I have often written that, if given the opportunity, I would make some changes in the Bible. And the issue of homosexuality, so divisive today, would be one of a number of points I would present differently. Of course, God fortunately did not ask my advice when He wrote His instruction manual for mankind (the Bible). He is the Creator and we are the created. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and supreme. We can barely remember what we had for dinner last night.
Romans 11:33–34 — Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
So, respectfully, in my view, mankind as a race that continually does bad things (lies, steals, is prideful, etc.) is in no position to accurately discern right from wrong. We have a raging sin nature and we are immersed in a spiritual battle that includes evil all around us. Both the sin within and the evil without prevent humanity from making rational decisions on what is and is not acceptable behavior. So in my view, we are left with Godly principles as our best guardrails for life. He is the one who created us and I believe the source of His teaching is the Bible (not our feelings of transient social morality).
Bottom line, for multiple reasons I personally believe homosexuality should not be Considered a sin.
The statement directly above may be shocking to some, if read out of context from the paragraph above it. To be clear, as humans we cannot trust our personal views on matters where the Lord, through His Word, has clearly overruled us. In the case of homosexuality, the Bible is clear, homosexuality is a sin … just as lying, stealing, pride and a myriad of other human behaviors are sins … Romans 1:26-27, Leviticus 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Jude 1:7, 1 Timothy 1:10, Mark 10:6-9, Genesis 19:1-38, 1 Kings 14:24, 1 Corinthians 7:2, Genesis 1:27, Matthew 19:4-6, etc.
Romans 1:26-27 - For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
How do we respond to those who disagree with God?
As with many areas in life, God rightfully overrules our opinions. And so, in order to follow the first half of Luke 10:27, “love the Lord your God with all your heart … soul … strength” one must keep His commands as we attempt to follow the second half of Luke 10:27, which is to “love our neighbor.”
1 John 5:3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Well … sometimes they are burdensome. This is especially true when our Biblical Christian worldview stands in opposition to our internal, faulty code of ethics (as separate from the Holy Spirit as our Counselor).
The whole of Scripture cannot be condensed into “love our neighbor,” by accepting everyone’s personal choice in gender assignment … IF that falls outside the commands of God as expressed in His Word. However, unlike the destructive nature of groups like Westboro Baptist Church, we do not need to poke the speck out of our neighbor’s eye as we ignore all the sins we accumulate from the plank that remains in our own eye (Matthew 7:3-5). Loving our neighbors must come first, as a way of building relationships through care and compassion. Nevertheless, when pressed on our theology regarding homosexuality, we need to be able to respond with grace but also with honesty, even when our heart breaks and our mind reminds us of our own hypocrisy.
