Restitutio

In the last episode (Boundaries for Same-Sex Attraction), we looked at what the bible says about same-sex attraction.  In this one, we consider seven important questions about gay and lesbian Christians:

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Notes:

Becket Cook’s story can help us think through some really tough questions related to same-sex attraction.[1]  Our culture pressures us through songs, movies, and stories about finding romance to believe singleness is inferior to relationships.  It’s easy to get the impression that to achieve human flourishing and experience humanity to its fullest, you need to get married (or at least be in a serious relationship).  What does that say about Jesus?  Are we saying he wasn’t a full human being?  Did Christ mope around, longing for romance?  Did the great missionary Paul think singleness was a curse?  Far from it, he wrote, “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am” (1 Cor 7.8).  He goes on to extol the benefits of celibate singleness, including freedom from worrying about how to please a spouse and freedom to serve the Lord better.  He concludes, “So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better…Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is [i.e. single]” (1 Cor 7:38, 40).

Question 1: How should same-sex attracted Christians think of themselves?  Sam Allberry, author of Is God Anti-Gay, an excellent book, writes:

The gospel of Jesus is wonderful news for someone who experiences same-sex attraction.  I used the term “same-sex attraction” just then because an immediate challenge is how I describe myself.  In western culture today the obvious term for someone with homosexual feelings is “gay.”  But in my experience this often refers to far more than someone’s sexual orientation.  It has come to describe an identity and a lifestyle.

When someone says they’re g

Is it a sin to be gay? What does the bible say about same-sex attraction? In this episode you’ll become familiar with the relevant scriptures that talk about homosexuality. You’ll also learn what arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται) means in 1 Corinthians 6.9, a key battleground text for discussions of biblical sexuality. Here the Apostle Paul pulls from the Greek translation of Leviticus 20.13 as well as Roman sexual sensibilities to condemn both active and passive participants of same-sex acts.  Whether you believe in accepting gay lifestyles or think homosexual behavior is sinful, it’s important to get a grasp on what the bible says about this incredibly controversial subject.

Notes:

Creation provides the foundation for what the bible says about human sexuality:

Genesis 2:23-24

God’s original design was a man and a woman, complementing each other in marriage.  However, when our first parents rebelled, humanity fell from its original condition.  The serpent asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (Gen 3:1).  After Eve confirmed God’s restriction not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent said, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3.5).  He wanted the first people to distrust God, to think he’s holding them back, to imagine he’s restricting them from enjoying something good.  As a result Adam and Eve committed high treason against their maker in an act of open rebellion.  Consequently “fallenness” contaminated them and their descendants ever since.

Romans 5.12, 17, 18, 19

Today we are imperfect mirrors stamped with God’s image, but broken in all kinds of ways.  Some of us are tempted with losing our tempers, others with adultery, still others with greed.  Our fallen condition means that from birth we are out of tune with how God wants for us to think and live.  Of course, redemption is available in Christ today and ultimately complete restoration will flood our world when the kingdom comes, healing everyone from sinful impulses, physical sickness, and relational dysfunction.

Although the incident in Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19) is the first mention of same-sex desire, it’s not particularly helpful for figuring out the bible’s position on homosexuality, since the men of the city wanted to rape the visitors.  (Rape, of course, is condemned throughout scripture.)  Instead, we’ll begin in the Law of Moses with two texts in Leviticus.

Leviticus 18.22

abomination: something that causes disgust or hatred.  Example: “Although once common, torture is now an abomination to the civilized peoples of the earth.”[1]

Lest you think abomination is a radical word, solely used for sexual acts, here are some other abominations in scripture:

Jackie Hill-Perry used to dress like a boy to go out and pick up girls. She ended up in a long-term relationship with another woman, but then she came to a sudden realization that she was living a lie. She’s completely changed her life and now embraces her femininity and even got married to a man (Preston Perry). She’s a poet, a hip-hop artist, and a powerful speaker.  This is her testimony.  Warning! This episode contains sexually explicit content and is not appropriate for children.

Notes:

Meet Becket Cook.  He’s a very well-connected gay fashion set designer who has traveled the world, attended the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, etc., and rubbed shoulders with Hollywood’s A-list actors.  One day he saw Christians reading their bibles in a trendy coffee shop in LA and engaged them in conversation.  One of them invited Cook to church and he went to check it out.  That Sunday God encountered him in a spectacular way that instantaneously changed his life from that day forward.  God gave him a vision of his holiness and in a moment Cook knew that God was real, Jesus was real, eternal life was real and that homosexuality was wrong.  In addition to his testimony, I ask him what questions he gets asked, including:

Cook answers these questions confidently and biblically.  Throughout this interview his enthusiasm for God and life will draw you in.  Even though his conversion was nearly eight years ago, Cook says he wakes up every day “in awe of God and his holiness and his grace on me.” He’s just about to finish up his seminary degree at BIOLA (Talbot), working with JP Moreland and others.  His goal is to develop a ministry that helps the church understand homosexuality biblically, theologically, culturally, and personally.

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The best chapter on resurrection in the bible is 1 Corinthians 15. In it, the Apostle Paul masterfully lays out the Christian position on resurrection while overcoming common objections in the culture. As it turns out, people living in Corinth thought the idea of resurrection seemed real bizarre.  Looking at tombstone inscriptions, Plato’s Phaedo, and Celsus’ criticism of Christianity, we can get a sense for why the Corinthians balked at resurrection.  However, there’s no way around it; if we get rid of our belief in resurrection, then Jesus himself is not raised and our faith is worthless.  But, since Jesus is risen, we know that resurrection is possible and it awaits God’s people on the last day.

Notes:

How does salvation work?  Is Israel still God’s chosen people or are they on the same footing as everyone else now that the Messiah has come?  In Off Script episode 17, Is Jesus the Only Way to God?, Brian wrote in, inquiring if a Torah-observant Jew could be saved even if he or she didn’t believe in Jesus.  He sharpened his question by pointing out how painfully aware many Jews are of how Jesus’ followers have horribly mistreated their people over the centuries. In this interview, Matthew Elton deftly works his way through several of Paul’s epistles, giving special attention to Romans 9 to find an answer.  Whether you are interested in Jewish-Christian relations or struggle to understand the doctrine of election, this bible-heavy interview is sure to stimulate your thinking on these important issues.

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Are you embarrassed of your non-traditional beliefs about God? Victor Gluckin says that it’s time to stand up for what we believe. Believing God is one (instead of three-in-one) is not some sort of fringe doctrine; it’s at the very heart of biblical faith. After all, Jesus himself identified the Jewish “shema” as the most important command.  He said:

The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12.29-30 )

Knowing that Yahweh our God is one and loving him (not them) with everything is paramount for authentic Christ-centered Christianity.

Drawing on the examples of the prophets of old, Michael Servetus, and John Biddle, Gluckin urges us to boldness:

“The testimony of scripture to the proclamation of the identity and personality of Yahweh is clear and consistent…Yet today many believers in the unity of God remain silent, afraid and ashamed. My brothers and sisters, things should not be this way. Our God and our Lord deserve more from their followers.”

Notes:

Back in Interview 11, Joe Martin talked about how he was soon to step down from his leadership position at the Church of God (General Conference).  In this episode, you’ll hear from Seth Ross, who has taken up the mantle and who casts his vision for the future.  You’ll learn about his background, his twenty years pastoring a church in Ohio, and how he came to be the executive director.  What I found particularly refreshing about Ross’ outlook is how non-sectarian he is.  Rather than looking at the Church of God as a denomination to be protected from hostile secularists, on the one hand, and heresy hunting evangelicals, on the other, he sees his role as a cheerleader and facilitator not only for his network of churches, but also individuals far and wide who are studying the bible and coming to discover God’s identity, the kingdom gospel, conditional immortality, and believers’ baptism.  Whether you are a member of the Church of God or not, this interview should get you excited about the future of what God’s doing in the world in our time.

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No one joined the Pharisees out of desire to practice professional hypocrisy. They were the devout, the separated, the ones who took God and holiness seriously. However, by the time of Jesus, they had confused godliness with self-righteousness and lost compassion in the process. It’s so easy for us to root for Jesus as he calls them on their hypocrisy. Nonetheless, this same attitude–thinking we’re better than others–is not just a Pharisee problem. When we look within our own hearts, we see our own self-righteousness masking itself as moral outrage. What’s the cure? The way to heal a judgmental heart is with the medicine of grace and humility.

Quotes from This Episode

Dale Tuggy:

“God would rather have ten humble Trinitarians that are trying to follow Jesus every day, and act his teachings in their daily lives, he’d rather have ten of those guys than one constantly battling and self-righteous, angry, condemning, doctrine-obsessed unitarian, who’s got the correct theology. So…don’t be that guy. If we’re that guy, the movement’s doomed.”

Frederick Douglass:

“I find, since reading over the foregoing Narrative, that I have, in several instances, spoken in such a tone and manner, respecting religion, as may possibly lead those unacquainted with my religious views to suppose me an opponent of all religion. To remove the liability of such misapprehension, I deem it proper to append the following brief explanation.

What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other.

I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of “stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.” I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which everywhere surround me.

We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cow skin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me…

The Christianity of America is a Christianity, of whose votaries it may be as truly said, as it was of the ancient scribes and Pharisees, “They bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides! which s

Now that we’ve worked through several counterfeit gods, including love, money, success, and power, it’s time to dig in a little deeper.  Do you understand your own heart?  Can you discern where you are tempted to idolize something or someone?  In order to figure this out, ask yourself these four questions:

Asking these kinds of questions can help you discover your own counterfeit gods.  However, even once you’ve identified and uprooted them, you still have to put God on the throne.  One of the best ways to do this is to recognize the incredible worth and value of God.  To that end, here are ten reasons why God is is worthy of worship.

10 Reasons Why God Is Awesome

Ultimately, we need to cultivate our relationship with God.  Worshiping him takes work and diligence, but it is grounded in God’s unfathomable love shown to us through the cross.

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