A Good Argument

In 2012 John Shore wrote a piece for Huffpost that offered, "The Best Case for the Bible Not Condemning Homosexuality." His "best case" is, essentially, "Compassion trumps all." He basically pits Bible against Bible by arguing that "Compassion is above all" and then that "The rest isn't clear." Not a helpful "best case."

The most popular defense of homosexual behavior against Scripture is the "I don't care" defense -- "I don't care what the Bible says on this." The glbtq Encyclopedia Project absolutely affirms that the New Testament prohibits homosexual behavior and affirms, "The bad news from the Christian Bible is that it condemns same-sex desire and same-sex acts without qualification of age, gender, role, status, consent, or membership in an ethnic community." It goes on to jettison these facts with "This may seem less drastic when we recall that Paul outlawed all sex except that between married couples and preferred celibacy to marriage for himself." That is, most of the world is perfectly happy in agreeing that the Bible teaches that the behavior is a sin, but they just don't care. This, of course, won't work for those trying to be "gay Christians" -- remain Christian and retain homosexual behavior. How do these defend against the biblical onslaught?

"First, those stinking Leviticus passages (Lev 18:22; 20:13) are right out. Delete them. No value at all. All Christians know this." The problem with this is that it's not actually true. Standard Christian belief is that the Old Testament informs the New Testament, and that the Old Testament Civil and Ceremonial Laws are no longer in effect not because they're no longer true, but because they've been replaced. We are no longer a theocracy, and Christ provided a better sacrifice than the Old Testament system. So we don't execute adulterers or the like, for instance. It is true that we no longer observe dietary rules, for instance, because God specifically abrogated them (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15). But the Leviticus passage is not only not specifically abrogated; it is specifically affirmed in the New Testament.

Here we take a new turn. "Oh, no," they will say, "we've misunderstood those New Testament passages since they were written. They don't mean anything like what you understand them to mean." What, then? "Well, you see, the behavior listed in 1 Cor 6:9-10 isn't the same thing as the modern loving relationship we know. That one was pederasty or the Roman practice of raping male prisoners of war or the like. The Bible had no idea of what modern homosexuality looks like." There are lots of responses to this. It presupposes that God isn't actually Omniscient. It assumes that a practice of Paul's time drove Paul's interpretation (even though the glbtq Encyclopedia Project argues that Paul's use of words come exactly from the Hebrew of the Leviticus passages into the Greek of His day and meant the same thing). The fact that both positions are false are a problem to them. Nothing in Scripture affirms that God only breathed Scripture for their day, and nothing in Paul's writing references current events as his reasoning. The texts are quite clear and quite obvious. They don't ask, "Why are you engaging in that practice?" to verify if it is loving or not; they simply say those who do them won't get into heaven.

Perhaps the most difficult part here is the prior monolith of understanding. All Christians for all time prior to the 20th century understood that sex was reserved for married couples. All Christians for all time prior to this new assault were quite clear that homosexual behavior was a sin. Did they understand the modern concept of homosexuality as an identity, a "born that way" condition, a sexual orientation? No, of course not. It didn't matter. If I am born a heterosexual and I am tempted to not be faithful to my wife, it is sexual sin. If I am born homosexual (and "born homosexual" is not yet actually demonstrated in science much to the homosexual communities surprise, apparently), I am still obligated to avoid sex outside of marriage. (And that is not remedied by redefining marriage.) The amazing claim of this modern era is "We've figured out what no one figured out before us. Everyone before us was wrong. We are the first to find the truth." "God won't judge us," they assert. And God answers, "Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?" (Job 40:8). "Yes," they answer, "we certainly will. If God's position is that homosexual behavior is a sin, we will affirm that God is wrong." And that's considered a good argument.