Confronting Homosexuality in the Church

A friend of mine who is both a Christian minister and theologian, was called to an interview for a faculty position at a seminary.  Of the many questions that he was asked during the interview, one was "What  is your position on homosexuality?"  He offered a counter-question, "Do you want a pastoral answer or a theological answer?" They said to him, "We want a pastoral answer."  He responded, "From a pastoral point of view, I believe that gays and lesbians should be treated like every one else, i.e. with love, compassion, dignity, and respect. Now do you want my theological answer?" They said to him ,"No, let's continue with this interview."
He was hired and given the faculty position, in spite of the fact that they sensed that he believed that from a theological point of view, homosexuality is a sin.

Now we can take the very same question that he was asked, the answers that he gave, and evaluate them within the context of the Church.  We can ask if practicing gay and lesbian people should be admitted to membership in Christ's Church and to its Sacraments of Baptism and access to the Lord's Table.  My pastoral answer would be that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be admitted to Christ's Church and to His table on the same grounds as everyone one else, i.e. repentance from  a life of sin, in whatever shape or form that sin might be, and faith in Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.

Now, that sounds easy enough.  But it is more complex and complicated than that.  One of the things that makes it difficult is that having said that LGBT persons should be admitted to Christ's Church and to the Sacraments, and even to ordination to the Gospel ministry, there are many within the Church, including heterosexual people, who believe that homosexuality is not a sin.  There are some who believe that "God loves the sinner, but hates the sin," while there are others who believe that homosexuality is not a sin at all.
Subsequently, the latter group would also believe in the right of people to marry someone of the same gender.  And then, there are others, including yours truly, who believe that the concept of "sin" relative to homosexuality, has more to do with "choice homosexuality," i.e. people who go against their very own nature by engaging in same-sex acts and same-sex relations and lifestyles.  In other words, I believe that "choice homosexuality" is sinful.

But what about genetically or physiologically-based homosexuality?  At this point in my spiritual journey and practice of ministry, I refrain from judgment because I do not understand it enough to give an opinion. If there are people who have a natural same-sex orientation, we cannot be so quick to dismiss that orientation as "sin," in that they did not "choose" to be this way.  Since the Scriptures nowhere speak to the issue of sexual orientation, in the same vein, I refrain from commenting and pontificating until more enlightening information is provided.

I furthermore, hesitate to base my views of human sexuality exclusively on the basis of Scripture, since it is a well-known fact (I think) that much of the sexual morality in the Bible emerges from an agricultural context in which some human beings (for example, women) are considered the property of others.  This is further complicated by the cultural custom of arranged marriages, where marriage between a man and a woman was based more on cultural and social custom more than it was on love between the two.  Some may want to argue that this was true in the Old Testament, but not in the New Testament.  But the fact remains that the New Testament was written primarily by people who true to their Hebrew/Jewish heritage, adhered to the customs of their time in terms of the woman being the property of the man.

Please allow me to add that defining homosexuality as "a sin" does not constitute homophobia in any way, shape, or form.  It is one thing to have fear of or hatred towards people who engage in same-sex relations or lifestyles.  It is something entirely different to be against a particular lifestyle for whatever reason. For example, because I do not engage in or support the activity of drug trafficking, does not make me a "narco-phobic."  I may love my drug-dealing sister or brother without supporting their habit or life-style.

How, then, do we deal with the issue of same-sex relations within the community of faith? There are no easy answers, but I think that some suggestions might help us to get started.

1.  The Church should have a very clear biblical hermeneutic (interpretation) which takes into consideration the agricultural context from which sexual morality emerges on the one hand, and, on the other, seek for those elements in Scripture which are universally valid and applicable in all times and in all places.

2.  The Church should deal with LGBT persons in the same way that we deal with all other human beings, i.e. sinners in need of grace, repentance, and restoration through Christ.

3.  The Church should remember that "the Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath," i.e. the standards given by God were given to facilitate human liberation and not human enslavement.

4.  The Church should refrain from singling out sexual sins (adultery, fornication, homosexuality, etc.) and making them weightier than other sins such as greed, murder, theft, etc.

5.  The Church should refrain from basing its moral standards on the basis of what is "politically or socially correct" and popular.   A discerning Church will always seek to discern what is the "good and acceptable will of God?" over what is the socially acceptable and popular thing to do?

I am not suggesting that these five steps will completely resolve the problem that the Church faces on the issue of sexual morality. However, I do believe that they are a step in the right direction.  Please feel free to give your input on this subject and on the contents of this essay.  Your input is very much needed to help us as a community of faith to do and say the right thing.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sanctifier. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Carmona