Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Word of God is Living

Hebrews 4:12-16

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who i unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." 


ENCOURAGEMENT

Gender and Racial Reconciliation: A Reflection on Brenda Salter-McNeill's book, A Credible Witness.

Brenda Salter McNeil wrote a phenomenal book about evangelism called, "A Credible Witness". She based her book around Jesus and the samaritan woman at the well, and her view on evangelism is first and foremost based on crossing cultural boundaries. Jesus went to the samaritan woman. The question is, do we understand what this meant in Biblical times? Allow me to paint a background story on the situation.  Samaritans were thought to be muts, half-breeds, and unclean, but this woman was not only a samaritan, she was an adulterer. This woman had married many men and was in the midst of practicing adultery when she encountered Jesus. Now, please understand that Jesus had no reason to cut through Samaria on his way back to Jerusalem. Jews avoided Samaria like the plague. However, he encountered this Samarian woman, adulterer, at a town well at mid-day. Because this woman was out at the well drawing water mid-day, it lets us in on a little bit about who she was in the community. She was the lowest of the low in the Samaritan community and could not draw water from the well at the same time as women of good standing in her town. Jesus crossed not only a racial divide when he approached this woman, but he crossed a gender and social divide. 
Jesus was all about reconciliation as evangelism. This story of Jesus and the woman at the well is one of the truest example of what it means as a Christian to cross the divides into evangelism. We are called to cross into the divide, to live uncomfortably and for those traveling with Jesus into Samaria wasn't comfortable. In fact, as Jews, it was probably detestable to them to be around these "half-breeds". I'm not quite sure what my point is in writing this except to share with you what I believe about evangelism. I believe that the Lord has called us to reconcile with one another on all levels. We do Him an injustice when we only preach part of the Gospel, when we cop-out and fail to tell people that He not only came to reconcile us with the Lord, but he came to reconcile us with one another. It is so important for us to realize that we are called to preach the Gospel to all people, of all nations, of all social classes, of both genders. The Gospel is for all, not just for a few, or just to say, Jesus saved you, repent and live! There is more to the Gospel than that, and if we are to live out our walks making disciples, then we must preach the entire gospel of reconciliation with our fellow men. Racial reconciliation and gender reconciliation are not things to be set on the back burner. These are what we are called to preach as an integral part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ we have been told to go out and make disciples of all nations, and in this to find reconciliation with everyone. It is no longer Jew versus Samaritan, Black versus white, japanese versus korean, or any other racial divide that I have failed to mention. It is up to us, in a new generation to reconcile with one another and to end this continuous cycle of hate and of looking down on one another based on skin color, the way we speak, whether you're a man or a woman, etc. Jesus crossed all of these divides, ALL of them, and so should we as His followers. Proverbs 19:2 says, "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." We must educate ourselves with  God's word and then go out and preach the message that Jesus would have preached, reconciliation, both with God and with men.

The Continuing Struggle for Faith

  To be honest, the basis for this discussion, as well as most of my discussions on this blog, stem from recent personal experiences that cause me to reflect deeply on these issues as a christian. I must first say that I have had a number of experiences that I'd like to address tonight. Tonight I want to discuss Creationism versus Evolution and the struggle of faith. I would also like to discuss my view of the Trinity, while including a brief discussion on how skewed we have all become to the importance of one to the other. And finally, I would like to discuss holding one sin up over all others and how this is unbiblical. 
Recently, I have had interesting conversations and/or encounters with all of these topics and they've weighed heavily on my mind. As Christians, we find ourselves challenged on all of these things, is one sin greater than another, how does the Trinity really work, and, did God really create the Earth or did we stem from ancestors who were monkeys? This is especially important to our faith walk, learning to trust in God as we do not understand things, and will never understand these things fully and completely. A friend not long ago revealed to me after 5 years that they believed God did not create the Earth, and in fact, we were descendants of apes. The claim that my friend made was that God told Moses to write down the first 5 books in the Bible, however, they were simply stories that had no truth. 
This reasoning is implausible for several reasons. Let me begin by saying this, GOD DOESN'T LIE. If God were to have made these stories up, he would be a liar, in essence, the Devil. And if there is one thing which has never been disputed by any Christian circles or faiths I am aware of, it is that God (by whatever name you call him) is not likened in any way to the Devil. Secondly, let me pose several questions and make some remarks for us to meditate on:
1. What is our purpose on Earth? It is to worship the Lord, and we are made in His image, so unless God is actually an ape, this theory of being descended from them is definitely false.
2. Why, if God used evolution, would He care s much more about humans, who only evolved? 
3. How would humans evolve from soulless to soul-filled? Because, if someone argues that monkeys have souls, Christ came in human flesh to sacrifice himself to human forgiveness, not monkey forgiveness. A like-sacrifice was needed and there is a massive different between us and apes that the theory of evolution could and never will be able to formulate.
4. No one part of the body can function by itself. That is why in the New Testament, God uses the analogy that we are all different parts of the body, and one cannot function without the other. Also, animals act out of instinct, not philosophical thought. One cell cannot decide that it needed a brain to govern itself, it would have needed a brain to decide that.
5. Please read this book: The Case for A Creator by Lee Strobel. He takes an in depth scientific view on the Creation Story and how is it the only way that we could have been formed. 
Now that I have left us with something to ponder on, I would like to address another issue at hand within our Christian community, the Trinity. This, of course, is not a new issue, but an old one, debated on for centuries by Christian theologians and non-Christian philosophers alike. A recent revelation I stumbled upon was that in the college and university Christian communities, we often focus so very much on experience that the Holy Spirit comes first and foremost before Jesus, His LIVING Word, and His teachings. Throughout my experience with the Christian organization I was affiliated with throughout college, I noticed this one blaring concern out of all others: division due to differences in spirit theology. Now, I believe that it is very important that we Christians address the MAJOR issue of division within the church or we are not loving one another as we should be, so I am addressing it. Division itself is caused by a myriad of things, but more often than not, a difference in theology, on a college level, mostly spirit theology. 
When I refer to Spirit Theology, I am referring to the emphasis put on what most people would call, the Charismatic gifts, i.e. prophecy, healing, speaking in tongues, those things which are visible to the naked eye. Teaching, evangelism, administration, leadership, giving, wisdom, faith, prophecy, servitude, healing, discernment, compassion, shepherding, miracles, exhortation, interpretation and tongues, apostleship, helping, knowledge, these are the 20 gifts mentioned in the New Testament. They are given to strengthen and build the community, and he has empowered us to serve our entire nation and world through them. These charismatic gifts are empowered above all others in this liberal environment called college. You know, it's funny because in college we seek these new experiences, whether it be drugs and alcohol, sex, and for some christians, charismatic gifts. I am not saying that they are bad, however, when we become more captivated by these things than the Word, His Living Word and the Jesus who died for us, then it becomes a problem. 
As a student, I repeatedly saw this fixation on gifts become an issue of pride, or division where one part of the church set themselves apart from the others, have no doubt in your mind brothers and sisters, THIS IS WRONG. At no time are we to set ourselves above others, in fact, Jesus tells us to sit at the end of the table and consider ourselves in a lower position than anyone we see. The division that this newfound 20th century movement of pentecostalism and charismaticism is quickly becoming a danger to the church, in more ways than one. It is our unity and our community that are at stake, when we find ourselves being more captivated with the experience than with the relationship we find with our Father through the wisdom and love he left to us in his Word. By NO means am I putting the Spirit or the Lord our God in a box, it is simply that I wish to maintain the hierarchy of the Trinity. No son (as it is said in the NT) is greater than his Father, and thus, the Spirit is no greater than it's master, Jesus Christ. We Christians generally say the Trinity in order of Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and while they are one, these three are not equal by any means. 
It is this conviction which leads me to worry for my generation and the experience that we seek out so earnestly. My prayer is that God will speak into their hearts and minds and make them sound in their faith in the Word that they are not on shaky ground with whether or not someone prophecy's something over them that very week or day. It is my prayer and my heart for them to know God in a way that is secure and unyielding and is not shaped by their charismatic experiences, but enhanced by them and through them whenever the Lord wishes to bless us with something more. 
Finally, I would like to address how we hold one sin up unequally over the other. In America, I think that everyone can agree that two of the most important issues today in the political spectrum are gay rights and abortion. These two issues have been plastered all over the news, portrayed by even Christians as the mother and father of all sins. However, this is not the case. No one sin is greater than the other. Each sin is equally yoked in the eyes of God. Also, let me say this, we are all sinners, no matter how great or how small the sin is perceived to be, thus, we ALL benefit from the grace and love given us from the Father who sent His ONLY Son to die on a cross for the wretched humans that He originally created and eventually fell from grace. For those of you who have been persecuted because of decisions you have made, I apologize, sincerely, because you are no worse than any of those around us. I am so sorry and my prayer is that you will forgive those who have hurt you in the church and in your community and that you would forgive those of us who, while we did not condone what others have done, sat back and silently watched, for we are guilty as well. It is my belief that God never wished us to hate another human being, but rather, to hate the sin we find in our lives, to abhor it and to find a peace that He alone can give. Jesus called Himself Abba Shalom, meaning Father of Peace. We can find a peace in Jesus, as well as the identity that so many people search for in this life and never fully find. I find my identity in Christ, fully and completely, and much of this requires faith, and there is good news for us all. God made us to be reconciled not only to Himself, but to one another. The bad news is if we are living a life dictated by only one of these truths, then we are denying ourselves a true identity in Christ, as one body, one community of believers bound by a faith and love so deep that no one can touch. 
Yet there is hope. There is a grace given beyond our comprehension, not that we might live as we please, but that there is hope for change. We are given second chances, and as we accept Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior of our lives, we also will begin to change. Lifestyles will begin to change as will attitudes, thoughts, and actions. Works are not proof, as so many would lead you to believe, but the fruit of a life touched by God, of one who KNOWS Jesus intimately and has decided to pursue relationship with Him. Jesus never said that following Him would be easy, in fact, He said that it would be difficult and that we would be rejected by many. It is not an easy road to travel, however, I can fully assure you that it is the most fulfilling relationship you will ever find in this life or the next. Jesus creates in me something that no one else ever has and ever will. He is everything, and more than anything in my heart I wish for you to know that, if you don't already. If you do know Him, PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE GOD that you KNOW Him and what has been done for you, the sacrifice that was laid down for you. Jesus wants to know you, because we were created to be not only in relationship to the Father, but in relationship with one another. Thank God that he has reconciled us to one another that we may share Him and be encouraged. 
I would like to finish by leaving you with this. If you know the Lord and there are struggles, be encouraged that the Lord has plans for you far beyond your wildest dreams and wishes. He loves you beyond compare, more than the flowers of the fields or the birds of the sky, and NOTHING delights Him more than you. If you don't yet know the Lord, I pray that you would seek Him out and take time to read the Living Word, and that you would find peace, hope, and love that surpasses all understanding and earthly knowledge, and that your eyes would be opened to the miracles of God and of His creation. And if you read this blog and take nothing else from it, take with you the knowledge that He wants to know you deeply and intimately as His creation. And, that He misses you and longs to hear your voice again, not that He couldn't call you if He wanted, but that the Lord wants to hear you call for Him in the darkness. 

With all my love an affection and unyielding urgency,

Merrill

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Bible and Homoerotic Behavior PT 2

Of particular significance for our discussion is Romans 1:26-27, the only biblical text which discusses both male and female homoeroticism. In 1:18-23 Paul pronounces the wrath of God on the Gentile world because they have rejected the knowledge of God that is available simply by looking at creation. As a result, he says, they have created idols for themselves rather than worshiping the true God. The consequence of this rejection is that "God gave them up" to all kinds of dishonorable behavior. Specifically, in verses 26-27 he says, 
"For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."
We should note the language of strong disapproval that occurs in this text: "dishonorable passions," "shameless acts," and "error." This is reminiscent of the pronouncement of homoerotic behavior as an "abomination" in the legal code of Leviticus 18 and 20. Paul's objection to such behavior is based on the God-intended pattern of creation: "God made them male and female," and these two are to become "one flesh." In other words, Paul is taking the exact stance toward homoerotic behavior (minus the death penalty) that is found in Genesis and Leviticus. 
It is an obvious misinterpretation of this text to suggest that what Paul condemns is not homoerotic behavior, but whatever behavior is not "natural" for the individual- i.e., that if one "is homosexual," then this is how one should behave sexually, and if one "is heterosexual", then it would be "unnatural" to act in homoerotic fashion. Paul is not discussing individual orientations or preferences, but the created order of things. What he condemns is not "acting outside of your natural preferences", but acting against the way that God has created men and women for the purposes for which He has created them. 
These three Pauline texts are the only ones which specifically discuss homoerotic behavior. It is often pointed out that (1) we only have a few texts which take a negative view of homoerotic actions, and that (2) none of them come from Jesus Himself. The latter statement is undoubtedly true: Jesus made no specific pronouncement concerning such behavior. However, it is only reasonable to assume that Jesus accepted the proscriptions of homoerotic behavior found in the Levitical Code. Also, it should be noted that one at least two occasions (recorded in Matthew 10:15 and 11:23-24) Jesus referred to Sodom as epitomizing sinful behavior. So to suggest that Jesus would have taken a view different from that of Paul is strongly against the biblical evidence. 
As for the scarcity of texts which address homoerotic behavior, this holds true only for New Testament texts which specifically address this conduct. Others do so indirectly. Jesus references the Sodom story not only in Matthew, but also in Luke 17:28-30. In addition to Jude's characterization of the sin of Sodom as "sexual immorality" and "unnatural desire", a parallel text in 2 Peter 2:6-10 describes Sodom's behavior as "the licentiousness of the wicked." Likewise, Revelation 11:8 uses the same "Sodom" as a symbol of the iniquity of the city of Rome. 
Taken together with the Old Testaments pronouncements against homoerotic behavior, it becomes evident that the Bible actually has quite a bit to say about it, and that the biblical witness consistently negative. No texts indicate that such conduct is acceptable under any circumstances.
That said, I would also point out that, although that Bible consistently pronounces homoerotic behavior to be a sin, it never suggests that it is the worst of all sins, or that it is in a class by itself, as is sometimes assumed. The Levitical Code mentions homoerotic behavior in the context of a host of other sexual sins, from incest to adultery, which are equally condemned. In the New Testament, the specific condemnation of the this conduct invariably occurs in lists of other sings, indicating that homoerotic behavior out not be singled out as "the ultimate sin". Some of these other sins include greed, malice, envy, deceit, gossip, and disobedience to parents in Romans 1; idolatry, adultery, drunkenness, and theft in 1 Corinthians 6; and slave-trading, lying, and perjury in 1 Timothy 1. All such sins are equally violations of what God intended for His creation. This in no way lessens the severity of the New Testament view of homoerotic sin; it is simply to say that those who practice it are just sinners, like all the rest of us.
The New Testament message is not that those who engage in homoerotic behavior are to be vilified or shunned, or that they are excluded from the love of God. Rather, it is that God calls all of us sinners to Himself through the cross  of His Son, Jesus Christ, and offers forgiveness and cleansing from every sin, regardless of its nature, once we repent and turn to Him. Paul's point in Romans 1 is not that homoerotic practitioners are worse than others, merely that their conduct in indicative of what happens when God is taken out of the picture and replaced with a god or gods of our own making. But he goes on to say that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," and that salvation is available to everyone who believes. And his word to the Corinthians was not that the past homoerotic behavior of some of them put them beyond the bounds of God's grace; rather it was that they had been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, a hopeful possibility held out to all who would call upon His name.

James T. (Tommy) South, Ph.D.
Glen Allen Church of Christ
11064 Staples Mill Road, Glen Allen, VA 23060
gaoffice@glenallenchurch.org

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Bible & Homoerotic Behavior by Dr. James South Pt. 1

(Note: the following is taken from a presentation given at the Life Sciences and Religion Community Forum of Central Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University on March 30, 2005)
I have been asked to offer some perspective and clarification of the biblical view of homoerotic behavior. On one level this is a rather straightforward task, but one which has been complicated by the attempt to have the BIble support various preconceived conclusions, on both ends of the discussion, rather than allowing it to speak for itself. So, my goal is to allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves in order to provide a more concrete and accurate basis for the discussion of sexual behavior and orientation.
First, some context. Both Judaism and Christianity see themselves as "revealed" religions. By that I mean that both see themselves as holding to a faith that does not originate from human invention, but from divine revelation- i.e. from a God who exists outside ourselves and who is distinct from us in both being and nature. The history of this revelation is contained for Jews in the Hebrew Scriptures, and for Christians in both the Old and New Testaments. As my professor of Jewish at the University of Virginia was fond of saying, "Obedience is the essence of revealed religion." That is, if we believe that God has revealed His will on a matter- any matter- the essence of our response is to obey. It is not to debate, to de-construct, or to rationalize, but simply conform our behavior to what has been revealed. It is this context that both the Old and New Testaments speak of all moral behavior, including sexual behavior. 
With these thoughts in mind, we turn our attention to specific biblical texts which speak to the question of homoerotic behavior. I use the term "homoerotic behavior" deliberately, because this is what the biblical texts address. The idea of people "being" either homosexual of heterosexual is a modern construct, the term "homosexuality" not being coined until the late 19th Century by German psychologist K.M. Benkert. Neither the ancient Greeks nor the ancient Hebrews has terms or concepts corresponding to the contemporary dichotomy between "heterosexual" and "homosexual." What matters in the biblical texts, therefore, is not what we are in a sense of an innate sexual orientation, but what we do. So it is to our behavior, not to our nature that the Bible speaks. 
The Old Testament texts concerning homoerotic behavior are of basically two types: narratives in which homoerotic behavior is demonstrated, and legal codes prohibiting it. In the first category is the story of the men of Sodom in Genesis 19 who demanded that Lot surrender them the two angels who had visited him in human form, "that we may know them." "Know" is the Hebrew term yadah, which frequently means to "know" someone in the sense of having sexual relations with them, as in Genesis 4:1, "Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain." This is obviously the meaning of yadah in Genesis 19. To suggest that the "wickedness" which Lot begs his neighbors not to commit toward his guests is simply the violation of Eastern standards of hospitality is countered by the New Testament letter of Jude, which refers to "Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding citiess, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire." (Jude 7)
The legal code of Leviticus is emphatic in its denunciation of homoerotic behavior. Leviticus 18:22 says, "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination." Two chapters later, Leviticus 20:13 says, "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to their death; their blood is upon them." It is sometimes argued that homoerotic behavior is prohibited in the legal code only because of its associations with the cultic prostitution which was part of Canaanite religion, and is therefore culturally conditioned and not applicable to non-idolatrous homoerotic behavior. However, this argument flounders on the fact that if this is true homoerotic behavior, then it must be likewise true of other forms of sexual behavior outlined in this chapter, including incest (vs. 6-18), adultery (vs 20-21), and sex with animals (v. 23). Likewise, the context of Leviticus 18 and 20 argues against this interpretation: the issue in these chapters, as in the entire book of Leviticus, is not primarily cultural conditioning, but holiness, as indicated clearly in Leviticus 18:24-30, where the word "unclean" occurs six times within seven verses.
Turning to the New Testament, the authors accept without question the moral demands of the Hebrew scriptures and reflect them in their own comments on homoerotic behavior. The only New Testament writer who speaks directly to this issue is Paul, who mentions homoerotic behavior in three texts. I will address each of these briefly. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul writes,
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (English Standard Version)
The phrase "men who practice homosexuality" is actually two separate words in Greek. The first is malakos which means "soft", and was used in secular Greek to denote men or young boys who allowed themselves to be used sexually by other men, and who served as the "passive" partner in homosexual intercourse. The other term, arsenokoites, literally means "one who has sex with a man," and was used to indicate the "active" partner in male homosexual intercourse. 
The latter term, "arsenokoites", is likewise used in 1 Timothy 1:10, where Paul responds to the promblem of some who used Mosaic law inappropriately by saying that the law... is laid down for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and what else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
It is frequently said that arsenokoites and malakos do not refer to homoerotic behavior generally, but to homosexual prostitution or to pederasty (sex with children). This is reflected in the New Revised Standard Version's translation of malakos in 1 Corinthians 6:9 by the term "male prostitutes"/ However, there is nothing in the term itself that connotes prostitution. And even if this were its meaning, we must still reckon with the fact that Paul uses it alongside arsenokoites, which the NRSV translates as "sodomites." But a study of the standard lexical resources for New Testament Greek will show clearly that the two terms are simply ways of referring to the active and passive roles of men engaging in homoerotic behavior.