Open discussion of Biblical issues is always appropriate and reminds me of Paul’s debate in Athens with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (Acts 17:16-320). Recent discussions of Homosexual marriage in the church by retired United Methodist Bishop Roy Sano, and Dr. Ben Witherington, professor of New Testament at Asbury Seminary address this issue which threatens to fracture the United Methodist Church, and which is troubling to many believers.
Bishop Sano’s March 6 Editorial “Biblical Obedience” can be found at ( http://www.pnwumc.org/news/biblical-obedience )
Sano presents an involved argument for eliminating the prohibitions in the 2012 United Methodist Book of Discipline which state that:
- Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching (para. 304.3),
- that homosexual marriages shall not be conducted by United Methodist ministers (para. 341.6),
- that no United Methodist funds shall be given to promote acceptance of homosexuality (para. 806.9),
- that ministers who conduct homosexual marriages may be charged with an offense (para. 2702.1).
Sano’s central idea is that performing and fully recognizing homosexual marriages is a matter of “Biblical Obedience”. United Methodism “has therefore accumulated in the Discipline a tradition of prohibitions based on God creating male and female, but has nullified and abandoned biblical obedience to another way people are born or “made.” His personal conclusions are that:
- I support those who are celebrating same gender unions based on the biblical foundations in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
- The prohibition of same gender unions in our Discipline has nullified and abandoned key passages in the biblical witnesses to God’s work, and constrains us from fulfilling the Great Commandment with “weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.”
- We should therefore forgo any further uses of those provisions in the Discipline for charges and in trials.
- We now need hallowing conferences to develop a consensus around more appropriate strands in the biblical witnesses to God’s activities for the issue at hand. With consensus on those points, we will become more faithful to the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) and better able to reach new people and new generations for Christ.
Dr. Witherington’s response (Part 1 of 4) to Sano can be found at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bibleandculture/2014/03/17/a-response-to-bishop-sanos-call-to-biblical-obedience-part-one/ ).
Space does not permit a full description of Dr. Witherington’s response, but in part one he presents a compelling rebuttal to Bishop Sano at several points.
- Sano’s conclusions are in fact calling for the very opposite of ‘Biblical Obedience’. He mistakenly thinks that a matter of sexual ethics and sexual behavior is somehow a ‘justice’ issue, when it absolutely is not. The very logic of Scripture is turned upside down in order to support an increasingly popular view of gay and lesbian sexual activity and gay marriage as well.
- So far, there has been no discovery of a ‘gay’ gene. So far, the study of zygote twins, one of whom chooses a gay lifestyle the other of whom chooses a heterosexual lifestyle, also does not really support such a claim.
- If we assume some persons do have ‘gay’ inclinations or predispositions from birth. Why exactly would we see this as necessarily a good thing? After all, there are such things as birth defects, bad genetics, and so on. Why should we assume
that simply because one is ‘born that way’ that therefore ‘God made me this way’ and that thus necessarily this must be declared to be good? If we look at this from an strictly evolutionary point of view, any species that develops tendencies towards sexual relationships with other members of the same species that cannot result in the propagation of that species is
a dead end. It is a non-productive activity vis a vis the survival of the species. - This whole line of thought (‘that I was born this way and so this must be good’) totally and completely ignores a crucial Christian concept—namely human fallenness. Not everything in its present condition is good. And when it comes to human beings, here is the truth according to Scripture—- “all have sinned and fallen short (or lack) God’s glory” (Rom. 8). The Biblical message about our human condition is that we are all in our present condition sinners, and as such we have a rather infinite capacity for rationalizing our bad behavior. Self-justification in fact has become an art form in our overly sexualized and narcissistic culture.
- The issue in any case in the Bible is not ‘sexual orientation’ or even sexual inclinations. The issue in the Bible is sexual behavior. Period. The assumption throughout the NT is that by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit we have control over our behavior. When we cease to believe that fact, we have given up the whole notion that grace and the Spirit of God can enable us to behave in good and godly ways.
Parts two through four of Dr. Witherington’s response to Bishop Sano are rich with thoughtful analysis. Your thinking will be enriched by reading those responses
The specific issue of United Methodist pastors performing same-sex marriages is highly related to the issues of genetic inclinations and human behavior. However, I believe that we have allowed those issues to cloud and obscure the equally important issue of authority in marriage consecration. There is no right to consecrated marriage in the church. If that right existed, any person coming from any background and any lifestyle could demand that a pastor perform a marriage. Consecrated marriage is a privilege given by the church in accord with church and civil law.
A spirit of lawlessness is growing in United Methodism at all levels of leadership – bishops, superintendents, pastors, and membership. That lawlessness is leading to open defiance of the discipline and church practice. It is truly sad that schism is a real possibility for United Methodism. It has already happened in Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and other communions. John Wesley would weep over that possibility for the group that bears his name.
Divine Diet 