Friday, February 15, 2019

The Nuance Of The Biblical Response To Homosexuality

Homosexuality is not a particularly deep issue in itself, despite being a major focus of vocal Christians, along with transgenderism and abortion.  It is, however, a culturally important matter at this time.  There is a nuance to the genuine Biblical position on homosexuality that is scarcely approached by many Christian teachers, but truth is not always as simple as the average person wishes it to be.

Many Christians simply react to whatever cultural shifts are occurring in their lifetimes.  Since American culture at large is putting great effort into making homosexual behaviors seem innocent and natural (depending on the meaning of natural), many Christians, often conservatives, are eager to talk about that particular subject.  If conservative evangelicals were truly consistent in their Biblical opposition to the acceptance of homosexual behaviors, though, more of them would differentiate between homosexual feelings and homosexual actions, as the Bible only condemns the latter.  They would also oppose homosexual prison rape far more harshly than they do consensual homosexual acts if they took Biblical ethics seriously, though rational Christians would not pretend for even a moment that the Bible has a neutral or positive stance on consensual homosexual activities.

Of course it is possible for Christians to be accepting of individual homosexuals.  After all, being homosexual doesn't even mean that a person acts on their impulses or doesn't wish they were different.  However, a consistent Christian--and I mean someone who is not just an evangelical or liberal Christian who selectively ignores and approves of the Bible--will condemn homosexual intercourse, affirm that the Bible regards it as a capital offense (Deuteronomy 20:13), and directly admit that cultural and individual preferences about morality are purely arbitrary and without significance.  Loving homosexual people and holding homosexual behaviors to be immoral are not exclusive, as the Christian conception of love is quite different from what many people characterize it as being.

The idea that Christianity is a tolerant religion based upon nonjudgment is a grievous misunderstanding of Christian ideology.  Biblical Christianity demands that we love all human beings, but the love universally prescribed by the Bible is nothing more than a commitment to the ultimate wellbeing and redemption of others: in other words, if a person treats others justly as the Bible defines justice and wishes for the unsaved to become reconciled to God, there is nothing more that they are obligated to do for other people.  Anything beyond this is nonobligatory or supererogatory at best.  The notion that Christians should not judge non-Christians and each other for actual moral faults is both self-contradictory, since one must judge in order to oppose judgment, and contrary to the Bible's teachings (John 7:24).

How, then, should Christians connect with homosexuals, given that Christian love is neither tolerance nor a mandate to go beyond what is obligatory?  To reach out to homosexuals better, Christians need to make it clear that denouncing homosexual behaviors is distinct from condemning people for experiencing homosexual desires.  Sexual orientation can be subject to fluctuation, but that does not mean that a person wills to feel certain sexual attractions at a given time.  Making this distinction clear would help some people find emotional relief and motivate them to be more open about the matter.  In addition to this, Christians need to emphasize that sexuality is not what defines people whether or not Christianity is even true.  When people recognize that they are far more than their sexualities, whatever their sexual orientations, they might be far more willing to grapple rationally with issues of sexual ethics and personal identity.  Honesty, vulnerability, and rationality are the keys to connecting with marginalized people, homosexuals included.

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