People to Be Loved by Preston Sprinkle

Author:Preston Sprinkle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2015-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

INTERLUDE

A Summary

So what does the Bible really say?

It says that it’s a sin. It’s damnable, evil, and could exclude a person from God’s kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9–10). It’s so bad that God destroyed an entire city that was engaged in it (Gen. 19), and Jesus says that those who practice it are liable to face judgment rather than salvation when he returns (Matt. 25). And those who think they can continue to practice it and still think they are genuine followers of Christ are deceiving both themselves and others.

Still, our culture has accepted it as a virtue instead of a vice. Even our Christian culture is letting it slip into our churches unnoticed. We sometimes applaud it and place people in leadership who are too weak to preach against it. Many churches, if they are not actively endorsing it, try to remain neutral. But neutrality is nothing more than endorsement covered in sheep’s clothing.

I’m not talking about homosexuality.

I’m talking about the misuse of wealth—the sin that’s condemned in more than two thousand passages in God’s inspired Word. When overfed and overpaid straight Christians condemn gay people while they neglect the poor, stockpile wealth, and indulge in luxurious living, they stand on the wrong side of Jesus’ debates with the Pharisees. As we move forward and summarize our discussion, let’s make sure we are on the hunt to slaughter all types of sins, especially those in our own lives. Then, and only then, should we address the sins of others.

With that in mind, let’s review what we have learned about the Bible and same-sex relations. We will begin by summing up the arguments that support a nonaffirming position.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE NONAFFIRMING POSITION

First, the Bible talks a lot about marriage yet only affirms heterosexual marriages. This isn’t decisive in itself, but in Genesis 2 Eve’s femaleness seems to be a necessary prerequisite for her marriage to Adam—a marriage that becomes the prototype for all God-sanctioned marriages (Gen. 2:24–25).

Second, Jesus highlights sexual difference in marriage, even when he didn’t need to (Mark 10). Paul does talk about homosexual relations and when he discusses marriage he sometimes highlights sexual difference as necessary if marriage is to reflect the character of God (Eph. 5; cf. 1 Cor. 11).

Third, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 state in absolute terms that men should not have sex with other men. A close look at the larger context, and the repetition of similar statements in the New Testament, suggests that these verses are still binding on believers.

Fourth, the Greeks and Romans (ca. 500 BC–AD 400) engaged in various types of same-sex relations. Most of these relations exhibited some sort of power difference—the dominant and the dominated—but we do see some evidence of consensual relations especially between women. Still, every Jewish writer who spoke about same-sex relations during this time condemned them.

Fifth, the New Testament and early Christianity grew out of Judaism and shared much of Judaism’s sexual ethics. If Christians were going to depart from Judaism’s clear stance against same-sex relations, we would expect it to be rather clearly stated in the New Testament.

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