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issues: homosexuality
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“What shall we say to, and about, men and women who (a) experience their sexual
desire as being insistently directed to members of the same sex; and (b) desire to bond
with a member of the same sex in the same kind of permanent faithful monogamy that
some heterosexuals enjoy?”
What is “normal”?
Descriptive-Observes activity-no moral judgment here
Normative-Does it fulfill its design? Other factors enter
What is God’s design for sexual expression?
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and
they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
What about nature (biology)? All humans are naturally pushed toward self-destructive
habits.
What about nurture (sociology)? All of us are nurtured toward selfishness.
We are response-able.
We have to choose to be more than our biology, more than our sociology.
God made us fearfully and wonderfully. Psalms 139:14
We must remember that people who are homosexual are PEOPLE. They are people
created in the image of a God who loves them. We are to do no less than express God’s
love to them.
I. Jesus’ Viewpoint
• His Basic Convictions on Human Sexuality
o What is sex for?
He Affirms the Creation Account –Mark 10:2-9; cf. Matt 19:3-9
Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a
man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them,
“Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the
beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together,
let no one separate.”
Threefold Purpose of Heterosexual, Monogamous Sexuality
“It is certainly possible to overstate the significance of sex . . . . Sexual ethics is just one
part of kingdom living . . . .
“But sex does matter . . . because there is no aspect of human personhood that God
does not seek to redeem or that does not need redemption. . . . The [biblical] tradition .
. . affirms that our sexuality is intended not only for procreation but also for partnership
and mutual pleasure” – Kingdom Ethics, p. 311
What are we like and what do we need?
Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are
sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32 -
NRSV)
II. What about the Rest of Scripture?
There’s Only Seven Passages, so we must careful not to . . .
Over-emphasize homosexuality (It is not the only sin, nor the unpardonable sin)
Under-emphasize it, especially in our contemporary context
The Seven Passages are Consistent in Perspective
1) Leviticus 18:22 – “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
2) Leviticus 20:13 – “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
3) Genesis 19 – Homosexual Rape (Sodom)
4) Judges 19 – Homosexual Rape (Gibeah)
5) 1 Timothy 1:9-11 – Ways of Life Contrary to the Life of the Kingdom
This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those
who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, slave traders,
liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to
the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me.
6) Romans 1:26-27 – A Prime Example of Disordered and Unnatural Desires
26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged
natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up
natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men
committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty
for their error.
7) 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – The Way We Were
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the
greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11
And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
III. Conclusion on Jesus & Homosexuality
“Homosexual conduct is one form of sexual expression that falls outside the will of God,
one manifestation of what [one New Testament scholar] calls ‘the disordered human
condition” . . . under the impact of sin. Yet homosexual persons are precious, made in
the image of God and bearers of all the dignity that God affords all humanity. . . . We
must love homosexual persons while remaining clear in our convictions about God’s
intentions for human sexuality—and equally clear that all of us stand guilty and in need
of redemption.” – Kingdom Ethics, Stassen & Gushee, p. 311
The Tension
“The real tension, of course, comes here: how can the church extend genuine care and
friendship to homosexuals and, simultaneously, not condone homosexual practice?”
(People of the Truth, 110)
• Is homosexuality more an acceptance issue than it is a sexual issue?
Two Ways (Robert Webber and Rodney Clapp. People of the Truth, 111)
• “If persons who happen to be homosexuals sense a genuine and persistent
concern for them, they are more likely to take seriously our claim that that giving up
homosexual practice is the will of a loving God.”
• “the witness of the church’s single heterosexuals [as they] live out a celibate but
fulfilled existence (supported, let us hope, by married Christians who do not act as if the
celibates are missing some essential, far superior experience).
Three Resources on Homosexuality
Focus on the Family
www.family.org/resources/
Exodus International
www.exodus-international.org
NARTH
(National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality)
www.narth.org
desire as being insistently directed to members of the same sex; and (b) desire to bond
with a member of the same sex in the same kind of permanent faithful monogamy that
some heterosexuals enjoy?”
What is “normal”?
Descriptive-Observes activity-no moral judgment here
Normative-Does it fulfill its design? Other factors enter
What is God’s design for sexual expression?
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and
they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
What about nature (biology)? All humans are naturally pushed toward self-destructive
habits.
What about nurture (sociology)? All of us are nurtured toward selfishness.
We are response-able.
We have to choose to be more than our biology, more than our sociology.
God made us fearfully and wonderfully. Psalms 139:14
We must remember that people who are homosexual are PEOPLE. They are people
created in the image of a God who loves them. We are to do no less than express God’s
love to them.
I. Jesus’ Viewpoint
• His Basic Convictions on Human Sexuality
o What is sex for?
He Affirms the Creation Account –Mark 10:2-9; cf. Matt 19:3-9
Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a
man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them,
“Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the
beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together,
let no one separate.”
Threefold Purpose of Heterosexual, Monogamous Sexuality
“It is certainly possible to overstate the significance of sex . . . . Sexual ethics is just one
part of kingdom living . . . .
“But sex does matter . . . because there is no aspect of human personhood that God
does not seek to redeem or that does not need redemption. . . . The [biblical] tradition .
. . affirms that our sexuality is intended not only for procreation but also for partnership
and mutual pleasure” – Kingdom Ethics, p. 311
What are we like and what do we need?
Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are
sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32 -
NRSV)
II. What about the Rest of Scripture?
There’s Only Seven Passages, so we must careful not to . . .
Over-emphasize homosexuality (It is not the only sin, nor the unpardonable sin)
Under-emphasize it, especially in our contemporary context
The Seven Passages are Consistent in Perspective
1) Leviticus 18:22 – “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
2) Leviticus 20:13 – “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
3) Genesis 19 – Homosexual Rape (Sodom)
4) Judges 19 – Homosexual Rape (Gibeah)
5) 1 Timothy 1:9-11 – Ways of Life Contrary to the Life of the Kingdom
This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those
who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, slave traders,
liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to
the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me.
6) Romans 1:26-27 – A Prime Example of Disordered and Unnatural Desires
26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged
natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up
natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men
committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty
for their error.
7) 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – The Way We Were
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the
greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11
And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
III. Conclusion on Jesus & Homosexuality
“Homosexual conduct is one form of sexual expression that falls outside the will of God,
one manifestation of what [one New Testament scholar] calls ‘the disordered human
condition” . . . under the impact of sin. Yet homosexual persons are precious, made in
the image of God and bearers of all the dignity that God affords all humanity. . . . We
must love homosexual persons while remaining clear in our convictions about God’s
intentions for human sexuality—and equally clear that all of us stand guilty and in need
of redemption.” – Kingdom Ethics, Stassen & Gushee, p. 311
The Tension
“The real tension, of course, comes here: how can the church extend genuine care and
friendship to homosexuals and, simultaneously, not condone homosexual practice?”
(People of the Truth, 110)
• Is homosexuality more an acceptance issue than it is a sexual issue?
Two Ways (Robert Webber and Rodney Clapp. People of the Truth, 111)
• “If persons who happen to be homosexuals sense a genuine and persistent
concern for them, they are more likely to take seriously our claim that that giving up
homosexual practice is the will of a loving God.”
• “the witness of the church’s single heterosexuals [as they] live out a celibate but
fulfilled existence (supported, let us hope, by married Christians who do not act as if the
celibates are missing some essential, far superior experience).
Three Resources on Homosexuality
Focus on the Family
www.family.org/resources/
Exodus International
www.exodus-international.org
NARTH
(National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality)
www.narth.org
