Gay issues are troubling the Church of England and its Episcopal community in America. Its evangelical wing takes issue with liberal clergy who promote acceptance of openly gay priests. What is the true biblical approach?
At the end of the day Dr. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, concluded that the proposed appointment of gay priest Jeffrey John as bishop of Reading would imperil the unity of the Anglican church. This official position seems somewhat in contradiction to his personal convictions of many years. As Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent of The Times (London), recently reported: "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, believes that the Church of England should change its mind on homosexuality in the same way that it has already altered its teaching on slavery, hellfire, usury and marriage after divorce" (May 27, 2003).
Across the Atlantic in the United States, the American Episcopal Church's General Convention gave final approval of Gene Robinson's appointment as bishop of New Hampshire on Aug. 5. Although formerly married with two children, he has lived with a gay partner for 13 years.
Liberal and conservative viewpoints
In Mr. Robinson's words: "God is teaching us something about gay and lesbian people. It will not be too many years before we look back on this recent controversy and think, 'My goodness, how misled we were'" ( The Sunday Telegraph , July 20, 2003).
A group of Anglican bishops in England apparently have a similar liberal approach. They are set to publish a radical report titled "Some Issues in Human Sexuality." It tells us that "what makes us Christians is our common relationship to Christ, which is rooted in repentance, faith, baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit [so far so good, but notice what follows], and not the correctness of our beliefs about matters of sexual conduct" ( The Sunday Times , July 13, 2003).
George Austin, former archdeacon of York, reacted to this report by saying, "Anyone who knows the liberal mind will realise this document is simply a ploy to push ahead the gay agenda in which all homosexual activity by priests and lay people is accepted in the church" (ibid.).
These sharp differences of opinion are also reflected in the media. One example of a liberal approach is contained in a feature article in The Times by Libby Purves, a noted British columnist. "The Old Testament prohibition on homosexual love sits among many other prohibitions and taboos long since discarded by Christians. The later strictures of St. Paul are, I think, less binding than what we find in the true core of the Bible, the four gospels—humane gentleness, forgiveness and an honouring and transfiguration of earthly loves" (July 10, 2003, emphasis added).
Joseph Farah, who is the founder of WorldNetDaily.com and former editor of The Sacramento Union, espouses a totally different view about intimate same-sex relationships. He wrote in The Washington Times : "You see where the brave new world is heading. When the church abandons its tenets, when it refuses to recognize sin, when it glorifies immorality, when it compromises on the Word of God, when it becomes a tool of political correctness, it becomes a tool of evil. It becomes an abomination" (Weekly Edition, June 30-July 6, 2003).
Strong words those! But how does the Bible approach human sexuality?
Sexuality in the Bible
When questions about marital matters arose in His ministry, Jesus Christ nearly always referred people back to the creation account in Genesis. From the beginning our Creator realized the need for intimate human companionship. After creating Adam, "The LORD God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable [suitable] to him" (Genesis 2:18).
After the first man awoke from a deep sleep, he found a complement to himself standing before him, another human being like himself but with a clear difference of gender. Adam was deeply affected and was immediately moved to proclaim: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man" (verse 23).
God inspired the writer to add: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (verse 24). Jesus Christ strongly emphasized this centrally important point: "God made them male and female...and the two shall become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh" (Mark 10:6, 8).
The book of Genesis and the Gospel accounts teach that God created humans heterosexual. They also teach that marriage between male and female is a divine institution and that fidelity between one man and one woman is the Creator's expressed will and intention—supported by many other passages in God's Word.
A homosexual relationship contradicts the Creator's principles and purposes concerning human sexuality. That is why biblical law strongly condemns it in the book of Leviticus (18:22; 20:13), and the apostle Paul goes on to sternly warn against its practice in several of his New Testament epistles (Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:8-10).
The Church and human sexuality
By quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus Christ clearly showed that the Church must base its teachings on the entire Bible (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). The apostle Paul called this "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Human beings are told to live by every Word of God. The Church is not free to selectively pick and choose biblical principles and passages according to the dictates and current fashions of our modern world or our frail human nature.
That said, Jesus Christ said: "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). So biblical teaching also requires the Church to wholeheartedly accept truly repentant sinners, whether they have been idolaters, fornicators, homosexuals or guilty of any other sins contrary to sound biblical doctrine.
All are guilty of having broken God's great spiritual law, the Ten Commandments—summarized by Jesus Christ as loving God above all and loving others as much as we love ourselves.
In principle, the Seventh Commandment covers all forms of sexual immorality and unchastity. In regard to several major sins, including homosexuality (all threatening our entrance into the Kingdom of God), the apostle Paul said this to Christians: "Such were some of you. But you were washed [by the blood of Christ, Revelation 7:14], but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Later in this chapter Paul tells us to "flee sexual immorality." Then he explains that "every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body" (verse 18). The strong implication is that this form of sin can be very difficult to fully overcome.
Often people have been raised in a dysfunctional home environment they could not control, which left them susceptible to sexual sins. In light of this, God's ministers compassionately help Christians to conquer wrong sexual inclinations of whatever nature. The United Church of God provides a compassionate ministry to help educate, comfort and assist Christian men and women in surmounting this challenging personal issue. We offer a publication titled Anchor , a magazine of hope for Christians struggling with homosexuality. More information about Anchor can be found at its Web site, www.anchorhelp.com . WNP
Recent News Items Illustrate Increasing Controversy
• Americans are becoming more tolerant of gay people on TV, as shown by a prime-time network slot for a new makeover show ( The Times [London]).
•Televangelist Pat Robertson is praying to God to undo a U.S. Supreme Court decision that opened the door to recognition of new gay civil rights. Other conservative activists are seeking a more earthbound response: a constitutional amendment barring marriage between gay couples ( USA Today ).
•Same-sex couples in Britain are to be given the same legal rights as married couples under plans outlined recently ( Daily Mail ).
•When the Supreme Court struck down laws banning sex between homosexuals last month, a dismayed Justice Anthony Scalia warned that the court was siding with gay men and lesbians in a "culture war" and flouting public opinion ( USA Today ).
•A lesbian pastor is a focus of controversy among Southern Baptists.The congregants support the cleric, calling her a strong spiritual leader ( Los Angeles Times ).
•On July 6 The Dallas Morning News said it would begin running advertising notices of same-sex unions with its wedding announcements on Sunday ( USA Today ).
•The Boston Globe editorialized in favor of gay marriage and compared state laws against it to those that once banned interracial marriage ( USA Today ).
