One netfriend wrote: No one is suggesting that we ostracised homosexuals or treat them as outcasts.

Nathan:

I wish that were true, but unfortunately the situation in our churches is a lot messier than that. 34% of the churches who made submissions to the Baptist Union of Victoria’s 1997 Taskforce on Homosexuality and Ordination, said that they would not even offer basic welcome and hospitality to someone known to be homosexual. The report said, “The Task Force was interested to discover the extent to which Baptist Churches would welcome a homosexual person ‘at the door’ (not into membership), particularly given the prevalence of the statement ‘we love the sinner but hate the sin’. This (statistic) would suggest that such thinking is not actually practised as often as we might have expected. Many of our churches would not even welcome the person.”

Netfriend:

It is no more legalistic or narrow-minded or bigoted or graceless to tell a homosexual that his/her sexuality is deformed than it is to say the same to a paedophile. I’m not entirely sure why this isn’t clear to you.

Nathan:

Everybody’s sexuality is deformed, and if that’s all you were saying I would agree with you. Every aspect of every person is deformed by sin. But as a heterosexual person I am not told that all my deformities must be reversed before I can be permitted any sexual intimacy.

I think it is quite unfair to compare homosexuality to pedophilia, because sex between an adult and a child involves an unavoidable inequality of power and is therefore inherently exploitative and incapable of mutuality. Love-making between consenting same-sex adults, on the other hand, is capable of expressing mutual love, respect, equality, faithfulness, commitment and security. Pedophilia can therefore be rejected as a violation of the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself. Homosexual practice can’t (unless it can somehow be demonstrated to be detrimental to the wider community, which though frequently stated is rarely explained) and so it’s rejection would need to be on the basis of violating the law of love for God. Having for a number of years observed the lives of several Christians involved in faithful exclusive homosexual relationships, I can’t see any evidence that their love for each other is undermining their love for God. So if Jesus was for real when he said that it is by their fruits that you shall know them . . .

Peace and hope,

Nathan

______________________________________ Nathan Nettleton Pastor, South Yarra Community Baptist Church Melbourne, Australia