Tag: Homosexuality

Book Review: Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage?

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A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the car with my kids on a family trip, and my teenage daughter asked me, “Dad, why is it wrong to be gay?”

I responded that, first we needed to discuss what she meant by “gay”; did she mean: “Is it a sin to feel attraction to people of the same sex?” or did she mean, “Is it a sin to perform sexual activities with people of the same sex?” – because those are two very different questions, which have two different responses from the Bible.

She clarified by saying, “Well, why is it wrong for two people of the same sex to be in love?”

I responded, “The Bible encourages people of the same sex to love each other. We are all called to love everyone God puts in our path, but that certainly doesn’t mean that we are to have sex with everyone God puts in our path.” “For example, the Bible says that David loved Jonathan more than he loved any woman. But that doesn’t mean that they performed sexual acts together; rather that they had a close and intimate friendship. In other words, when we reduce ‘love’ down to sex, we are cheapening it. Further, the Bible’s vision is for people of the same sex to have meaningful, loving friendships, but that’s different than having sex with someone.”

She clarified once again, “Why is it that people of the same sex can’t have romantic relationships?”

I responded, “What do you mean by romantic? Are you talking about an exclusive relationship which is characterized by touching of a sexual nature?”

At this point, she said, “Okay, I get it,” and we changed the subject.

I tell this story to illustrate why Preston Sprinkle’s latest book, Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage?: 21 Conversations from a Historically Christian View, is so needed right now.

My daughter did not ask these questions from a heart of rebellion against God, but out of genuine curiosity and interest, and because she has sincere questions. Certainly the questions she asked were shaped by the cultural influences she faces at school and in the world in general. You can imagine people asking her these questions, and her wondering how to respond. As a father, I’m glad she asked me, and gave me the chance to help her understand.

I received an advance copy of this book to read and review a few months ago. The book was released to the public on August 1, 2023 and is now available wherever books are sold.

The book begins with two chapters which give “Foundations,” or principles which need to be clarified up front. The first is about how to have a fruitful conversation about these topics which are highly charged when it comes to emotions and politics, in the world today. The second foundation is an explanation of the historically Christian view of marriage. This chapter is helpful, in that it looks at how Christians have viewed and understood marriage for the past 2000 years, and why. It looks at the Bible and the writings of church fathers, and more.

Then, the book goes into a response to 21 common questions or claims, which people use as justification for why same-sex marriage should be affirmed by Christians. Preston then responds to these in brief but content-rich chapters. He does so with tact and empathy, which I appreciated very much. He also shares data, statistics, history, facts, and quotes to support his responses.

Overall, the recurring theme of his answers is that sex difference is part of God’s design for marriage and that both same-sex sexual activity as well as all sex outside of marriage is considered “sexual immorality” (porneia in Greek) in the Bible.

For me, the most helpful chapters were Conversations 12-14, which addresses the claims that:

  • Jesus’ Sabbath Hermeneutic Informs How We Should Interpret Same-Sex Prohibitions
  • God’s Acceptance of Gentiles Mirrors How We Should Accept LGB People
  • The Trajectory of Women and Slavery Justifies Same-Sex Prohibitions

There are other chapters which are more “ground-level,” which address questions and claims which may be more common, such as:

  • Love is Love
  • Some People are Born Gay, So It Must Be Okay
  • Paul Was Not Talking about Consensual Same-Sex Relationships
  • The Word Homosexual Was Added to the Bible in 1946

In each chapter, Preston begins by giving a summary of the claim or viewpoint of those who argue for that particular position, then he follows it by sharing a few points of agreement, and finally gives a response.

In the end, Preston’s answer to the question posed in the title of the book is: No, the Bible does not support same-sex marriage. Yet he gives this answer in a thoughtful and helpful manner, which shows respect for his readers and those whose claims he seeks to refute. Finally, he urges the church to truly live out a biblical vision of being a community where the same-sex attracted can find acceptance, love, and care, so that they have a loving community to support them in faithfully following Jesus, including God’s instructions about sexual ethics.

I recommend this book as a helpful resource on this very relevant issue. It would be better if more Christians were well equipped to answer the questions people are asking about same-sex issues, with love and truth.

Did Jesus Heal a Centurion’s Same-Sex Partner?

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A while back a friend shared a TikTok video with me in which a young guy was teaching something from the Bible which he portrayed as something people had overlooked, or about which they had been unaware, which could be potentially paradigm-shifting.

What this young man claimed is that the gospels tell us that Jesus healed a centurion’s servant, but that the word used there for “servant” actually means a same-sex lover. Thus, his conclusion was that by doing this, Jesus essentially affirmed and condoned, rather than condemned, homosexual sexual relationships.

The story of this healing is found in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10, and is about a Roman centurion who comes to Jesus and begs that Jesus heal his servant. Jesus agrees and says he will come to the centurion’s home, but the centurion says that he does not deserve to have Jesus under his roof, and that he has faith that all Jesus has to do is say the word, and his servant will be healed.

Did Jesus Heal a Centurion’s Same Sex Lover?

The word in question is the Greek word “Pais.” Interestingly, the word Pais literally means boy. There is another Greek word for servant, the word doulos, but the word pais was used to designate a young, male servant boy.

Pederasty and Sexual Abuse

As Preston Sprinkle explains in his excellent book, People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality is Not Just an Issue, it was common in the Greco-Roman culture of Jesus’ day for homosexual sex to be part of the power differential in a relationship, but only as long as the dominant partner was older, of higher social standing, and in the penetrating role. This is often referred to as pederasty, in which older men would have dominant sexual relationships with teenage boys. Both modern psychology and laws would deem these relationships to be unethical and illegal for multiple reasons, as they are abusive and harmful; not only are they an abuse of power, but these relationships were physically, sexually, and psychologically abusive to the younger victim.

Furthermore, Sprinkle goes on to explain that such relationships in the ancient world were not at all like our modern conception of a gay couple in a loving, consensual, co-equal relationship. For example, the penetrating partner in such relationships was not necessarily considered “gay” or “same-sex attracted,” rather this was an act of subjugating the passive partner and was about asserting power.

Pais Alone Doesn’t Imply a Homosexual Relationship

However, there is actually no indication that this centurion had such a relationship with his servant boy just by use of the word “pais.” While these relationships did exist, to assume that this centurion was sexually abusing his servant boy based on the simple fact that he had a servant boy, would be like reading that a man had a wife and then assuming that he must have abused his wife, because some people do that. It’s a major assumption, in other words, that requires a giant leap that is not indicated by anything in the text.

In fact, Luke uses the word doulos (the general word for servant) to describe this boy (Luke 7:2). Furthermore, of the 24 uses of pais in the Greek New Testament, it is never used of a homosexual relationship. So, the idea that this specific servant boy was being sexually abused by his master is definitely not something that ancient readers would have automatically assumed based on the use of the word pais. Furthermore, since any such relationship would have been abusive in nature, to say that this is an example of Jesus condoning or affirming a homosexual relationship is far-fetched and misguided; certainly no one would argue that Jesus, by healing this servant, was affirming or condoning of the sexual abuse of a minor by an older man in position of power.

Would Jesus have healed a gay person?

Although it is very unlikely that this passage is speaking about the healing of a centurion’s same-sex partner, the question remains: Would Jesus have healed a gay person? I think the answer to this question is also very simple: Yes.

Here’s why I say this: because Jesus’ healing of people never hinged on, or depended on, their level of personal righteousness. When Jesus healed the man born blind, he never brought up that man’s struggle with bitterness, greed, or envy. When Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, he never brought up that man’s struggle with lust. Healing is an act of grace, and grace – by definition – is not something that is earned or merited, it is a gift from a God who gives to undeserving recipients.

The message of the gospel is that God shows grace to sinners, and that’s good news for a sinner like me, and for you as well. As Paul tells us in Romans 2, the kindness of God often leads us to repentance.

Recommended Resources for Further Study

I highly recommend the above mentioned book, Preston Sprinkle’s People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality is Not Just an Issue. Preston addresses the topic of homosexuality with scholarly insight and tons of empathy and love. Furthermore, I recommend Justin Thomas’ online course on Biblical Gender and Sexuality. Justin is the lead pastor of Calvary: The Hill on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington, and a fellow leader in Calvary Global Network.

Sam Allberry on Sexual Ethics & Moral Intuition

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I spent last week in Southern California for the Calvary Global Network (CGN) international conference. There was a great line up speakers, including Ray Ortland, Jared C. Wilson, Mark Sayers, and Sam Allberry.

All the messages from the conference are available online here.

Sam’s message, “Gospel Confidence in a Sexually Shifting Culture” (video below) was particularly helpful.

Image result for sam allberrySam is a pastor from Maidenhead, England, who also works with Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM), Cedarville University, and writes for The Gospel Coalition.

He recently wrote a short and helpful book about Christian sexual ethics, in which he also talks about his own experience of same-sex attraction, titled “Is God anti-gay?”.

 

Key Points from Sam’s Message

In the West, we live in a place where people’s “moral intuitions” have shifted. People are not morally relative, nor are they amoral. Rather, their “intuition” of what defines morality has changed. People now base their determination of morality on these questions:

  1. Is it fair, or does it discriminate?
  2. Is it freeing, or is it oppressive?
  3. Is it harmful, or benign?

Anything seen as limiting freedom is seen as creating an existential conflict.

As a result, whereas biblical sexual ethics in the 1950’s-1980’s, for example, were considered prudish, they are now considered immoral.

What is needed is for us to learn to listen well, show people the goodness of God and provide a true and better narrative.

It’s worth listening to Sam’s entire message. Here is the video of it, as well as a follow-up interview he did afterward.

The Gospel Comes With a House Key: Hospitality & the Gospel

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person handing keys

Home as a Hospital & Incubator

As a member of the lesbian community in Syracuse, New York, Rosaria Butterfield learned what it meant to use her home as a hospital and an incubator, which reflected her values to others. Members of the lesbian community in Syracuse made sure that everyone in their community had keys to each others houses; they looked out for one another and cared for each other. They viewed their homes as oases in a harsh world, and yet they sought to win over their neighbors by being the best neighbors on the block.

These lessons—learned far outside the walls of the church—are instructive for Christians, she says.

It was through the hospitality of a Christian couple in her neighborhood, that Rosaria changed her mind about Christianity. At the time, she was a celebrated professor at Syracuse University. Raised in an atheist home, Rosaria had always assumed Christians to be hateful, judgmental people, who considered people like her enemies. In fact, her interest in spending time with Christians came as a result of her intent to write a book about how Christianity fuels toxic masculinity. As a result, she sought out a Christian couple in her neighborhood, but her interactions with them surprised her and challenged her preconceived notions about Christians, so much so that she began to consider what they had to say about Jesus and the Bible. Ultimately, she embraced the gospel and forsook her lesbian lifestyle. She is now married to a pastor and they have adopted several children. They seek to use their home as a hospital and an incubator for the goal of making disciples of Jesus.

Ground Zero of the Christian Life

In her book, The Gospel Comes with a House Key, Rosaria Butterfield describes what she calls “radically ordinary hospitality”, which she argues is “ground zero of the Christian life.”

Rosaria makes a convincing argument for this, pointing to passages like Matthew 25:35–36, in which Jesus talks about hospitality as the litmus test for real faith on judgment day. She also points out Mark 10:28–31, in which Jesus talks about how those who receive the gospel may very well lose a lot in the process of conversion, in order to gain the promises of God’s Kingdom, but that along with eternal life they can also expect to receive a new community. Inclusion in this new community, characterized by radical ordinary hospitality, is what Rosaria equates with receiving a “house key” when one receives the gospel.

Because Christian conversion always comes in exchange for the life you once loved, not in addition to it, people have much to lose in coming to Christ—and some people have more to lose than others.

A Resource for Evangelism

Hospitality, Rosaria explains, is an often under-utilized resource for evangelism as well. Those who live out radically ordinary hospitality, she says, see their homes not as theirs at all but as God’s gift to use for the furtherance of his kingdom.

The purpose of radically ordinary hospitality is to take the hand of a stranger and put it in the hand of the Savior, to bridge hostile worlds, and to add to the family of God.

She goes on to tell stories of how she and her husband intentionally live below their means, so they will be available and able to use their means to help others on a whim, as needs arise.

God promises to put the lonely in families (Ps. 68:6), and he intends to use your house as living proof.

A Sign to the World

Rosaria describes “radically ordinary hospitality” as: “using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God. It brings glory to God, serves others, and lives out the gospel in word and deed.”

Radically ordinary hospitality shows this skeptical, post-Christian world what authentic Christianity looks like.

Love and/or Approval?

She points out how important it is to reflect Jesus in our relationships. Jesus wasn’t embarrassed to relate to people who were different than him. He understood the difference between love and approval.

She mentions that Christians often ask her, “How can I love my neighbor without misleading them into thinking I approve of what they do?” She advises that we first remember that no one approves of everything that others do. Parents, for example, love their children even at times when they hate the things their children are doing.

Rosaria responds to a question people sometimes ask: “If my neighbors who identify as _________ are in sin, then why are they the nicest people on the block?” To this she responds: “If our Christian worldview cannot account for that, it can survive only in the echo chamber of imaginary theology.” To answer this question, we must understand a few very basic theological principles: 1) all people are recipients of “common grace” to varying degrees, and 2) our problem as human beings is not a lack of “niceness” but a debt of sin before a just and holy God. To put it in simple terms: “Nice people” need Jesus just as much as “not nice people”, because only through Jesus can anyone be redeemed.

Conclusion

Rosaria encourages Christians to be courageously loving rather than fearfully cautious. I was challenged, encouraged, and inspired by The Gospel Comes with a House Key, and I recommend you check it out.

Christians and the Gay Debate

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Perhaps the biggest issue facing how people view Christians and Christianity in our society has been and will continue to be homosexuality.

An ever increasing percentage of the population – including many Christians – believe that homosexuals should be allowed to legally marry, and it seems that it is only a matter of time before gay marriage is legalized in every state. Yesterday Montana became the latest state to legalize it. Other countries have already done it. This brings up a lot of questions for churches and private parties who rent out facilities for weddings and for ministers who officiate weddings as to what will happen if they refuse to participate in gay weddings out of moral obligation.

Needless to say, there is increasing pressure for Christians to change the view held by Christians for 2000 years regarding homosexual practice.

This article is one of the best informed and best thought-out pieces on this topic that I have come across. It’s worth the read:

Tragedy, Tradition and Opportunity in the Homosexual Debate

 

 

David and Jonathan: Man Love

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Tomorrow at White Fields I will be teaching 1 Samuel 18 – which begins with David and Jonathan’s friendship. The text says that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul (18:1).

This epic friendship between Jonathan and David includes Jonathan giving up his right to the throne in order to allow David to take the place given to him by God. Later on Jonathan helps protect David from Jonathan’s father, King Saul, who is determined to kill David.

After Jonathan’s death at the end of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel begins with David’s mourning over the loss of his friend, which includes this statement: “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.” (2 Samuel 1:26).

This statement of David’s has led some to believe that David and Jonathan were more than just friends, that they were actually lovers.

The word “love” in the Greek Septuagint is the word “agape” – as opposed to “eros” (erotic, sensual love) – so it is quite clear that David is not talking about “making love” with Jonathan, but about a deep bond between these two men which was deeper, richer and more profound than any romantic relationship.

And therein is an important point that is being made in the text here: that the deepest bonds between people are not based on physical intimacy, but on sharing the same heart and desires and by being in the trenches together through hard times and good – such an important principle to keep in mind in regard to marriage as well. Marriage can’t only be built on a physical romantic relationship – it has to be built on a spiritual bond and a friendship as well. This is part of the reason why the Bible tells Christians not to be unequally yoked: because the spiritual bond, the same heart for God is an important building block for a solid marriage relationship.

 

 

Phil Robertson Suspended From “Duck Dynasty” for Sharing His Opinion

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Phil Robertson Suspended From “Duck Dynasty” for Sharing His Opinion

This article gives all the details about what Phil Robertson, an outspoken Christian, said to GQ magazine regarding his opinions about homosexuality. Those opinions got him indefinitely suspended from the hit A&E show “Duck Dynasty”.

For the past several years pastors in North America and Western Europe have been wondering when the time will come when teaching biblical passages which label homosexual activity as sin will be constituted as “hate speech” and be punishable by law. I’ve heard that such laws are already in place in France and Canada. It is a slippery slope we are on. One of the reasons why the founding fathers of the United States wanted the separation of church and state was to protect the integrity of the church from government involvement. This isn’t quite that bad, A&E is a private company dealing with an employee, but as a pastor, I can’t help but see this as a sign of what is to come.