Homosexuality, A Sin?

I read an interesting sermon today entitled “Conflict in the Church: Is Homosexuality a Sin?” The sermon was presented on January 29, 2006 by Betsy Singleton, pastor of Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church in Little Rock, AR. She is also the wife of Arkansas Congressmen Vic Snyder.

This was her fourth sermon in a series of “Difficult Questions Christians Face.” She begins with how she developed her thoughts and ideas. She referred to “four basic tools to help us listen for God’s living word to us today” and they were “the primary one is Scripture, in addition to tradition, experience and reason.”

If you allow me to do so, I’d like to quote her definitions of the four tools above. These quotes are taken from another sermon that I will post later.

“1) Scripture. The first is scripture. While it does not and cannot specifically answer questions about which its writers knew absolutely nothing thousands of years ago, scripture is the story of God’s promises to us, not a rigid rule book. Like some Christians, we could pick apart its contents and find one or two lines to support almost any position, but that violates the integrity of its historical formation over thousands of years as people evolved in their relationship and understanding of God. The story contained in Genesis to Revelation, particularly the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, is our primary guide.

2) Christian tradition is another tool. It includes church teachings over the last 2000 years: the accumulation of creeds, liturgies, prayers, hymns, as well as church history. For United Methodists, it also includes the Book of Discipline and The Book of Resolutions, our own laws and official positions that guide our Christian actions. For example, our church has an official statement on inter-religious dialogue that should help guide our discussions with persons of other faith traditions. We may not always agree with these (and I do not always), but we do believe that God’s Spirit is working with human leaders to speak anew to the church today.

3) Experience is a third tool we bring to answering difficult questions. Experience refers to how the Spirit of God is at work in our lives as a community of faith for one another and for the world. It is not merely about how you or I experience something, but how God’s Spirit is at work through us, our prayers and our mutual witness.

4) Reason is another tool. Along with experience, John Wesley, our founder, believed that we must apply our ability to reason using the other tools, so that we can make a reasonable statement of our beliefs, and know why we believe what we believe.”
(Taken from “Is Christianity the Only Way?” – Betsy Singleton January 8, 2006)

She also uses personal stories of people she has met over the years who struggle in homosexuality and how they came to their conclusions.

Below are a few quotes taken from her sermon:
“The other two passages in the Old Testament refer to Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13: “a man shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.”

Why is this?

In ancient Israel there are two kinds of evil: 1) sin and 2) uncleanness. “Sin” is an intentional rebellion against God. Yet “uncleanness” comes from contact with some physical object—animals, foods, corpses, pagan rites, sexual process, etc. In other words, it’s contagious. Thus ancient Israel understood cleanness to be about wholeness, perfection, and completeness, so that this requirement of completeness means that classes cannot be mixed: cattle are not to be bred to a different kind; fields are not sown using different seeds, etc. Thus homosexual behavior is understood similarly as mixing what should not be mixed; it is uncleanness, not sin”

“Now to the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul provides a list of those who are living lives in opposition to God’s plans including male prostitutes and sodomites. There is debate about what these two Greek words actually mean. Some believe the words constitute a reference to any homosexual behavior, and some believe the text is only citing a specific vice called “pederasty,” a practice of male adult domination over a submissive minor male for sexual purposes. In Romans 1, Paul addresses our fallen human nature, including examples of same-sex relations by both genders. For Paul, this behavior is a result of sin because it is chosen behavior. The problem for readers today is that we also take into account that homosexuality may be “natural” for some and thus not chosen, sinful behavior. Neither passage recognizes a possible committed homosexual relationship as reality because that was not understood to be normative for some.”

Through her teaching we can see that she believes that Scripture alone is not enough. You find yourself in trouble when you start using the thoughts of man to base your beliefs on. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the Bible is inspired and sufficient for all teaching, reproof, correction and training. I guess she missed the “all” part of the verse. I also didn’t see an asterisk pointing me to a note at the bottom of the page that says “this will not apply in 2000 years.”

Scripture on homosexuality is just as relevant today as it was then. That’s why Paul was addressing the issue above. It was rampant then as it is now. The same Word applies to then and now. You cannot take the unchanging Word from an unchanging God and interpret your personal beliefs into them. The opposite is true. Our beliefs, actions, and life should be derived from God’s Holy Word. It’s either right in all aspects of life or no part at all.

I also wanted to comment on her “natural” thoughts. Lets say that she’s correct in saying that homosexuality is natural and cannot be wrong. Ok. I said it. I believe it’s natural for people to lie, steal and lust. But the Bible teaches that these are sins as well. So we can’t say it’s ok to lie just because it’s natural. The Bible teaches that the natural man must die. A believer is a new creature bought with a price. And with His strength in us we can say no to the natural things.

Now, should the church raise the sin of homosexuality above any other sin? No, but that’s another post.