A Fresh Perspective

As a result of the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up cases seeking to overturn decisions that struck down bans on gay marriage, same-sex marriage is now legal in 24 states. And that number is likely to expand in the near future. To celebrate this progress I pulled out my Bob Dylan CD to hear Dylan wail, “The Times They are A Changin.’” The moral arc of history just bent a little more toward justice.  I believe MLK would say, “Amen.”   The church should be setting the pace. All the wrangling we do over a handful of biblical texts (Lev. 18:22/20:13; 1 Cor. 6:9; Rom. 1:26-27; and 1 Tim. 1:10) that condemn some form of same-sex relations is such a waste of time. In terms of the Christian’s practical discipleship to Jesus, all that matters is how well we love one another. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the handful of texts above which condemn some deviant form of same-sex behavior (like pederasty, master-slave sex, temple prostitution, or sexual excess) act...

Vickie Beeching , the widely acclaimed Christian songwriter and performer who recently came out as gay, is a superb example of how LGBT Christians can help the church be the church. The path forward, however, will not be without setbacks, obstacles, and many twists and turns.  Brian McLaren recently attended a forum on global human rights for LGBT persons where he recommended finding ways to help religious leaders move incrementally along a spectrum with four spaces: Zone 1: Promote violence against and stigmatization of gay people in the name of God and religion.   Zone 2: Oppose violence but uphold stigmatization of gay people in the name of God and religion.   Zone 3: Oppose violence and seek to reduce stigmatization of gay people in the name of God and religion.   Zone 4: Oppose violence and replace stigmatization with equality in the name of God and religion. Blogger Fred Clark (Slacktivist) has noted that these zones do not reflect “a good...

Prejudice disguises itself as holiness when passages such as Romans 1:26-27 are employed to clobber LGBTQ persons. The text reads as follows: “For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” Here is the problem with turning Paul into an anti-gay proponent: Paul, along with most ancient moralists, would have regarded same sex relations as an expression of excessive or exploitive sexual behavior by heterosexuals. It is not likely that he would have had any understanding at all of same sex attraction as a sexual orientation set early in life. Paul’s knowing about sexual orientation is about as likely as his knowing of atoms and electrons as basic elements of our universe. He would have be...

The church I pastor  ( Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort, KY )  is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group that broke away from the fundamentalist dominated Southern Baptist Convention in 1991. Cecil Sherman was the first Executive Coordinator of CBF and I distinctly remember the story he told to a small group of pastors that met with him in 1992 who were in much prayer and thought about leading their churches out of the SBC to be part of the new organization (CBF does not call itself a denomination, but it clearly functions as one). Dr. Sherman told us that he was part of a group called “the Peace Committee” formed at the height of the controversy, which (in theory) was to be a safe place where moderates and conservatives could try to work out some of their differences and coexist. Sherman made, I thought, a generous offer. He said to the conservatives, “Let the moderates have Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and one other sc...

The conversion of the Roman jailer in Acts 16 was a favorite text of mine in my evangelical beginnings. What was it that compelled the jailer to become a follower of Jesus? I hardly think it was the message itself. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the jailer’s conversion had anything to do with the reasonableness, truthfulness, logic, coherence, or appeal of the message itself. What made the difference was the jailer’s experience of the message lived by Paul and Silas. It was the earthquake and what transpired afterward. Paul and Silas refused to flee. Had they fled the jailer would have been held accountable for their escape. It may have cost him his life. The jailer is emotionally, psychologically, and physically shaken. He comes trembling: “What must I do to be saved?” It was his experience that changed his perspective, that opened and readied him to receive the good news Paul proclaimed. It has been fascinating to observe the cultural shift in perception a...

Let’s be honest. Most of the sexual mores in the Bible are skewed because they reflect the customs and practices of a pre-scientific age and a pervasively dominant patriarchal culture . Consider these examples: -- Menstrual blood was deemed “unclean” and sexual intercourse during this period was strictly forbidden (Lev. 18:19; 15:19–24). -- A woman left her father’s dominion to enter the dominion of the head of the family into which she was marrying. In the event of the husband’s death, the woman stayed in the new family, either as the mother of the children, or being passed to another son through the institution of levirate marriage (Gen. 38:7–11; Deut 25:5–10). -- Polygamy (many wives) and concubinage (a woman living with a man to whom she is not married) were regularly practiced in the Old Testament. These practices are mentioned numerous times without condemnation. -- A woman was expected to be a virgin when she married, while male virginity is never even mentioned....