Note: You get it three hours early this week... enjoy... probably won't happen frequently.
Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye... if those names don't mean much to you, that's ok), has struggled with a problem for years. When he graduated from Wheaton College, many of his Christian friends came out of the closet. His response at that time was the right one: "Love them. Unconditionally, without caveats or exceptions." However, he has now decided that after thousands of years of scriptural inquiry, the translators of the Bible were wrong, and the Bible doesn't actually say that homosexuality is a sin... at least not in the New Testament.
"The simple fact is that Old Testament references in Leviticus do treat homosexuality as a sin ... a capital offense even," Bakker writes. "But before you say, 'I told you so,' consider this: Eating shellfish, cutting your sideburns and getting tattoos were equally prohibited by ancient religious law.
"The truth is that the Bible endorses all sorts of attitudes and behaviors that we find unacceptable (and illegal) today and decries others that we recognize as no big deal."
Leviticus prohibits interracial marriage, endorses slavery and forbids women to wear trousers. Deuteronomy calls for brides who are found not to be virgins to be stoned to death, and for adulterers to be summarily executed."The church has always been late," Bakker told me in an interview this week. "We were late on slavery. We were late on civil rights. And now we're late on this."
I met Jay Bakker at his church when I went to New York on Spring Break trip with my campus ministry from Penn State. I think to call him "seeker sensitive" would be fair. He strikes me as someone who tries to love God, but has decided that he would rather love people first. I get that, I do that a lot too. However, Bob Russell once pulled from the Bible that God's Word is perfect and true... sharper than any double-edged sword... and if we preach the truth, then people will respond. If they don't respond to the truth, it doesn't much matter because following a false doctrine isn't guaranteed to get you into heaven. However, teaching false doctrine is pretty much guaranteed to keep you out. That's where Bakker has made his fatal mistake.
I basically hate anything that HuffPo puts out there because it's usually wildly inaccurate, but based on the article, and his direct quotes, I think Bakker is the one at the most fault here. Using the logic that "Jesus didn't talk much about homosexuality" is stupid... He also didn't talk about bestiality; that's another issue where the Old Testament condemns the practice, and the New Testament doesn't... Hey! Where's the nearest goat and I'll sign Jay Bakker up!
I'd love to know which Scripture he's talking about that has been mistranslated, but of course the article writer didn't feel the need to put it in, and I don't plan on buying this book. Specifically, I'd love to see the explanation for Romans 1:25-27
25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
BUT IT DOESN'T USE THE *WORD* HOMOSEXUAL, SO IT'S OK!!! Please. Now, let's get a few things straight. I do not hate gay people... in fact, I have friends who are gay. They like me and I like them. But when it comes down to it, I respect the Bible more than them, or any of my friends. As I said last week, I'm not perfect, I mess up, and I've sinned. I am as guilty as any gay person who walks on this earth. Both of us deserve to go to Hell. But when Jesus said "Go and sin no more," I think He meant all sin, and not just what we can rationalize as being "not sin" to our depraved minds. I like how Paul puts it in Romans 6:1,2
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
A good, honest reading of the Bible, for those who trust God and trust his Word, shows that the Bible frames homosexuality as a sin. It's not a mistranslation, it's not an error. So for gay people who try to find excuses to remain in their sin, instead of repenting like the entirety of Christianity, nay, the world is called to, they're in trouble.
That being said, out of the two, homosexuals as a community and Bakker, I feel like the homosexuals are actually in a better place. I'd love to see Bakker respond to 2 Peter 2 (I'll just quote the first three verses)
1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
I do agree with Bakker that people need to be shown the love of Christ. However, the love of Christ isn't always as lovey-dovey as we'd like it. Far and away, the most common attribute used to describe God in the Bible is "holy." We are to "Be holy, because [God] is holy." Sin is not holy, and false teaching is even less so. And so, for people like Bakker, I fear it's not the love of Christ they'll be experiencing, but the anger.
I read that article too and you can just ask Mike about the rant I went on. Has the church messed up largely in how they treat homosexuals? Yep. Has the Bible been mistranslated? Hell to the no.
ReplyDeleteMy first comment is going to go from the conversation we were having about people being born into different religions.
ReplyDeleteTo me what you said was "God will find a way to you and that falls on the church"
God creating people and then putting them in a bad situation like that of living somewhere non-christian. I didn't have anything to do with be born into a christian household, what makes me better at birth than so many people born all over the world? And if I were to die young in one of these countries would I go to hell simply because God didn't find me in time? What if I lived in some parts of Africa? Surely you can't expect for the church to find all of these people, which means some people could go their whole life without being "touched"
Who's fault is that? Does that mean God doesn't have a plan for millions of people, or does it mean something else
Note: I have to answer this in two parts because my answer was too long.
ReplyDeleteYou raise a completely fair and valid point, to which I must say I don't know the answer for sure. However, I can offer some possible defenses, if you'll accept the fact that I realize I'm not necessarily right.
(To others who may be reading this comment, this stems from a Twitter conversation that Ben and I had earlier) My first thought was to quote Romans 1-- "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." To me, this says that if God desires that all men be saved, there will be an opportunity for that to happen.
So then the question becomes, does God want that? Yes. 1 Tim 2:1-4 says this: "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
The question then becomes, how does this happen? That's the part I don't know. I know that God has instructed the church to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19-20a).
But the question you raise is, "What if the church doesn't get there? Does that person go to Hell specifically because we didn't get there in time?" My answer: I hope not, but we need to look at a few factors.
1.) God is holy and just.
Nothing that he says or does or thinks is anything less than perfect. As much as we think we know what truth and justness and fairness is, we have sinned and our understanding of God and of his Creation is less than perfect.
2.) God did curse multiple generations of multiple families.
In America, we're held responsible for our own actions. Our upbringing plays a role into it, but if we make a poor decision, we alone are blamed. That's not always so in the Bible. If someone committed an egregious sin, that punishment could be carried out for generations. I'm not sure that means that these people wouldn't be saved necessarily, but it does provide insight that man doesn't always start with a clean slate exactly. In the same way, if I were to get married and have 2 kids with my wife, but then I were to have an affair which resulted in an illegitimate child, that would be MY sin which reflects on my wife, my natural kids, and my illegitimate child as well. While they are not to blame, they still have to deal with the consequences of my poor decision.
3.) Those who have heard the gospel message are not necessarily in a better position than those who haven't.
ReplyDeleteLook at America. There's really no excuse to NOT know who Jesus is, but the presentation is tainted. Instead of hearing about Jesus as Creator and Savior, many times people hear about Him as "Invisible Sky Fairy" or "Jim Caviezel." While the access to the Truth is much higher, so is the responsibility to respond to that truth. If people who have never heard about God are without excuse, how much more are we, who hear about Him at least on a weekly basis, held without excuse? Conversely, those who have LESS knowledge of God, would seem to have LESS responsibility to know Him and respond to Him.
And so, while much of the world may view my "I don't know" as inadequate, I view it as a response in faith to God. Clearly, we have our marching orders... "Go" "Preach the truth in season and out of season." That is a responsibility we have in knowing God... He has given us the Bible, we can read it, and we know that's our role. We have that knowledge, so if we DON'T do it, we're at fault.
For those who have never heard the name of Jesus, but have seen a sunrise and praised the Creator of the world because of it, perhaps that's all that God will require of them. But how much more sure could we all be if the church does its duty and "proclaims the name of the Lord." (Deut 32:3)
In fact, Deuteronomy 32 is a good chapter to read about this whole subject. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut%2032&version=NIV
Hopefully that's sufficient enough. I always welcome more questions.