“Christians are homophobic, right wing, hypocrites.” I’ve written a couple posts in an effort to share a Christian response to that statement. So far I’ve addressed the accusation that Christians are “hypocrites” and “right wing” With this post we’ll tackle the last one (actually the first in the list).
Why are Christians perceived as homophobic?
Well, let’s think about it. I’m sure the accusation is unfairly leveled against many deeply committed Christ followers. That’s the problem with being in a family, including the Christian family. You often get blamed for the embarrassing stuff your siblings do.
However, sometimes the accusation is accurate. In all honesty, I think many well intentioned Christians practice what might be called “sin-spotlighting?” (Kind of like poachers who “spotlight” deer at night.) Sin-spotlighting is when I single out one sin as somehow “worse” than another. So right now, in some religious communities, the sin that seems to be in the spotlight is homosexual behavior.
I honestly think that’s a fairly objective statement. I haven’t, for example, heard anyone accusing Christians of being “greed-phobic.” Jesus (actually the Bible as a whole) says much more about the sin of greed than all the sexual sins put together. But for some reason, greed doesn’t seem to grab our attention. I wonder why.
Do you see what I mean? All I’m saying is I think we really should be honest enough to equalize all sin. Let’s give it all equal exposure.
If I may, let me anticipate an objection. Some might say (some have said) that the reason we must shine a spot light on homosexuality is because the “consequences” of that sin are more devastating than others. And to that objection I would respectfully ask why, then, didn’t Jesus spotlight it? Homosexuality was certainly pervasive in the ancient Roman culture. Why did Jesus seemingly ignore it?
If we value the teachings of Jesus at all, wouldn’t we make the use of violence against our enemies a “spot light sin?”(Matthew 5:38-48) Wouldn’t we say more about “fools” who store up more wealth than they need (Luke 12:13-21), and religious people who judge others instead of being honest about their own sin (Matthew 7:1-5)? Aren’t those the things that Jesus repeatedly underscored in his sermons?
Let’s be really honest for a minute. Maybe there is actually some truth to the “homophobic” accusation.
I would argue that our obsession with homosexuality is fear driven. I think, especially among evangelical Christians, there is an irrational fear of this particular sin. (In fact, we have all kinds of irrational fears. I guess we could speculate about why, but I won’t get into that now.) The point is, maybe we should pay attention to what Jesus says about the insidious nature of fear.
Jesus said, over and over again, “don’t fear.” In fact, he repeated that phrase more often than any other. Could it be that he knew his disciples would be more prone to fear, and more negatively impacted by fear, than any other tendency? The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1st John 4:18)
Perhaps the first step to regaining some credibility with people who could, I believe, benefit greatly from the message of Jesus is to humble ourselves. Maybe we could confess our inclination toward fear driven accusations and actions. (Reference the Crusades, the Inquisitions, Salem witch trials etc.) Maybe we could apologize for ranking one sin above another. Maybe we could repent of our un-Christ-like behavior and resolve to “spotlight” only our own sins.
I’m happy to hear what you think.
Part One
ReplyDeleteRob,
This will be in two parts since I couldn’t get it to fit in one comment. Also it’s not my intention to offend anyone reading this blog. This is just what I’ve learned reading the Bible over the years. First I’d like to point out that NOT ALL SIN is EQUAL in the sight of God. I must say that God never leveled two cities or gave the death penalty over greed. In John 19:11 Jesus says, "he that delivered me unto thee hath the GREATER sin." In the Bible it is clear that some sins required the death penalty, some required you to be cast out of the camp and others required paying some type of restitution depending on the severity of the offense.
So the Bible, and God for that matter, does come out and say that some sins are worse than others. Obviously stealing a pencil from work is not as bad as kidnapping three teenage girls and using them for sex slaves. God hates ALL sin but it’s clear from Scripture that He hates some sins more than others. Idolatry, sexual sins (some are worse than others for example fornication is not as bad as homosexuality b/c there is no death penalty attached to it in the Bible, however it’s still wicked), witchcraft, bestiality and so forth get the death penalty and are called an abomination. As you can see the Bible does do a bit of “sin spotlighting”. Now don’t misunderstand me I’m not advocating for Christians to personally go out and administer the death penalty to people who commit these types of sins. It’s not our place to do that. However, I think it is our place as Christians to speak out about it.
You know the church use to be the conscience of this nation but now it’s just another place to go and be entertained on Sundays with all the rock music, coffee shops, book stores and drama presentations that many put on just to get unsaved people to attend. Church use to be for Christians (i.e. saved people) but now it’s centered around the unsaved, bringing in the lost at all cost. That’s called compromise and that is why so many church goers will end up in hell when they die. I don’t ever recall Jesus saying in Matt 28 or Mk 16 to advertise, have rock concerts and bring in all the lost folks into our churches. Rather He said GO into all the world and preach and teach the Gospel to every creature. Can unsaved people attend church? YES. Can they participate in our worship services? YES but in a limited fashion. They shouldn’t take communion, be baptized, read Scripture from the pulpit, be an elder/deacon, lead worship and things like that. And we shouldn’t change our service so as not to offend them either. Paul calls it the “offense of the cross” for a reason. Because it will offend the unsaved. It’s not our intent to offend them but to get them saved. If we as Christians fail to do that then all we have done by filling our pews with unsaved people is to give them a more comfortable place from which to go to hell. Satan would just as soon drag a sinner to hell from the pew as from the brothel. As a matter of fact he’d prefer it that way since they are “inoculated” against the truth.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt 7:21-23)
Part Two
ReplyDeleteSome sins are “spotlighted” because God highlights them in His holy Word. Another reason they are highlighted by the church is because those are the particular sins that our current culture is dealing with and seeing on a daily basis. The job of the preacher is to preach against those sins (and all sin for that matter) so the Church may once again be the conscience of this great nation in which we live. That means to preach the whole counsel of God. If our pastors fail in doing this then it will eventually be illegal (like in Canada) to read certain sections of the Bible publicly and to call certain behaviors sin (like homosexuality). They’ll just be another sounding gong in the pulpit tickling the ears of their congregation telling them what they WANT to hear and not what they NEED to hear (God’s Word).
And as far as Jesus not addressing the homosexual issue, the Bible says in John chapter one that He (Jesus) is the Word. In John 17:17 Jesus says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy WORD is truth.” Once again in 2 Tim 3:16-17 the Bible says, “ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for REPROOF, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Also at the end of John’s Gospel it is noted that everything that Jesus did (to include everything He said) could not be contained in all the books in the world. So we can’t say with certainty that Jesus didn’t address homosexuality. It just wasn’t recorded in the Gospels. Something else that Jesus said that wasn’t included in the Gospels is this, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Paul quoted that in Acts 20:35 but you wont find it in the Gospels. You can bet Jesus said it though. We have enough in the Bible to supply all our needs. Though Jesus may not have addressed every issue while He was here on this earth the Bible does. The Bible is God’s Word and Jesus IS the Word. The Bible (i.e. Jesus) addresses the sodomite issue in Lev 18:22; Lev 20:13; Rom 1:21-32; Jude 7-8; 2 Pet 2: 6-9; etc. So I would argue that the Bible does "spotlight" some sins more than others. It may not disqualify one from salvation but the earthly consequences can be more severe. Ones relationship with God may be damaged. That’s what sin does. It pulls us away from fellowship with God.
I wouldn't say I'm homophobic because I'm not scared of sodomites. It’s more like homo-disgusted because it’s perversion and unnatural as Romans 1 says. You see this particular sin (lifestyle) is thrown in our faces. I mean you don’t see all the adulterers in this nation prancing down the street with their pants cut off at the buttocks and their hand down their partners pants. Most adulterers are ashamed of their sin and go to great lengths to hide it. Most homosexuals, however, don’t think what they are doing is sin. But the Bible clearly teaches that it is sin. Actually the Bible calls it an abomination. That’s pretty strong language if you ask me.
I suppose that I’ll get a lot of flack from readers of this blog but that’s OK. My intention was not for this to be offensive but rather informative. I realize that it’s not very PC, however, I don’t think Jesus was very PC in delivering his sermons either. As a matter of fact when Jesus finished preaching in Jn 6 it says in vs 66, “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” Then He asked His disciples, “Will ye also go away?” He didn’t say, “Hey wait guys did I say something that offended you? Please come back I’ll change my message and be a little more seeker sensitive.” No, He preached the whole counsel of God probably because He is God.
Just something to think about.
Respectfully,
Daniel
Thank you for your thoughtful comments and the spirit in which you share them. My intention is not to attempt to refute your perspectives. I'm not sure that a debate would be helpful. I'm simply trying to point out that our cultural biases(including church culture)tend to influence our interpretation of scripture. In the case of homosexuality, the number of times the Bible actually addresses it (Old or New Testament) is relatively few. By far, the sin of opressing the poor, for example, gets much more "air time." (See Exodus 22:21-27, Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15, 24:14-22, Isaiah 3:13-24, Jeremiah 5:26-31, Amos 2:6-7, 4:1-2, Micah 2:1-2, Luke 4:18-19, 6:20-26, 10:25-37, 12:13-21, 16:19-31, 18:18-27, James 5:1-6, I John 3:16-18) just to list a few. I'm simply asking, could our fear of one sin cause us to point it out while we are blind to others? (Matthew 7:1-5)
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