Baptist Assembly of NSW/ACT
Submission on homosexuality and the church
I am an attendee of Carlingford Baptist Church and formerly of Thornleigh Community Baptist Church. Unfortunately much of the time my work as a medical doctor prevents me from being able to attend services. I was formerly a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church but resigned membership because I could not conscience the official church ¢â‚¬â„¢s rejection of and failure to minister to gay or lesbian members and their families. This subject remains a matter of concern to me and urgently needs addressing by Christian churches. Thankfully the SDA church has now begun to address these issues in a positive way..
Homosexuality is a subject not able to be talked about in the church. I have had many conversations with parents, families and individuals who feel a lack of ministry or of simply someone to talk to about this subject. Many feel very isolated and desperately would like to talk to someone with experience and understanding. Sadly this is left to pastors and elders who often have little or no experience and knowledge about the topic, or worse still may be badly misinformed. While great deal is known about the subject today by professionals in the area there is a serious lack of understanding in much of the church.
One of the things the church needs to acknowledge is that there is a wide diversity of opinion amongst biblical scholars on the meaning of the 6 or so Bible texts that refer to same sex activity. For example many scholars today do not consider that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about homosexuality, but that idea persists in many minds. Similarly the societal and cultural background against which the apostle Paul writes needs to be considered in interpreting texts. There is unlikely to be theological agreement about the interpretation of these texts, but it needs to be acknowledged that that there is more than one view amongst respected scholars. Even the meaning of the two texts in Leviticus that refer to a man lying with a man are not as simple as they at first appear when the context of culture and history is considered.
A further important matter to acknowledge is that most of the world is not as God originally intended, and this probably includes same sex attraction. And yet we must live in the world as it is even when things are not ideal. For example, divorce is not part of God ¢â‚¬â„¢s original plan, yet it is a reality with which the church and society has had to deal. The church needs to be able welcome all. God is the judge, not man, and conviction of sin is the work of the Holy Spirit, not of humans. Our job is to love.
A sad reality is that most gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people leave the church because they feel rejected and unwelcome, or that they would be unwelcome if they were to be honest. It seems a sad reflection on the church community if people cannot be honest about who they are for fear of rejection. Many would like to retain their faith but in the end find living in the closet and in denial or hiding their true identity too hard. People should not have to leave the church because of who they are.
Living in denial is a very unhealthy way to live and frequently leads to depression and unfortunately, to suicide. Suicides rates amongst young people of faith who are gay are believed by those who work in this area to be significantly higher than for straight youth. Many believe they have one of the highest rates of all – and in a community which should be one of the safest, but is in reality the least safe. Actual figures are impossible to obtain because the underlying causes are not recorded in statistics, and families are frequently unable to talk about the issues. Unfortunately churches are the most homophobic places on earth. Pressures placed on Christians who are GLTB are too heavy to bear, and may have tragic consequences.
Christians often feel compelled to remind gay and lesbian people of their sins, and to point out the Bible texts that they feel condemn same sex relationships. What those people need to understand is that gay people know those texts only too well, have read them and agonized over them much more that any straight person, and feel rejected by the “love the sinner, hate the sin” message. In the words of Linda Robertson, a Christian mum who lost her gay son Ryan through his parents and church’s ignorance: “Our children learn to love themselves through the love that we have for them. And a child who is told “I love you, but I do not love your sin” does not hear love. He does not learn to love himself or that God loves him. Ryan did not. None of the thousands of gay children who have written to me has heard love through those words. None.”
In my work as a medical doctor, very little of what I do in the practice of medicine bears any resemblance to the way medicine was practiced in Bible times. We no longer work by a 2000 year old medical model. We have moved on; understanding has advanced. As is implied in the theological term ¢â‚¬Å“progressive truth ¢â‚¬ , God has continued to speak beyond what was understood by Biblical writers. We could list such advances as our understanding of anatomy, physiology, brain function, biochemistry, infectious diseases, and pharmacology and many others – all of which have grown enormously in the time since the scripture was written. The same is true of our understanding of sexual orientation.
Prior to the past 100 years there was no concept of sexual orientation as it is understood today. Many research studies have found differences in brain structure and function between gay and straight people and close observation has shown that differences in behaviour in children emerge long before conscious choices can be made. The overwhelming evidence is that gay people are ¢â‚¬Å“wired ¢â‚¬ differently to straight people. Previously it was assumed that everyone was the same and that sexual attraction and behaviour was based on choice. The evidence suggests otherwise.
In dealing with the subject of homosexuality, ignorance is the major problem Some of the common things that are misunderstood and need correction are:-
– Sexuality, either heterosexual or homosexual, is not a choice. People do not choose to be gay or lesbian any more than straight people choose to be straight. They just are that way.
– sexual orientation is highly resistant to change, and for most people not changeable at all. Orientation-change ministries have not worked, and have usually caused harm rather than good.
– the reasons for homosexuality are not fully determined, but the research clearly points to biological factors as the main cause, with sexual orientation being determined long before the individual is able to make choices
– a person’s sexuality is about who they can love, not about sex. Gay people have a human need for love and intimacy just like everyone else but their sexual orientation prevents them achieving it with the opposite sex.
– there is a no more a “gay lifestyle” than a “straight lifestyle”. The lives of GLTB people are the same as everyone else’s: eating, sleeping, going to work, doing household chores, eating out, having holidays – just like the rest of the community.
– if gay clubs, sex venues etc are called the “gay lifestyle” then the strip clubs and brothels in Kings Cross are a consequence of the “straight lifestyle”. Those places no more define gay people that the strip clubs and brothels of Kings Cross define straight people.
- the majority of GLTB people live quietly in the community like everyone else. They live normal lives as business leaders, teachers, nurses, doctors, bus drivers, policemen, tradespeople or any other profession or trade. There is nothing different about them except the gender of their partners.
Sadly the church has not served its GLTB members well. It would certainly be appropriate to apologise, and to openly discuss this topic, so long avoided because of fear, ignorance and misunderstanding. It is my hope that this will occur soon.
Dr John Wallace
Sydney, NSW October 2014
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References:
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Position Statement
http://www.ranzcp.org/Files/ranzcp-attachments/Resources/College_Statements/Position_Statements/ps60-pdf.aspx
Americal Psychological Association
Click to access just-the-facts.pdf
University of Western Sydney Study
Click to access Growing_Up_Queer1.pdf
The discussion: Tony and Peggy Campolo
http://tonycampolo.org/dialogue-w-tony-and-peggy-campolo-on-homosexuality/#.VEmV8leNCSo
“Gay, Straight and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation”. Simon LeVay. Oxford University Press 2011
“Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community” Andrew Marin. IVP Books 2009
“Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs-Christians Debate” Justin Lee. Jericho Books 2012
A “man who thinks woman” should read Christ’s words to see whether his thoughts honour God.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
— Matthew 5:28
How many men shall we reject because their “straight lifestyle” does not measure up to the standards that Christ has set for us? How many of us are making a serious effort to live a life of pure thoughts in a society that is laden with sexual images, or are we “living in sin”?
What about the man who has had sex before he was married, or the man who divorced and remarried, are they not living in sin? If you go by a biblical standard, yes, they are.
Fortunately, given ALL OF US are sinners, we are living in grace through the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.
I cannot comment on the accuracy of scientific findings, but you would have to be blind to believe that LGBT Christians made a choice to be that way. The choice that is before us is not what we can do to force LGBT Christians to be more holy, but how we can love them.
Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
— Romans 13:10
Forcing LGBT Christians to hide in silence and shame is not love. Forcing them to leave the church is not love. Shunning them and making out that they are worse sinners than all the rest of us, is not love. Such actions are proven to increase the incidence of depression and suicide, regardless of whether the despised minority is LGBT or something else.
What exactly does the world see, when we harm the vulnerable among us? Certainly, they do not see Christ.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
— John 13:35
Oh dear it reads like an apology for the world’s understanding of homosexuality. There are too many flaws in the paper so I will deal with some that are most glaring.
One. he carefully avoids connecting the reference to the comment so one cannot follow through on what he said.
Two. He quotes the APA, an organization that has no credibility as a previous president said they have ditched scientific rigour for the opinion of the homosexual thought police, all documented.
Three. If there was any evidence for born that way, why is it that homosexuals are not shouting it from the rooftop? A few pieces of research have been very speculative and without any scientific backing and certainly not peer reviewed.
Four. He uses the term “the church.” That is so sweeping it is meaningless.
Five. He says there is no such thing as a gay lifestyle. The scripture says otherwise inasmuch as a man thinks so is he. Obviously a man who thinks men has a different lifestyle to a man who thinks woman.
There are more but that will do for the time being and they indicate that one should not pay too much attention to what has been said, but I know that Rowland will be enamoured by it because it will reinforce his desire to side with the homosexuals.