The so-called Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is 20 years old this year (1996). In October they plan a big rally in Southwark Cathedral, aided and abetted by Provost Colin Slee of the Cathedral, and with Bishop John Gladwin of Guildford as guest speaker. Organised protests by the clergy of Southwark Diocese have been ignored. Why? and why Southwark? Has it something to do with the fact that the Bishop of Southwark has a son who has pronounced himself gay? Are bishops and provosts afraid of being branded homophobes by the homosexuals?
Nobody really knows what homophobia actually means. It is not a word in any dictionary of the English language. It was coined by the LGCM from the Greek homoios, the same, and phobia, fear. But who is afraid of what big bad wolf in this context? Neither you nor I. Such a charge is a reaction to name-calling by straights. It is a temptation to refer to gays (the name they prefer) as queers or perverts. To do so shows abhorrence of the persons concerned, rather than of their deeds and lifestyle.
God makes it clear in the Bible that he hates the sinful attitudes and actions of fallen man; yet at the same time he loves the persons of fallen mankind with an everlasting love (chesedh; agape). "God so loved [the people in] the world, that he gave his only begotten son. . ." (John 3:16). God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. Jesus loved the woman at the well (John 4) in spite of her cohabiting with five different men. He loved the woman taken in adultery (John 8) and told her to go in peace; but added "and sin no more". He loved the people of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. He did not blast them suddenly off the face of the earth. He persevered with them for many generations, sending them Abraham and Lot to witness to them and urge them to repent. Finally he even sent two angels to warn them; but the townsfolks' reaction to that was to want to lie with them. They refused to repent, and were finally destroyed with fire, brimstone, bitumen and salt when the rift valley floor of the Vale of Siddim suddenly sank below the salt saturated waters of the Dead Sea.
As Lot found, there is little point debating with incorrigible "career" gays who wish to invert Scripture and make it say the opposite of what it patently unambiguously and unequivocally states. But there are points which one would like to make in discussion. Admitting one's sexuality is a start. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9). Kleptomaniacs and dipsomaniacs, for example, likewise must recognise their problem before reformation can begin. The Corinthian church included all types of reformed sinners, including arsenokoitai, "male bedders": but they were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). They would not return like a dog to its vomit, nor like a sow that was washed, to its wallowing in the mire (2 Peter 2:22).
As to "innate" homosexuality: we are all born in sin (Original Sin) and are by nature concupiscent. Only the New Birth "from above" can put the old nature to death and substitute the new nature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Even then, our human nature is only reckoned dead, and reactivates whenever we are tempted. Temptation is not itself sinful. Christ was tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). DL Moody said: we cannot stop the birds flying over our heads, but we can stop them nesting in our hair! "Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin". Sin when it is finished brings forth death (James 1:15).
The Book of Common Prayer rubric states that if anyone wishing to receive Holy Communion be "an open and notorious evil liver", he must not "presume ... to come to the Lord's Table, until he have openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former naughty life". Of course, if he has not "outed" the congregation does not know about his lifestyle; but whereas man looks on the outward appearance, God looks upon the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Brian. His command to the first couple was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This command cannot be fulfilled by anal or oral copulation, which is "confusion" and "an abomination". Marriage is honourable in all and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will destroy (Hebrews 13:1-4). "Let brotherly love continue" indeed; but philadelphia does not mean homosexual "marriage". Siblings do not mate.
Homosexual behaviour is an affront to over 90% of the population. In prisons, gays and sex offenders have to be segregated under Rule 43 for their own safety. In the Bible, righteous Lot was so upset by the sodomy around him, he prayed daily to God about it until God did something about it (2 Peter 2:6-8). Uncle Abraham thought there must surely be ten straights in the city; but there were not - not even Lot's wife! Jesus said "Remember Lot's wife": her heart was in Sodom (Luke 17:32). "Surely the Judge of all the earth will do right" said Abraham (Genesis 18:25). Jesus said "not one jot or tittle of the Law (Pentateuch) will pass away till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18). The love of God constrains us, as it did St Paul, to warn sinners of their evil ways, and urge them to repent and believe the holy Gospel. If we love gays, we will do this.
Ben Crick