I’ve read several books and articles exploring both the traditional and affirming perspectives, but perhaps no one else so succinctly, persuasively, and carefully presents the affirming view than Matthew Vines in his now-famous no-frills, one-hour lecture on the topic, delivered at a church in his Kansas hometown. Upon confronting the reality that he was gay, Matthew, a committed Christian, left college to devote two years to studying the topic. Now he has launched The Reformation Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. He is currently writing a book for publication by Random House in early 2014.I saw Matthew's talk about a year ago. It was powerful. Here is a young man devoted to Christ who makes the case that committed same-sex relationships should be accepted in the body of Christ. He is not advocating promiscuity. He is not advocating celibacy. Vows of celibacy often get broken in perverse ways. Think sexual abuse and grossly inappropriate conduct. No, Matthew wants to share his life with a partner in a committed loving relationship as he pursues his call by Christ.
It has seems like a no-brainer to welcome people like Matthew as a brother in Christ. Like Matthew and Rachel, I was raised in a conservative Christian household. Homosexuality was presented as deviance. The big handful of sentences from scripture condemning homosexuality were waved like a flag. I believed all the bluster until I got to know someone who was gay. The only difference between us was that he is attracted to men and I am turned on by women. I could not find another difference. And over the years I have had the privilege to know many incredible people that happened to be gay. One is a painter that was raised Catholic and felt shunned by the church. Yet the walls of his home are covered in crucifixes. He has been in a committed relationship for most of his 70 years of life. He confides that sex now is a just a distant memory because both men struggle with different forms of cancer. The affection between them is palpable. They are caregivers for each other.
There are 613 commandments in the Torah. Jesus boiled them all down to two - love God and love others. Everything follows from these two basic ideas. He set the bar for loving others really high. His example was to go among the people rejected by society, heal their suffering, and share the good news of God's love and grace. He said to love even our enemies, including those that mistreat us. He also had harsh words for religious authorities in a rush to throw stones at sinners. He looked into their hearts and saw sin's corruption. He told the ones without sin to throw the first stone instead of egging on a mob of would be executioners. They all walked away in shame.
Rachel gives her reaction to the video in the comments section. Here is some of what she said:
What I like most about Matthew's presentation is that he deals with some of the lingering questions I always have after hearing the affirming view. His response to the challenge that "all the BIble's references to homosexuality are negative," is, I think, a good one. That has always been a hang-up of mine, and while Matthew's response still leaves a question in my mind (why are there no positive examples of a homosexual relationships in Scripture?) it makes sense. I also think he responds well to the charge that gay Christians who don't want to be celibate are just trying to take the easy way out and are unwilling to commit to the sacrificial nature of following Jesus.In the other corner, we have the Ridgedale Church of Christ.
But that’s what happened at Ridgedale Church of Christ, which last month asked a family to choose between its support of a gay relative and its membership in the church. The family left their church home of some 60 years over the confrontation and told their story, making headlines from coast to coast.Katherine Cooper is a policewoman on the force of a nearby city. She petitioned the city council to extend partner benefits to her spouse, a woman she married in another state. The city council agreed. The public hearing caught the attention of church members. Kat Cooper just happens to have grown up in Ridgedale Church of Christ and is the great granddaughter of one of the church's founding members. Church elders told the parents and other relatives to come before the congregation and repent of their support for their loved one. The family chose to leave the church.
Ridgedale Pastor Ken Willis said the family the church approached was asked to repent for their public show of support for a gay relative. Church leaders couldn’t ignore what they felt was a flouting of church values, he said, but the family is welcome back in the congregation.
“God’s mercy endures forever,” he said last week. “But not for those who are in rebellion against God.”Interesting choice of words - "those who are in rebellion against God." Leaders of Ridgedale Church of Christ wanted to conduct a public stoning of sorts.
Instead of accepting a public shaming, the family walked out. It set a powerful example.
Beyond that, what Ridgedale showed was church members standing up against religious authority in a public fashion. Such stories just don’t find their way to the evening news, the morning paper or national blogs the way the Ridgedale incident did.
Do you see Christ in these church leaders? Do you see Christians being taught to love others as Jesus taught? It is not obvious to me. You mean to tell me those church leaders are without sin?
The tempest caught the attention of others even including high profile leaders like Richard Land.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College, said churches should get back in the habit of holding members accountable. Too many have gone soft, he said, as an overreaction to past abuses in which the church publicly humiliated and castigated members.
“I think we should be practicing church discipline more, but in the right way,” said Land, the onetime head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics and religious liberty commission. “The purpose of church discipline is not to drive people away. It is to make them aware of their sin and the fact that their sin is damaging their relationship with God. It’s a hurdle put up in your way to keep you from going down the wrong path.”This is the same Richard Land that preemptively blessed the war in Iraq in the name of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). His prophesy that the war was just and consistent with the teachings of Christ can be found here. As we all know now, this turned out to be a war justified on lies. It was the most expensive in our history. Attempts to rebuild the country were filled with incompetence and corruption. We rewrote Iraqi laws to give control of its oil to multinational corporations. The country is still racked by the sectarian violence that could erupt in all-out civil war. The fruits of this war have all been rotten. Now find me any attempt to hold Richard Land accountable for his false prophesy. It took racist comments and plagiarism to get him in trouble with the SBC. Fascinating role model for seminary students.
Now come calls from other church leaders in the area to support Ridgedale Church of Christ. They even charge that Ridgedale is being persecuted for standing up to sinners. You can find a few examples here and here. In their eyes, Ridgedale is just getting tough with sin. They are being condemned by a secular culture for not bending to changing attitudes toward homosexuality.
Robert Gagnon is the go-to biblical scholar for those that demand that homosexuals be treated as second class citizens and Christians. You can find his reaction to views similar to those of Matthew Vines here.
Imagine you are a person without faith. Would you be more open to God after hearing Matthew Vines or Ridgedale pastor Ken Willis?
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