Battling Your Own Church

Well, the fun never stops in the Episcopal Church (of which I am a member). I received an e-mail the other day on the upcoming classes offered as part of the Christian Education program at St. John's Cathedral in Denver (yes, the Bishop's church). I attended there for a few years. It was nice, especially once they got the new Dean of the Cathedral, Father Peter....but I digress. The e-mail I received included the following quote:

January 12, 19, 26, February 2

Liberal Interpretations of the Bible For Contemporary

Decision Making: Theologian-in-Residence Ed Everding

will lead a series of classes that demonstrate it is

possible to take the Bible seriously but not literally.

In this course, the class will explore some of the

traditional ways of appealing to scripture to create

plausible and valid rationales (but not rationalizations!)

for liberal or progressive decisions about contemporary

moral issues such as war, homosexuality and gay marriage,

religious diversity, stem cell research, and the

marginalized in society.

Well, the war continues. I find it interesting that we're LOOKING for interpretations of the Holy Scriptures that will fit our particular world-view. I'll admit I'm a bit limited in this area, as I'm not a trained, fully-educated theologian, but isn't it wrong to start reinterpreting the Bible, especially if the reinterpretation is to be used to support the spread of sin? Paul warns of this fallacy many times in his letters, because the same kind of thing was happening in his time, when the church was much younger and less mature (but more passionate and temporally closer to the resurrection of Christ). You'd think we'd have learned our lesson by now, after nearly 2000 years.

Now, let me say this up-front. I believe homosexuality is a sin, and that a choice of lifestyle such as this does not deserve the official support of the government (i.e., I don't believe same-sex marriage should be allowed, either). Don't take this to mean that I hate gays, or that I'm a homophobe...I'm sure there are those people out there who will accuse me of this as a knee-jerk reaction to the second sentence of this paragraph. In my mind, they are sinners, just as I am a sinner, Jesus Christ still died for them on the cross, and they are still just as deserving as I am (or as anyone else is) of God's grace and mercy, if they come to Him truly repentant for their sins. In that way, they are equal to me, as every living human is equal to me. I would never turn away a homosexual who needed my help...that also is sin, and I would be hypocritical to do such an awful thing. “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

However, I have thought long and hard about this, and I have both Biblical and scientific reasoning for the way I believe. Most liberals seem to believe that conservatives are backwards hicks who should be shunned or, even better, isolated in pockets (called "Retro America" by liberals such as these...apparently, because I voted for George W. Bush, I'm not "metro-minded," whatever that means. Very good...let's continue the class warfare by making it regional). Since we're discussing the church tonight, I'll stick with my Biblical arguments. Forget the fact that the Bible warns repeatedly about the dangers of sexual immorality, both in the Old AND New Testament. Forget that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because the people there committed homosexual acts (among many other things), and that the men of Sodom tried to force their way into Lot's house to take the two angels (appearing as men) who had come to visit Lot and warn him of the city's destruction, so that they could have sex with them. Let's look at this from the standpoint of a positive expression of God's will for us, rather than a negative warning or admonition regarding our naturally sinful behavior. One statement, above all others, demonstrates this point:

Be fruitful and multiply.

That's it. God says this to us in Genesis, not once, not twice, but three times (when he creates Adam, immediately after Noah has emerged from the Ark after the flood, and to Jacob after he has blessed him and renamed him Israel). God has told us His will for our lives in that clear, simple statement, and the first time he told us, it was right after he created us. Many theologians will call my argument overly simplistic, but not everything has to be complicated to make sense (in fact, William of Occam warned of unnecessarily-complicated logical arguments in the 14th century...again, you'd think we'd have learned our lesson by now). Seriously, consider what would happen if we decided to ignore this part of God's will for us like we ignore so many other parts of His will for us. Now, knowing this, ask yourself this question: can homosexuals follow this command on their own, without any assistance? A heterosexual couple certainly can, but a homosexual couple cannot. So, since sin is that which is contrary to God's will, this seems pretty clear-cut to me. It doesn't really need to be complicated. When was the last time you got in an argument that killing and stealing were not contrary to God's will?

Now comes the hard part...getting others to admit that homosexuality is sin. No one wants to face that they're sinners...that's what makes going to Jesus so difficult in the first place. The first step you take in a standard plan for salvation is, admit that you're a sinner. The problem I have with the situation now facing the Episcopal Church USA is NOT that they have consecrated a homosexual bishop, but that they have consecrated a practicing homosexual bishop who seems to believe that his lifestyle choice is NOT sin. Indeed, he is completely unrepentant about his homosexuality (he apparently has that mentioned rationale, not rationalization, for his lifestyle choice). How can we have someone who is a willing, unrepentant sinner leading believers telling others not to sin? Satan leads us to sin...Jesus delivers us from it.

In the interest of the religious diversity also demonstrated in the above course, perhaps next ECUSA will go Mormon and consecrate a practicing polygamist...I'm sure someone can find a "plausible and valid rationale (not rationalization)" in scripture for that one. Hey, didn't Jacob have two wives?