Recently while I was on vacation, a man by the name of Mark responded to my last blog entry concerning the pro-homosexuality, pseudo-biblical article in Newsweek magazine. Mark asked some questions about the way I interpret the Bible and rather than posting such a lenghty response in the comment section, I offer my response here as a new entry. If you have not read my last entry, or Mark's response, please do before you read this, or some of this response will make very little sense. Hope you all had a good holiday!
Mark,
Let me again say thank you for taking the time to look at my blog and commenting on what you believe to be an error on my part. I will readily admit that I have been wrong in my life many times, and I appreciate those who have pointed out my mistakes so I could fix them. However, in this instance I believe that what I have written is correct and harmonizes with the scriptures. The points you borrowed from the blog you mentioned seem convincing if you yank them out of their immediate contexts, and the context of the whole Bible. But that doesn’t really further the discussion. You asked if I would explain how I interpret the Bible. I will be glad to. In fact, I think once we understand one key teaching from the New Testament, then it will answer most of your questions.
Read Hebrews 9:11-28. In that passage of scripture, the writer explains Jesus’ role in our redemption. He calls Him our High Priest and also our Mediator. In fact, it says He is a mediator of a new covenant. In verse 17 He tells us when this new covenant took effect - following His death. In other words, up until the time of Christ’s death the Law that men were accountable unto was the Law of Moses. That means that anyone desiring to please God during the time from Mt. Sinai to the Cross needed to do so as a Jew under the Old Law. However, that is no longer the case.
In Hebrews chapter 8 (leading up to the passage we already noticed) we find something very interesting: the old was vanishing away. In Hebrews 8:13 (as well as many other passages) we find that Christians are not under the Old Law. Those things were written for our learning, so that we could better understand the way God had interacted with the world throughout time, but we are no longer bound to those things. In fact the entire book of Galatians is about just this point.
So to give you a concise answer; I don’t accept those Old Testament passages as authoritative because we are under a New Law. So that answers your 1st, 2nd, and 4th (remember they were living under the Old Law still, in that passage) points.
As far as your 3rd point is concerned, you probably should have read those scripture references before you typed them, because Luke 12:47 does not say “slaves who don’t follow orders should be whipped.” If you had read that chapter you would have noticed that Jesus was speaking in parables (v.41) and that he was making a point (quite poetically actually) about disobedience and punishment. If you would like to have a discussion about what the Bible actually says about slavery, we can do that, but please stop playing fast and loose with the scriptures.
So that brings us back to the Bible. Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6 still indicate that homosexuality is not pleasing to God. The reason I “believe” these passages is because God wrote them, and apparently meant them. And despite what you think, they do not promote prejudice and hate. I do not hate homosexual people. The fact that you wrote such indicates your problem is with something other than the Bible. Homosexuals are practicing a lifestyle that is not right. But that doesn’t mean they are any less of a person or any more evil than their heterosexual counterparts. But we are not called to compare ourselves to those around us. God expects us to measure ourselves against His word, and as we have seen, that word plainly teaches that homosexuality is wrong.
I hope that answers your questions. If not, please feel free to let me know. - JC3
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