St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link magazine

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September 2003, Pages 8 & 9.
 

Last month we summarised chapter 2 of “Issues in Human Sexuality”. This month we try to skim through the rest of the report.

How to apply what the bible says about homosexuality?

“Scripture converges on the ideal of lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual union as the setting intended by God,” says chapter 2 of Issues, the bishops’ report about the bible’s teaching on sex. “Sex of any kind outside marriage is seen as sinful, and homosexual practice as especially dishonourable” (#2.29)
 

The Christian Vision for Human Sexuality (chapter 3) is therefore “chastity until marriage, and then a lifelong relationship of fidelity and mutual sharing at all levels” (#3.8). But what about those who never marry, or only marry later?

Singleness is OK, of course: you can be a fulfilled person and live in chaste singleness: Jesus did. Many single people live fulfilled lives, and they contribute a lot to society. They have lots of gifts, and especially they have the freedom to develop the gift of friendship (#3.12), an undervalued ministry nowadays. Like marriage, friendship calls for loyalty. It involves sharing and it can be a context for the growth of our personalities.

So what about sex between “just good friends?” No, says Issues, friendship isn’t exclusive like marriage; but sex is designed for exclusivity. Where sex can’t lead to commitment it ruins a friendship. “Young people need to be helped to understand this ... they need the support of the sympathetic peer group without today’s cultural pressure for pairing off.” (#3.14).

So single people should live in chastity. Not the same thing as celibacy, says Issues: celibacy is when you’re called by God to lifelong singleness, chastity is what you should be when you aren’t sure.
 

Homosexual Love (chapter 4) is experienced by lots of people, perhaps the majority, at some stage, usually early adolescence. Experts say we can all be placed at some point on a spectrum. Homosexuals (those attracted to the same sex) are not that different from heterosexuals (#4.5), and they too need a place where they can find friendships and share experiences.

And Issues hopes that the Church would be one such place - because we follow a God who regards each of us as valuable and precious. “Christians should reject all forms of homophobia” (#4.8).

However, forms of homosexual love are not on a par with heterosexual love or with marriage. Same-sex love may be real but it’s not “natural” (#4:10-17).
 

So finally, what of The Homosexual in the Life and Fellowship of the Church (chapter 5)? “Heterosexuality and homosexuality are not equal alternatives - either in creation or in what God says in scripture” says Issues (#5.2). And it’s not homophobic to say so (#5.3).

So, if we have people of homosexual orientation in the Church, how are we supposed to treat them?

First, says Issues, God loves all of us alike, so they all have a place in the Church. I agree.

Second, some of them will believe they are called to a life of singleness and chastity: this is a hard option, and we have to support them in it. Such people deserve the protection and encouragement of the Church. I strongly agree.

Third, others of them will be conscientiously convinced that abstinence is not for them. We disagree with them, says Issues (#5.6).

Up to this point, I agreed with most of what I read in Issues, but here I became uneasy. The bishops disagree with practising homosexuals, but they say they still want to keep them on board. Why?

“Christian tradition contains a respect for free conscientious judgement where the individual has seriously weighed the issues involved. ... And therefore we do not reject them. We stand alongside them in the fellowship of the church” says Issues (#5.6).

Does this refer to Paul (Romans 14) saying keep your scruples about others’ actions between yourself and God (v22)? Paul clearly didn’t mean this about others’ sexual actions, given what he wrote in Romans 1, 1 Cor 5, Col 3, etc.!

Issues goes on to say (#5.7-22): (1) no casual homosexual sex, any more than any other casual sex; (2) no bisexual activity, just like no other sex outside marriage; (3) no promiscuity, because it’s the opposite of commitment; (4) no paedophilia, which is always child abuse, and homosexuality is no excuse for it; and (5) no ordination of practising homosexuals. Clergy have to be role models, and we don’t approve of what they are doing, and clergy must be acceptable to the public, which practising homosexuals aren’t. Here’s the line: Clergy who feel drawn to their own sex can argue for a change of the rules, but the Church is not (yet) persuaded, and clergy are not free to flout the rules in the mean time (#5.15).

Yet Issues does seem to allow for practising homosexuals to take an active role in churches as lay people, although not as clergy. So it’s not surprising that the pro-Gay camp accuses Issues of double standards. I think this is a great pity, and I’d hoped Issues would ask all Christians to be either married or chaste, as the bible says. All are welcome to hear the gospel, but shouldn’t all those who minister in the Church be asked to live by the standards of the bible?

John Hartley

 

This web page was last updated on 2nd October 2003.