The Question I Am Most Often Asked By People Visiting My Church's Website -- Part One

Here is an true-life example of the question that I am most often asked after people visit my church's website or read certain of my sermons:

I am a new Methodist in Texas who came across your church website. Great website by the way.

I have noticed that your church strongly emphasizes an acceptance of homosexual practice. Knowing that there are numerous biblical prohibitions against homosexual practice (not homosexuals), how does your church reconcile those prohibitions with those Bible verses?

Thanks for the opportunity to ask the question!

It is a fine question, a discussion Methodists need to continue to have. This particular e-mailer asks the question very graciously, for which I am grateful. I hope my response is equally gracious, as it is meant to be. (I am sometimes asked similar questions by reporters, and have found that I can not answer them with a sound-bite. This really needs to be a conversation.)

So, this is one of the topics I hope we can discuss through The Untied Methodist blog and the community of Methodist bloggers who meet at the Wesley blog . But, really, this is more a conversation than a Q. and A.

Let me begin with a few quick thoughts (more will follow). The most important thing I want to say here is that the Bible really doesn't have all that much to say about homosexual practice. At most, there are seven references in the Bible, and not all those (and maybe none of them) are relevant to a discussion of loving, consensual gay and lesbian relationships.

1. THE FOUR OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCES: There are four Old Testament references: two mentions in stories (Gen. 19: 1-29 and Judges 19) which are really stories about rape --not consensual, loving relations-- and two prohibitions in the Leviticus cleanliness codes (Lev. 18:22 and 20:13). These later two verses say that a man shall not lie with a male as with a woman and that the penalty for this should be death. We could discuss these specific Scriptures at more length but the strongest statement about the Old Testament prohibitions was made years ago (1979) by Walter Wink in his article Homosexuality and the Bible. Wink makes the point that we manage to ignore many of Old Testament teachings about sexuality (the following are quotes from his article):

---Old Testament law strictly forbids sexual intercourse during the seven days of the menstrual period (Lev. 18:19; 15:18-24), and anyone who engaged in it was to be "extirpated," or "cut off from their people" (kareth, Lev. 18:29, a term referring to execution by stoning, burning, strangling, or to flogging or expulsion).

---Nudity, the characteristic of paradise, was regarded in Judaism as reprehensible (II Sam. 6:20; 10:4; Isa. 20:2-4; 47:3). ... Are we prepared to regard nudity in the locker room or at the old swimming hole or in the privacy of one's home as an accursed sin?

---Semen and menstrual blood rendered all who touched them unclean (Lev. 15:16-24). Intercourse rendered one unclean until sundown; menstruation rendered the woman unclean for seven days. Today most people would regard semen and menstrual fluid as completely natural and only at times "messy," not "unclean."

---"If men get into a fight with one another and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand." (Deut 25:11 f)

---When a married man in Israel died childless, his widow was to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bore him a male heir. Jesus mentions this custom without criticism (Mark 12:18-27 par.) I am not aware of any Christians who still obey this unambiguous commandment of Scripture. Why is this law ignored, and the one against homosexual behavior preserved?

See the Wink article here for more examples and for his thinking about how we should deal with biblical teachings about sexuality.

2. THE THREE NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES: Homosexual acts are mentioned three times in the New Testament, in each case in the writings of the Apostle Paul, never in the Gospels. (Jesus is not recorded as ever having spoken about the topic.)

In I Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul lists a group of "wrongdoers who will not inherit the kingdom of God." Among those listed, in addition to "the greedy," "drunkards," and "idoloters," are malakoi, a Greek word translated "male prostitutes" in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, and arsenokoitai, translated "sodomites" in the NRSV. The term arsenokoitai appears again in a list of those who are "lawless and disobedient" in I Timothy 1:10.

These two Greek words, malakoi and arsenokoitai, have been studied extensively, and as often is the case with words used infrequently in Scripture so that there is little basis to establish clarity about their meaning, the English words used to translate them have often reflected the biases and assumptions of the translators. Malakoi means "soft one" in Greek, and many translators have interpreted this to mean someone who is effeminate or gay. Maybe. It could also mean someone who is weak or undisciplined. Or someone who likes to wear fancy clothes, a so-called "dandy."

The Greek word arsenokoitai is also ambiguous. It is a compound expression of the Greek words that mean "male" and "bed," and has often been assumed by biblical scholars to mean men who go to bed with each other. Some scholars question this assumption. Mary Tolbert, testifying to a United Methodist Committee on Investigations in 2000, summarized the work of Yale University biblical scholar, Professor Dale Martin, who concludes that the Greek word arsenokoitai "seems to have referred to some kind of economic exploitation by means of sex, perhaps but not necessarily homosexual sex." Read Tolbert's statement here.

The third -- and most significant and difficult -- New Testament reference to homosexual practice is found in Romans 1: 18-32. Here Paul is critiquing the thinking and practices of pagan or Greek culture. He argues that, even without access to Scripture, the nature of God is evident in creation. But Greek culture rejected what should have been obvious and "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a human being or birds" and so on. (Rom. 1: 23) Paul argues that a consequence of this is that God gave them up "to degrading passions." (Rom. 1: 26) Two primary examples given in Romans 1 (others are gossiping, slander, haughtiness, boastfulness, heartlessness, and rebelliousness toward parents [Rom. 1: 29-31] ) for such "degrading passions" are:

1. "Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural," and

2. "The men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men..." (Rom. 1: 26-27)

Scholars have usually assumed the "unnatural" act done by women to which Paul referred was tribadism, the term used in antiquity for certain lesbian sexual practices, although Paul never says so specifically. He may have been referring to other acts he considered unnatural.

Paul's reference to male same-sex acts and desires is, however, quite specific. It is interesting to note that Paul considers these acts and desires to be a consequence of idolatry. Because the Greeks "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds" etc. (Rom. 1:23) "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity ..." (Rom. 1:24 Italics mine) According to this passage, Paul considered same-sex acts to be unnatural and, thus, a consequence of the idolatry of Greek culture.

Of course, Paul had his own particular sense of what is natural and unnatural. In his commentary on Romans in the Anchor Bible series, the biblical scholar Joseph A. Fitzmyer, who seems otherwise sympathetic to Paul's opinions in Romans 1: 18-32, does admit that there is a potential problem with taking Paul's teachings there too literally. He points out that the Greek word physis, which is the term Paul uses in Romans 1 to talk about what is natural and unnatural, is the same word he uses in I Corinthians 11: 14: "Does not nature (physis) itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him ..." Fitzmyer, who agrees with Paul's assumptions in Romans 1 about what is natural and unnatural, comments on Paul's assumptions about men and short hair: "In this instance, physis hardly refers to the natural order of things, but to social convention." (Romans: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 33 of The Anchor Bible, p. 287.) The point is that Paul's own cultural biases do influence his teachings in ways that we might not always consider authorative today.

Personally, I believe the culture out of which the Old Testament was written generally disapproved of homosexuality. I also believe the Apostle Paul shared in Jewish cultural assumptions of his time as to what is "natural" and "unnatural."

My only point here is to illustrate that the assumption that there are numerous prohibitions against homosexual practice in the Bible is not really true, although I understand how someone might get this impression by listening to preachers and teachers who are so fixated on this concern. You might think it was the primary theme of Scripture! At most there are seven reference. Compare this to more than 300 verses about social justice and the poor. See "The Bible on the Poor."

The next question is whether these several references reflect the culture out of which the Bible emerged or whether they are revelatory of the movement of God in the midst of that culture. The Bible, I am convinced, reflects both the culture in which the events recorded happened and the movement of the Spirit of God toward liberation, justice, healing, reconciliation, beauty, and truth. In other words, "we have this treasure in clay jars" (II Cor. 4: 7) or "in earthen vessels" as the King James Version says. Are these few references condemning homosexual practices (and, in the case of Romans 1:27, homosexual desires) part of the treasure or part of the clay?

A significant factor in thinking this through is the question of whether Leviticus or the Apostle Paul understood that there is such a thing as sexual orientation, which is innate and established by nature.

These questions need further discussion and attention.

For more information about biblical references to homosexuality and questions of how to interpret the several biblical references, I strongly recommend an essay entitled "The Bible, the Church and Homosexuality" by Dan O. Via, a retired professor of New Testament Studies at Duke Divinity School, in the book Homosexuality and the Bible published by Fortress Press. (The book also contains an essay by Robert A. J. Gagnon arguing an alternative opinion if you want to read an articulate, if somewhat frenzied, exposition of a view opposed to homosexual practice. Obviously I am not convinced by Gagnon's arguments.)

In his essay in Homosexuality and the Bible, Via puts the discussion we need to have with one another in what I believe is the proper context. "There are two basic positions, although each is variously nuanced," he writes. These are the alternative possibilities:

1. "All homosexual acts are sinful by their very nature," or

2. "Homosexual acts are not in themselves immoral or sinful but, like heterosexual acts, are good or bad depending on the context that defines and gives meaning to them."

I would appreciate hearing your reaction and hope this conversation can continue.

Comments

[Sherry H Mabry]

I have been very impressed with your open and honest discussion of the scripture. I am a 44 year old female. I am married now a little over 3 years to my husband (which is my second). He is a transgendered F to M. Our personal realtionship to Christ is the most important thing in our lives.

But as you probably already know we have been disowned, cast out, told we were going to hell, that my husband John is the devil himself. I prayed for many years for God to bring a man of God into my life and the lives of my children.

John too was praying for a godly wife.

God spoke to me one night as I was in the presence of John (as a friend) and I heard him say "he is to be your husband." Well lets just say I dropped my water and ran. This was the beginning of much prayer with my face in the carpet and fear of what I had heard. I knew of John's past and I had always been taught that any sexuality other than heterosexuality was wrong and was a straight path to hell.

If God intended for John to be my husband he had some work cut out for him!!!

What a wonderful God we have because I have now been married to the most wonderful man in the world for 3 years and 2 months. He is the best thing other than Christ himself that has ever happened to me or my family.

Our story is a story of God's grace and God's love and provision. I just wish people could know that. Unfortunately most people that know of John's past has cast their judgement on us and we are doomed. But God is good and I know God has not turned his face from us, just the opposite he is providing all our needs according to his word. And as his word promised he has given us more than we could ever have imagined.

Our entire story is a wonderful love story written by God.

At one point in God's convincing me that John was the one to be my husband He said to me in prayer one night "it will take someone special to love John" and as I argued with him at that point I now know I probably did hear Him wrong. I believe He said "it will take someone speical to love you."

Feel free to contact me if you would like to know more of our story.

Sherry