The (old) Licquia Family Blog
This is the old blog site, powered by a simple blogging system called Blosxom. It's here to keep old links from breaking, and for whatever historic interest might remain.
Here's the current site.
This is the old blog site, powered by a simple blogging system called Blosxom. It's here to keep old links from breaking, and for whatever historic interest might remain.
Here's the current site.
I made the mistake of getting sucked into a touchy subject Dean Esmay brought up today. Dean was magnificent as always, as were others, but you might want to brace yourself before reading some of the other comments. That is, unless you enjoy hearing Christ compared to Charles Barkley, the Church compared to the Klan, or Christians being called idiots.
I confess to having reacted in the forum quite strongly. It seems to be the thing now to insult the intelligence of Christians, and you get tired of it after a while. This is one of the reasons I've really enjoyed, and passed on, Steven Den Beste's posts; he doesn't mind admitting that we Christians really can be on his intellectual level, lofty as that may be.
Anyway, the post was about learning to live and let live, with specific reference to homosexuals vs. Christians. Dean quotes a post on the Daily Contentions blog (no permalinks; scroll down to the May 23rd entry entitled "Christianity and Homosexuality"), who points out a group called Whosoever, an online mag for homo/bi-sexual Christians. They preach tolerance and compassion, and also have a Bible analysis page regarding passages about homosexuality.
I'll have to color myself "unconvinced" on part of their Biblical case. I have experience with koine Greek, and have translated portions of the New Testament, and I've studied this issue specifically. They do have a good point that "feelings" and "orientation" aren't addressed in the Bible; they aren't. But actions are, and I think they do a lot of dancing around the issues regarding homosexual actions, especially regarding their "temple prostitution" explanation.
I'd have to say, though, that they certainly don't "disproof-text" any worse than a lot of evangelical Christian groups. Can they legitimately call themselves Christian? Sure. Fundamentalist they ain't, as can be seen from their statement of faith (in particular, point 7), but they affirm the basics of the Creeds. I might not sign on to their doctrinal statement, but I wouldn't presume to act as their judge. And I certainly wouldn't support persecuting them, or withholding the benefits of liberal democracy from them.
And you know what? None of our theologies are totally correct. Let God convict them of anything they need to be convicted of; it's his job anyway. And would it be so bad if God spoke to homosexuals through this magazine? Which ministry, after all, could claim to be without sin, if sinlessness is to be the new prerequisite for effective ministry? If you would wag your finger: would you also sincerely pray that they conform to Christ's plan, wherever that may lead?
And they do have a message for all of us. Hate, as a sin, trumps sex in any form. Go read how much of the Bible is directed at hate, and how much at sex, and you'll get an idea of God's priorities. (For that matter, do the same about greed or idolatry.) So is hating gays a Christian thing to do? Not by a long shot. People who hate anyone for their sin are too far removed from their own salvation to remember from whence they came.
May 24, 2003 | Comments are no longer available