Do you consider yourself a Christian of faith or one of convenience? I think we all at one time or another in our lives and probably will in the future bend every now and then from doctrine or beliefs in order to fit in need of a particular moment. I can’t speak for all of you, but I can speak for myself by saying I am not proud of it, but I certainly don’t consider myself above everyone else. So what do you believe and why do you believe it? That is the question that the Elephant in the pew wants an answer for. Last week we looked at two of those legs on what I’m going to refer to for this particular blog as my stool of faith. We looked at the theologian, and we looked at the theological views of an issue that has not only torn our denomination apart, but many many others. So I’m sure you’ve already guessed it by now. I have a little bit different opinion of what’s going on in our churches today. And it’s only fair that I at least share with you why I believe what I do. What is the platform or basis of my belief? Simply put the Bible, God’s word. And I’m using these scriptures… 2 Timothy 3:16, which states that all scripture is God breathe and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Let us break that down just a little bit. Let’s look at what the verse says about:

Teaching-it shows what is true

Rebuking-it shows what is wrong

Correcting-it helps fix mistakes

Training in righteousness-it guides us to live right

The purpose in verse 17 of that scripture states that it prepares a person for every good work and it helps believers grow and mature, and be fully ready.

For myself and for the pew, it’s time to come forward and just speak up. I did not want this to be a confrontation of politics or selfish agendas, I wanted it I guess you might say to be standing on solid ground. There is nothing more solid than the word of God. Many years ago there was a person at a church that I attended, who became a very good friend over the years. Their family lost their oldest son who was studying to enter the ministry, and she wrote a book called “Standing on the Promises.” Now all these years later I find myself standing on the promises. The incident with Asbury seminary and the United Methodist Church only emphasizes even more by disappointment and hurt for what has happened to the church I grew up in. So I openly declare today that I believe as the story in Genesis tells us God made a man and a woman. There are only two genders that are made by God. As a Christian I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Let’s get down to the core issue of all of this. I’ve spent a lot of time reading researching and trying to develop a reasonable position around this Elephant. One of the practices that always surfaces in these discussions, of course would be biblical passages. I’m not gonna overwhelm you with all of those passages. I’m simply going to use the ones that came up in the research that I was doing. So here’s the list. Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 state that a man should not lie with another man as with a woman calling the act detestable or an abomination. And of course there’s always Genesis 19 Solomon, Gomorrah, which traditionally is interpreted as a judgment against same-sex act, though it must be stated as some scholars argue, the text focuses primarily on violence and attempted sexual assault. These of course from the Old Testament, next the New Testament and we’re looking at Romans 1:26–27 which describes same sex female and male sex act as contrary to nature and places them within the context of idolatry. In first Corinthians 6:9–10 and first Timothy 1:9–10 there is a use of specific Greek terms and they’re often translated as men who practice homosexuality or men who have sex with men, and it is in a list of behaviors, considered contrary to God’s kingdom. As I have said and continue to maintain, this is not a blog of condemnation. It’s one of just simply speaking up for what I believe and what I believe many many Christians believe to be true. And if we want to be fair I found during my research before I wrote this blog, I run across a section entitled modern interpretations. There is a traditional view that maintains these texts clearly define all same sex sexual behavior outside of a traditional marriage between a man and a woman as country to God’s design. But there is an opposing view that argues that these passages, target specific historical practices, like exploitative pederasty, temple prostitution, or rape rather than modern, committed, and loving, same-sex relationships. We follow this up by writing  that Jesus never specifically , mentions homosexuality in the Bible, probably because it wasn’t even a word at that time, however, he defined marriage exclusively as a union of a man and a woman, and he also condemned porneia, which is a Greek term for all sexual immorality outside of biblical marriage, and upheld the Old Testament moral law.

Once again, we feel it necessary to balance all this out with this. There is an ongoing theological debate about how these teaching apply today, with the views differing across Christian traditions. When we look at the traditional view, many   argue that Jesus’s definition of marriage as strictly male, female, combined with his condemnation of porneia, implicitly, prohibits, homosexual act and same-sex marriage. But as we traveled today’s world, we find a progressive view. There are other scholars that emphasize that Jesus, explicitly focused on love, compassion, and justice. There are many who say that he never directly condemned, same-sex relationships, his core teachings do not inherently exclude or condemn LGBTQ + individuals. Well here I feel like I have to insert the fact that LGBTQ+ was not recognized in that day and time and I will go even further to state that this is a good example of faith by convenience.

So I complete that three Legged Faith Stool of mine with a third leg that believes quite simply…there are only two genders created by God and marriage, Christian marriage is between a man and woman.

Life is Good

jk