Gays at Church

I read an article today on the possibility of the Episcopal church consecrating a lesbian priest as the Assistant Bishop of the Los Angeles Diocese. If she receives this position she would be one of two homosexual bishops in the United States ordained by the Episcopal church (Gene Robinson of New Hampshire being the other). The ordination of openly, practicing homosexuals in the Episcopal church has caused much controversy over the last few years and is threatening the church with a major schism. Many conservative Episcopal churches have already broken away due to the acceptance of the questionable clergy.

I have been following this controversy for a couple years now, as the Episcopal/Anglican tradition has always intrigued me. Over the last couple months I have had the opportunity to attend St. Luke's Anglican church in Redding, and I must say, I have fallen in love with the Anglican style of worship. The Anglican church I attend is on the conservative side of the debate and opposes the ordination of practicing homosexuals into the clergy. Why is this an issue and what is the proper response to it?

Obviously, this is an incredibly complex subject that volumes could be written on. However, I would like to share a couple of my thoughts. This is how I understand the church found itself in this predicament, in a nutshell. The Episcopal church is one of the mainline protestant churches to be heavily affected by the modernist movement that began approximately during the late nineteenth century and lasted well into the twentieth. The modernist movement did its best to remove the supernatural from daily life. Once the supernatural was gone, all that was left of Christianity was a very shallow social gospel. Working for the rights of the minority and oppressed became the sole focus of the church. What ended up happening was the church began to deny the full authority of scripture. During the sexual revolution, the LGBT community came out and became a force that all churches had to reckon with. Many of the more liberal churches of the modernist period gave the LGBT community more acceptance than the more conservative churches. Now here we are in 2009 and the question of homosexuals in the clergy is becoming more and more present.

What do we do with this? The first thing I want to affirm is that God loves all people, regardless of their sexual orientation. Christ came to this earth to die for the gay man in San Francisco just like he did for you and I. When Christians hold up signs that say, "God hates fags," they are doing the exact opposite of Christ's work. Christ commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our love for our fellow men is supposed to be unconditional, just as Christ's love for us is.

The second thing I would like to affirm is that homosexual practice is wrong. To engage in sexual relations with someone of the same sex is to take sex outside of God's will just like adultery is. That's right, adultery, if examined through the lens of scripture, is on the same level as homosexuality. Romans 1 is the classic text used by commentators to show that homosexual relations are outside of God's will, and I believe that other places in the NT such as Galatians 5:19-21 where Paul mentions immorality, impurity, sensuality he had homosexual relations in mind. In 1 Cor. 6:9, Paul refers to homosexuality as a sin against God. In the context Paul was writing in, homosexuality was just as common as heterosexuality. In the ancient Roman world, one did not think twice about enjoying the pleasures of such a relationship. In the Church at Corinth, especially, many of the members would have had more than their share of homosexual experience. However, when Paul brought Christianity to them, he made it clear that they should give up those practices just like they should give up fornication or adultery.

My third point is my personal opinion on homosexuality and its relationship to the Christian. I do not believe people choose to be homosexual, per se. I believe that some people are born with that disposition, just like some are born with a disposition toward alcoholism or violence. It is simply the result of the fallen world we live in. However, they do have the choice as to whether or not they will satisfy that disposition. Ravi Zacharias tells the story of a well known Catholic priest who was homosexual, but lived a completely celibate life for the cause of Christ. We all have sins to struggle against. Whether it be lying, gossip, pornography, or homosexuality, God promises us that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able. I, like C.S. Lewis and many other Christians, believe that those Christians who struggle with it should be accepted into the fellowship of believers and that they can offer contributions to the church that are unique and real. However, (and I have scripture on my side in this) they must be chaste. To engage in a relationship when scripture forbids such is just as bad as one who is cheating on his wife. They should be corrected in love and encouraged to follow Christ in His calling to celibacy in that area.. For this reason, I cannot support the Episcopal church's support of practicing gay and lesbian priests and bishops.