to judge if we know nothing of what it means to be a Christian and homosexual. Jesus does say, 'You will know them by their fruits.' Personally, I believe that only on the basis of 'unsuitable fruits' can we reject homosexual people from aspects of the church's life. All of us are sinners. How can we say some sinners are worse than others? How can we presume to exclude some without investigating their fruits? Many have wanted to deny aspects of the church to homosexuals by claiming or assuming that since 'healing' (in the sense of one's sexual orientation being changed to heterosexual) seems available for some, it must be available for all. Others, have rejected the claims of some people to 'healing' because they wish to defend those whose healing has not been in change, but in acceptance of their orientation. Either approach is risky. In the Book of Job, God says to Job's 'friends', 'My wrath is kindled against you.... for you have not spoken of me what is right' (42:7) The sin of job's friends was to fail to listen to Job, and instead condemn him. Job's friends were extremely orthodox in their theology, but ended up being condemned by God because they set forth theology without taking into account reality. Orthodoxy became heresy because the friends did not listen to what Job was telling them about his reality. There are people in the church whom we accept as faithful Christians- until we discover they are homosexuals. Often these people are like Job, suffering something they have not chosen. The church which condemns them in spite of their testimony of faith risks being the heirs of Job's friends. Until we have seen, and talked with, and above all, listened to, homosexual people of both persuasions, interpreting the bible for them in a prescriptive way, is nothing less than the judgementalism Jesus condemns. I wish that we will give homosexual Christians the ministry of listening, for in our listening to them, and perhaps crying or rejoicing with them, there will be words of God for us, and healing and growth for us, whatever conclusions we finally draw. In The End we may come to a number of conclusions. One may be that the texts which refer to homosexuality in fact do not refer to the people in our churches who are morally upright, and whose spiritual fruit is a blessing to us. Instead they refer to an idolatry and violence which involves homosexual type behaviour and need s to be condemned just as much as heterosexual promiscuity and rape and idolatry. That is, Romans 1 and all the other places are quite correct in what they say, but there is an area of homosexuality which they do not cover. (A gay man, once said to me that he agreed with what Romans 1 says, and that it should be upheld. ) If we come to such a conclusion we need to ask how we begin to include these people more fully into a church which has generally ostracised them and been hostile to them, so that they and we may be healed of our pain, and have our corporate life enriched.
On the other hand we my conclude that 'homosexual' in the bible refers to anyone who has homosexual inclination, chosen or not. For every bit that we exclude them from aspects of the life of the church, we must face the fact that homosexuals are listed along with the greedy and idolatrous and all the other sinners who are Us!
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