Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Sexual Ethics”
Our Bible verse for today: “As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are also his offspring.” Acts 17:28 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Honest gay scholars agree on what the Bible really says.”
Before we leave the very important subject of the accuracy and reliability of the historic understanding of what the Bible says and means with respect to homosexuality, I want to share with you a couple of quotes from gay Bible scholars.
In Acts 17:28, when Paul was in Athens attempting to make his case for the truth, he used the words of some of their own intellectuals to help make his case. I am doing the same here.
Dr. Lewis Crompton is a homosexual professor who knows his Bible. He is openly gay and an advocate for gay causes, but he is disturbed by the intellectual dishonesty of those who attempt to make the Bible say and mean things it clearly does not say and mean. With respect to the attempts to distort Paul’s words in Romans 1:26-27 Dr. Crompton writes:
“According to this interpretation, Paul’s words were not directed at ‘bona fide’ homosexuals in committed relationships. But such a reading, however well-intentioned, seems strained and unhistorical. Nowhere does Paul or any other Jewish writer of this period imply the least acceptance of same-sex relations under any circumstances.”
Dr. Luke Johnson, pro-homosexual professor of the New Testament also agrees that the New Testament clearly teaches against homosexual relations in all respects. Dr. Johnson simply chooses to dismiss what the Bible says:
“We are fully aware of the weight of scriptural evidence pointing away from our position, yet place our trust in the power of the living God to reveal as powerfully through personal experience and testimony as through written texts.”
Johnson further writes that he believes the specific commands of Scripture on this issue are “fallible, conflicting, and often culturally conditioned.” Both Crompton and Johnson agree that the Bible says what it says and the meaning is clear. They simply choose to dismiss God’s clear teaching on the issue and they allow personal experience and desire to trump Biblical teaching.
Johnson and Crompton are wrong to dismiss the clear teaching of Scripture of course, but at least they’re being honest. If you have to be dishonest to make your case then there must be something fundamentally wrong with the case you are trying to make.
Tomorrow we will address the issue of why Jesus did not specifically mention homosexual behavior in His teachings.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 