Go to the post on Why We Suck a few entries down, and you'll see a great comment from Inis, a blog friend and poster-of-challenging-comments.
Inis asks how it is that I push that the Church can't accept homosexuality. She asks, if I say we'd accept it because we cave, wouldn't not accepting it be caving to another side?
My answer is no, because this is the Church's position, that it's not acceptable. There may be many who dispute this, but that does not change anything. Maybe soon I'll post on Vincent of Lerins' formula for Christian Doctrine, "what was believed from the beginning, by all, everywhere."
But for now: Inis refers to the prohibition in Leviticus against homosexuality. That's not the only place the Bible prohibits homosexuality in the Old Testament. But more to the point for Christians, the New Testament prohibits it as well. In the first instance, homosexuality was rampant in the 1st century world. Jesus, following the order in Genesis, sees marriage as only one man and one woman.
Romans 1:27
1 Corinthians 6:9
Jude 7
Revelation 21:8
Additionally, Inis remarks that the Gospels don't condemn people for what/who they are. Yes, they do. Otherwise there'd be no call to repent. If we were just fine, Jesus would never have come, much less died for us. The gentleness that Inis sees is the kindness of God that sees the helplessness of humanity in its sinfulness, and God's grace in providing a remedy through Jesus Christ-- homosexual, adulterer, murderer, slave-trader, me-- all these things can and MUST be changed.
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1 comment:
Thanks for your gracious reply, Aaron. Sadly, now I find we only disagree more deeply, but your response was still thought-provoking. I won't take up what you've said any further just now. I'm in the midst of a writing project, and I suspect myself of starting internet debates with people who are never going to agree with me in order to avoid it. ;-) But here's hoping we can pick up the thread of this conversation another day.
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