A Different Response To Same-Sex Attraction Than You May Have Heard Before

I’d like to encourage you to read this blog post from my friend and colleague Tim Habecker, director of missions/Outreach at Hope EPC here in Spotsylvania County.  It gives important first-hand perspective on matters of homosexuality, same-sex attraction and the Christian faith.

Perhaps you listened to NPR’s Weekend Edition this past Sunday morning. If you did you were introduced to a pastor and his wife from western Pennsylvania. What you likely had no way of knowing is that there is just one degree of separation between you and Allan Edwards…and it is me.  Click Here to read Tim’s entire blog post. 

Click Here to listen to the NPR interview with Tim’s friend Allan.  It is titled “Attracted to Men, Pastor Feels Called To Marriage With A Woman.”

Marriage Inequality – A Problem Caused By Redefining Marriage

How do you ensure that an airplane and an elephant have equal rights?

Huh?!?!??

Answer: You don’t.  An airplane and an elephant are different in so many ways that talking about equality between them is pointless.  The two are simply different, not unequal.

It is absurd to talk about equality between an airplane and an elephant until you first get rid of the difference.

Which is why I say that “Marriage Inequality” is a problem that is caused by redefining marriage.  The romantic union of two men is as different from a marriage of a man and woman as an airplane is different from an elephant.  The two relationships are not unequal.  They are different.  At least until you redefine them in a way that erases or obscures the difference.

Viewing the World Through "Sex-Colored Glasses"

Another biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has recently been released.  Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is authored by UVa professor of religious studies Charles Marsh.  While reviews are generally positive – Click Here for the Gospel Coaliion review by Devin Maddox – all seem surprised by Marsh’s suggestion that Bonhoeffer was gay, or at least experienced what we moderns refer to as “same-sex attraction” with his friend and editorial trustee Eberhard Bethge.  This suggestion is notable on two scores: first, the lack of evidence that supports the idea and abundance of evidence that undermines it, and second, what Marsh’s suggestion says about life in 21st century America.  We now seem to see all things, including history, through what I’ll call “sex-colored glasses.”

Goespel-Centered Resources For Thinking About Same-Sex Marriage

For all the coverage and conversation about the issue of same-sex marriage, there seems to be very little that I would consider Gospel-centered in a way that is consistent with my understanding of the Gospel of Grace.  I'm happy to pass on these resources that I've found helpful.

Let’s Be Honest, Please! You Meant “Marriage Redefinition” When You Said “Marriage Equality” But Didn’t Have What It Takes To Say What You Mean!

My wife is a great cook, but my son and I still remember the day she tried to slip one by us.  “Enjoy the mashed potatoes!” she said.  They looked a little watery, but who’s to complain we thought.  On bite and there was no hiding it though.  What can you say about cauliflower “disguised” and passed off as mashed potatoes.  Sure, it was an experiment, and she wanted to help us eat more vegetables, and cauliflower is good for you and on and on and on.  It didn’t work.

Her “cauliflower mashed potatoes” came to mind listening to all the people “evolve” and now support “marriage equality.”  Give me a break.  Cauliflower mashed potatoes are not about “vegetable equality.”  They’re about redefining food and trying to slip one by unnoticed, just like “marriage equality” is really no more than “redefining marriage” without owning up to it.

Jesus never had anything to say about . . . .

I hear it quite often these days.  An increasing number of people attempt to demonstrate that their support of gay marriage, homosexuality or some other hot social topic is somehow consistent with the teaching of Jesus. “Jesus never had anything to say about __________.”  Just fill in the blank and you now have God on your side.  It's called an argument from silence.

The Fallacy of False Options: A Gospel of Grace Option For Thinking About Homosexuality And The Bible

In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party.    --Abraham Lincoln

These words are from an unpublished manuscript found among Lincoln's papers after his assasination.  Scholars generally refer to is as his "Meditation on the Divine Will," and consider it a source for his Second Inaugural Address.  Lincoln makes a good point.  We often look at two options and wonder "Which one is God's Will?" when in truth it may be that neither are.

I thought of that - call it the Fallacy of False Options - after watching a documentary last night that Netflix describes in this way:

Director .  .  .  . goes to the Bible to examine the ways in which conservative Christian groups have used -- and sometimes exploited -- scripture to deny human rights to gays and lesbians around the world.

The film is produced as an emotional tsunami.  There are 95 minutes of rapid cuts between members of five different families from different religious backgrounds as they experience a child coming out as homosexual interspersed with Jimmy Swaggert outtakes.  WOW!!  It all happens faster than I could process and left me with net effect of being totally overwhelmed.