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TechnoratiGiven the upcoming Sept. 30 deadline handed to The Episcopal Church to make an unequivocal pledge not to consecrate another openly gay bishop or bless same-sex unions, this commentary is being republished by request. It was originally published Tuesday, August 12, 2003.
Every important issue in the church essentially comes down to the authority of the Bible. The debate over the election of the Episcopal Church's first openly homosexual bishop is a prime example of this inescapable fact – and a closer look at the arguments reveals the lengths to which homosexual activists must go in order the neutralize the Bible in the debate.
The Bible condemns homosexuality in every form. This message is not hidden, complicated, or nuanced. The Old Testament texts detail the sin of Sodom and the prohibitions against homosexual activity. The New Testament is equally clear, and offers a more expansive explanation. In Romans 1:18-28, the Apostle Paul explains that both male and female homosexuality are evidence of the extreme evil of human sin. Homosexual acts – and homosexual passions – are "degrading" and "unnatural," and those who perform such "indecent" acts are "receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." Of course, Paul instructs us that all are sinners, but homosexuality leads his catalogue of human sinfulness. No ambiguity here.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul warns that persons who give themselves to such sins will not inherit the kingdom of God, making specific mention of both passive and active partners in a homosexual act. The Apostle's candor is bracing, and we should be thankful for his clarity.
Of course, homosexual activists and liberal theologians have been hard at work undermining the authority of these texts [and all other texts dealing with limitations on sexual behavior]. We should look carefully at their maneuvers, for they reveal the most tragic nature of their rebellion – a rebellion against the Creator and His Word.
Bishop-Elect Gene Robinson, basking in the media attention directed at him as the church's first gay bishop, dismissed the Bible as essentially irrelevant: "Just simply to say that it [homosexuality] goes against tradition and the teaching of Scripture does not necessarily make it wrong." Oh, no? Just what must be added to the Bible's teaching in order to make it wrong? The bishop-elect explained that Christians "worship a living God and that living God leads us into truth." But according to Robinson's logic, God would lead us away from His own Word.
The case for legitimizing homosexuality rests on the assumption that morality is constantly changing and that we have now "matured" into a new era of sexual license and liberation. The biblical writers are hopelessly outdated and repressed.
Retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong went so far as to accuse the Apostle Paul of being a repressed homosexual. Poor chap, if he only had Spong for a pastor, he would learn not to repress anything.
The advocates of homosexuality have only two plays in their playbook when it comes to the Bible. They must either deny that the Bible has any authority in this debate, or they must present some kind of ridiculous interpretation of the biblical text that comes down to claiming that the text doesn't mean what it means. Most of the gay theorists use both plays in their arguments – and sometimes both at once. Continue »
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