Something Better

We who believe the Bible says what it means and means what it says are pretty clear on the topic of homosexual behavior. It's a sin. Fine. And those who see it that way stand pretty firm on that point. Fine. We seem to be good at that. Fine. Or is it?

I wonder if we're good at it. No, not in standing there and calling sin sin, but is it good? No, not is it good that we call sin sin, but is it good that this seems to be where we stop and stand?

Taking Jesus's encounter with the woman "caught in adultery" (John 8:1-11), I don't think we find a similar approach. No, He doesn't say, "Don't worry, lady. Adultery is just alright with me." No, He doesn't make the argument, "We need to be accepting of everyone. Just be quiet about it." In fact, He is pretty harsh in His addressing of sin. He takes out a whip in the Temple, curses ("Woe" was a curse) the Pharisees, and declares that the towns and cities in Israel that rejected Him faced harsher punishment than the worst of the sinful heathen cities. That's not ... "tolerant" (by today's definition). But what does He say to the woman? First, He tells her He isn't condemning her. (Helpful for us, since final judgment of sin is God's job.) Then He gives her instructions on how to improve her lot. "Go and sin no more."

Indeed, this is Jesus's formula for the gospel. "Repent and believe." Yes, sin is sin and we need to repent. But calling sin sin is not the end of the story. It is not the gospel. The gospel is good news that remedies the bad news. For the woman, it was "You were caught in adultery ... but sin no more". For Jesus's gospel it was "You are sin ... but repent and believe."

I think that when we stick at "Homosexual behavior is a sin," we fall short. Yes, it is true that this behavior (along with lots of others) is a sin. So? We need to offer something better. And I think this is key. We tend to offer ... less. "Yes, I know you like it, but my suggestion is that you give up what you like ... because the Bible says it's sin." What kind of gospel is that? Or we could suggest, "I know you like the behavior, but God offers better things. You can be right with Him. You can have a relationship with the Living God. There is so much more available!"

We tend to think that the best choice is to restrict sin. Jesus said He came to give us abundant life. It seems like these two are in opposite directions. C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory, wrote, "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." That is indeed often our problem. God is offering us so much more, and all we want to do is stop the sin. We forget that even if we succeeded in convincing them to stop that sin, our fellow humans would not be right with God, not be heaven bound, not be much better off. And yet we have so much more to offer than "Stop that!" Perhaps we ought to look in that direction more often.