Last night, surrounding the epiphany I had about creating this blog, my youth church was looking at something called the Jesus Creed. The video we watched basically summarised how, despite the density of the Bible and the 613 laws included in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and so on, when asked about which law was the greatest of all Jesus responded with one law, and then added another.
These two laws are now encompassed under a term we now know as the 'Golden Rule', found in Luke 10v27:
This was the starting point for the rest of the evening. To put this Rule into context, we all gathered and sat around a mat in the middle of the room scattered with candles and tea lights, and we were read the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan from the various predicted perspectives of the characters involved: the victim, the robbers, the Priest and the Levite who passed the man by, and of course the Samaritan himself. When we felt like we related to a particular take on a perspective, or felt like we needed to actively give something to God from our lives that might have been connected to a part of the story, we were encouraged to light a candle for ourselves and place it on the mat.
Another verse I've also heard mentioned a few times, in Romans:
There are numerous other examples of where homosexuality seems to be blatantly condemned both in the Old and New Testament. The fact that this condemnation lies in both parts, for many people eliminates the argument that the law stating it to be against God's intentions for us is now void in retrospect due to the new teachings of Jesus, for it is mentioned by Paul as well. There is still the aspect of context that people also draw upon in their points of view, yet statistically, homosexuality is a sin that is both unlawful and justly punishable, as God's Word decrees.
However, here lies the question that I struggle with daily: why then, if God 'detests' homosexuality, would He create some of us to be homosexual, and furthermore allow us to live in various states of denial, fear of rejection, loneliness, and doubt of our ability to be loved by our Creator?
I could discuss this for hours, and probably will do so through this blog for the foreseeable future. Although Jesus never directly spoke on the matter, I do believe for now that the answer lies in the topic of conversation that we analysed last night during my youth church: the Golden Rule, and the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Take the Priest, for example. During the parable Jesus tells us that despite seeing the state that the man was in, having been beaten and left for dead by the side of the road, he thought it better not to help and continued on his journey. Why? Perhaps because the man was practically a corpse, and it states clearly in Numbers 19 that:
This Priest might not have been able to afford to be considered unclean in the eyes of God for seven days, for he was far too busy to put his religious duties on hold for a whole week. In the eyes of the law, it was perhaps best not for him to have anything to do with the man.
Or maybe he feared for his own safety? This ordinary man had not long been attacked by men who would not think twice about stealing the rich garments that he wore; if anything, he was more at risk of being beaten than the man now lying on the road nearing death. It may cost him his life if he stopped to help the man, for the attackers may return and do exactly the same thing to him.
It occurred to me whilst these ideas were being narratively voiced, that this perhaps how as Christians we can perceive the sinners and outcasts of our world. I use the term 'we', because I am just as much to blame for this as anyone else, perhaps more so in some cases. We sometimes believe that the biblical laws we follow prevent and almost excuse us in some way from helping and including those who are most in need of inclusion and help, just as the Priest possibly believed that he simply couldn't help the man, because touching the man would lead to uncleanliness and the consequences of being so. In a similar manner, was a human race we also sometimes refuse to be associated with such sinners, for fear of being accused of acting in a similar nature to them. This can be viewed as another version of uncleanliness; pride, and a desire for others to see us as a good and righteous person, may cause us to think twice about talking to someone who's sins might allow us to be seen differently as well.
On a personal note, this might be how some treat/think of homosexuality, and the majority of gay people. The bible condemns that sort of thing, so we should too. If I go into that gay club and talk to those guys, someone might see me and think I'm gay too.
But how does the parable end? What message of morality does Jesus want to convey through this story, that would eventually become one of the most well-known parables of all time? The Samaritan, the man who has little regard for what others think of him because he is so similarly disliked anyway, the man who almost certainly had reasons like the Priest and the Levite to pass by and not help at all. He stopped, tended to the man's wounds as best he could, took him to an inn, paid for his care and promised to return to pay for any extra costs that may not have been accounted for by the original sum he gave. The Samaritan acted with the love and grace that Jesus acted with towards the outcasts he came across on his travels, the love and grace that he expects us to extend towards others as his disciples, the love and grace that is cemented in the Bible within that one Golden Rule that he gave us to follow that should be obeyed above all other laws.
It is this love and grace that I believe should be absolutely taken into account when dealing with the issue of homosexuality. Particularly within churches, homosexuality can be reviewed as a fact, a statistic, when in fact there are real people with genuine feelings and lives that are affected by rejection just like everyone else. The Golden Rule, as previously mentioned, exists as a law that is above the other 611 laws and is ultimately superior to them; it is the Jesus Creed, and is the one rule we should quintessentially follow. So why are some so quick to disregard it when discussing homosexuality? This attitude is the one that is causing a divide both amongst churches and between the Church as a whole and the secular community, and it is that attitude that I think must change, just as beliefs were altered when slavery was abolished in 1833.
Personally, I'm hoping that the question in my mind that forms each day is not 'will this attitude change' but 'when and how this attitude will change'. Who knows? There is a Priest and a Samaritan inside all of us, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I know which persona Jesus would rather us act upon, particularly in these conflicting circumstances.
These two laws are now encompassed under a term we now know as the 'Golden Rule', found in Luke 10v27:
'He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'
This was the starting point for the rest of the evening. To put this Rule into context, we all gathered and sat around a mat in the middle of the room scattered with candles and tea lights, and we were read the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan from the various predicted perspectives of the characters involved: the victim, the robbers, the Priest and the Levite who passed the man by, and of course the Samaritan himself. When we felt like we related to a particular take on a perspective, or felt like we needed to actively give something to God from our lives that might have been connected to a part of the story, we were encouraged to light a candle for ourselves and place it on the mat.
I think for many of us in the room, it was a fairly therapeutic and calming evening. We let go of things, asked for forgiveness, not out of guilt but just for a need for release.
But, for me, I was thinking about something that caught my attention during the talk that I felt I needed to write down.
Currently, the Christian society and the British population in general is somewhat torn on what stance to take on homosexuality and the issues that come with it; marriage, children, education, acceptance into church communities and culture. Living within a wide Christian community in Wolverhampton, I get to see the different points of view on these issues form both sides, particularly the Christian point of view.
Now I've heard countless arguments and people trying to justify their own views whilst to remain in concordance with the Bible and its teachings. Leviticus 18v22 is often a verse which is thrown into a debate:
‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.'
Another verse I've also heard mentioned a few times, in Romans:
'Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ... therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another ... even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.'
There are numerous other examples of where homosexuality seems to be blatantly condemned both in the Old and New Testament. The fact that this condemnation lies in both parts, for many people eliminates the argument that the law stating it to be against God's intentions for us is now void in retrospect due to the new teachings of Jesus, for it is mentioned by Paul as well. There is still the aspect of context that people also draw upon in their points of view, yet statistically, homosexuality is a sin that is both unlawful and justly punishable, as God's Word decrees.
However, here lies the question that I struggle with daily: why then, if God 'detests' homosexuality, would He create some of us to be homosexual, and furthermore allow us to live in various states of denial, fear of rejection, loneliness, and doubt of our ability to be loved by our Creator?
I could discuss this for hours, and probably will do so through this blog for the foreseeable future. Although Jesus never directly spoke on the matter, I do believe for now that the answer lies in the topic of conversation that we analysed last night during my youth church: the Golden Rule, and the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Take the Priest, for example. During the parable Jesus tells us that despite seeing the state that the man was in, having been beaten and left for dead by the side of the road, he thought it better not to help and continued on his journey. Why? Perhaps because the man was practically a corpse, and it states clearly in Numbers 19 that:
'Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.'
This Priest might not have been able to afford to be considered unclean in the eyes of God for seven days, for he was far too busy to put his religious duties on hold for a whole week. In the eyes of the law, it was perhaps best not for him to have anything to do with the man.
Or maybe he feared for his own safety? This ordinary man had not long been attacked by men who would not think twice about stealing the rich garments that he wore; if anything, he was more at risk of being beaten than the man now lying on the road nearing death. It may cost him his life if he stopped to help the man, for the attackers may return and do exactly the same thing to him.
It occurred to me whilst these ideas were being narratively voiced, that this perhaps how as Christians we can perceive the sinners and outcasts of our world. I use the term 'we', because I am just as much to blame for this as anyone else, perhaps more so in some cases. We sometimes believe that the biblical laws we follow prevent and almost excuse us in some way from helping and including those who are most in need of inclusion and help, just as the Priest possibly believed that he simply couldn't help the man, because touching the man would lead to uncleanliness and the consequences of being so. In a similar manner, was a human race we also sometimes refuse to be associated with such sinners, for fear of being accused of acting in a similar nature to them. This can be viewed as another version of uncleanliness; pride, and a desire for others to see us as a good and righteous person, may cause us to think twice about talking to someone who's sins might allow us to be seen differently as well.
On a personal note, this might be how some treat/think of homosexuality, and the majority of gay people. The bible condemns that sort of thing, so we should too. If I go into that gay club and talk to those guys, someone might see me and think I'm gay too.
But how does the parable end? What message of morality does Jesus want to convey through this story, that would eventually become one of the most well-known parables of all time? The Samaritan, the man who has little regard for what others think of him because he is so similarly disliked anyway, the man who almost certainly had reasons like the Priest and the Levite to pass by and not help at all. He stopped, tended to the man's wounds as best he could, took him to an inn, paid for his care and promised to return to pay for any extra costs that may not have been accounted for by the original sum he gave. The Samaritan acted with the love and grace that Jesus acted with towards the outcasts he came across on his travels, the love and grace that he expects us to extend towards others as his disciples, the love and grace that is cemented in the Bible within that one Golden Rule that he gave us to follow that should be obeyed above all other laws.
It is this love and grace that I believe should be absolutely taken into account when dealing with the issue of homosexuality. Particularly within churches, homosexuality can be reviewed as a fact, a statistic, when in fact there are real people with genuine feelings and lives that are affected by rejection just like everyone else. The Golden Rule, as previously mentioned, exists as a law that is above the other 611 laws and is ultimately superior to them; it is the Jesus Creed, and is the one rule we should quintessentially follow. So why are some so quick to disregard it when discussing homosexuality? This attitude is the one that is causing a divide both amongst churches and between the Church as a whole and the secular community, and it is that attitude that I think must change, just as beliefs were altered when slavery was abolished in 1833.
Personally, I'm hoping that the question in my mind that forms each day is not 'will this attitude change' but 'when and how this attitude will change'. Who knows? There is a Priest and a Samaritan inside all of us, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I know which persona Jesus would rather us act upon, particularly in these conflicting circumstances.
No comments:
Post a Comment