The homosexuality being forbidden in the Bible bears no
resemblance to the loving, monogamous, spirit filled same
sex relationships of my queer siblings.
This is part 4 of a sermon from Pastor Zach W Lambert.
Many thanks to the staff at Restore Austin and Pastor
Lambert for allowing us to use this sermon.
In Part 1, we heard about Restore Austin being condemned
and thrown out of their denomination, an experience that
many in the LGBTQIA plus community can relate to.
In Part 2 we heard that God loves all of His creation,
including trans, cisgender and intersex individuals, and in
Part 3, Pastor Lambert reviewed three of the most powerful pro
LGBQIA plus verses in the Bible from Isaiah, Matthew, and the
book of Acts. In this episode, Pastor Lambert
preaches about the clobber verses, those Bible verses that
are often misused to attack sexual minorities.
Here is Pastor Lambert. Now I want to bring us to a
close by addressing the main objection to full inclusion of
sexual and gender minorities that I've been talking about,
namely the six verses, 3 in the Old Testament and three in the
New that seem to prohibit homosexual behaviour.
Walking through each of those would be a whole other sermon,
so I'm going to summarise the two major viewpoints and I'm
going to tell you what I believe.
Again, my goal is not to make you think like I think on this
issue or really any other issue. I am a flawed human being with
my own biases like all of you. However, I've spent the last
decade studying this and reading everything I get my hands on
about it from people from all over the theological spectrum
and I want to share what I learn and I want to be open about what
I believe. Two major viewpoints when
interpreting these 6 verses. The 1st is called non affirming
theology. This is the belief simply that
scripture forbids homosexual behaviour.
Now even a lot of non affirming people don't ascribe to the
three Old Testament verses. That's because 1 is about Sodom
and Gomorrah, a really bizarre story about a group of men
forcing themselves on angels. And the other two are in the
Levitical law, which Christians don't abide by and includes
commands like don't eat pork and don't cut your sideburns and
don't mix your fabrics and stuff like that.
But non affirming people interpret the three New
Testament verses at face value. The most popular of these verses
in Paul's letters to the church in Corinth, he says this.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the
sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who
practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor
drunkers, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the
Kingdom of God. A non affirming theology looks
at a verse like this and it says very simply, this is a list of
bad things that we aren't supposed to do.
Homosexuality is on this list, and so homosexuality must be a
bad thing that we're not supposed to do.
Which makes sense, and it's the way that this passage has been
historically and traditionally interpreted.
It's also worth pointing out that there are some LGBTQ plus
people who hold non affirming theology and choose to practice
celibacy because they believe that that's God's best for them.
And as you can probably guess, the opposite of non affirming
theology is affirming theology. This is simply the belief that
Scripture does not forbid homosexual behaviour.
The foundation belief, the foundational belief of affirming
theology, is that the homosexuality forbidden in
Scripture is not the same thing as the loving, equitable, same
sex relationships we see today. Instead, the homosexuality that
Paul was talking about is about power and abuse and unrestrained
lust, because in the patriarchal culture of the 1st century, men
had all the power. That's why it says men who have
sex with other men or practice homosexuality.
So these patriarchal men, right? They could have sex with their
wives, male and female prostitutes, even male and
female slaves without any ramifications.
There were also Pagan temples like the Temple of Aphrodite in
the city of Corinth where Paul wrote that letter that were
famous for encouraging sex as a form of worship.
These temples often kept both adults and children as sex
slaves. So affirming theology claims
those things are what scripture is condemning.
They argue that monogamous same sex relationships they didn't
exist in the biblical world and that's historically accurate.
Even most non affirming scholars would concede that point, but
they would still argue homosexuality of any type is
still forbidden. Affirming theology also points
to the fact that the word homosexuality did not appear in
the English translation of any Bible until 1946, because that
year for the first time, the committee translating the
Revised Standard Edition made the decision to combine 2 Greek
words into the English word homosexuality.
In that passage from First Corinthians we just looked at.
Previously it had been translated things like abusers
of themselves with mankind, or even effeminate.
Now, not long after the Bible was published, a letter was sent
to the RSV committee disputing this translation of First
Corinthians 6 and Doctor Luther Weigel, the head of the
committee, He wrote a letter back acknowledging their mistake
and committing to correct the error.
But homosexuality wasn't officially changed to the more
accurate sexual perversions until the next revision in 1971.
And after 25 years, a lot of damage was done.
Homosexuality had been picked up by other translation and applied
to other New Testament verses too.
Now if you want to learn more about this, there's an upcoming
documentary called 1946 that tells this story.
Kathy Baldock, who wrote this book, helped with a lot of the
research on it. So that's a quick overview of
both affirming and non affirming theology.
Now there was a time in my life when I found the non affirming
arguments to be convincing, but that is no longer the case.
To be very honest with you all, I'm not exactly sure when it
happened. It wasn't like a switch that
flipped. It was more like a dam that
slowly developed cracks until the whole thing gave way.
See, the cracks started forming when I met LGBTQ plus folks who
deeply loved and pursued God. And the cracks got bigger when I
met queer Christians who had suffered through the horrors of
conversion therapy but still followed Jesus.
And they got even bigger when I met people right here at Restore
who'd been kicked out of churches because of their sexual
orientation and gender identity, and yet they still wanted to be
a part of a church family. And then when I began to dig
deeply into Scripture, the dam burst.
And I began to apply the same exegetical and interpretive
approach to the six passages about homosexuality that I do
with everything else in Scripture.
I began asking questions about context and culture and
language. And when I did, I came to the
conclusion that the homosexuality being forbidden in
the Bible bears no resemblance to the loving, monogamous,
spirit filled same sex relationships of my queer
siblings. I do not believe that same sex
relationships are inherently sinful.
Now they can be, but in the same way a heterosexual relationship
can be when there isn't respect or equality or Christ centered
love in the middle of it. I believe that God desires for
any relationship, heterosexual or homosexual, to be covenantal
and monogamous. I think that's his best for us.
And let me add a quick but important side note.
I don't believe heterosexual or homosexual marriage is a
necessary part of life. Singleness is good and it is
beautiful. And single people are not
incomplete. They do not reflect any less of
God's image or fulfil any less of God's mission without a
spouse or a partner. OK, back to sexual and tender
minorities. I really like the way David
Gushy says it in this book called Changing Our Mind.
He says if what we're talking about is blessing and anything
goes ethic in a morally libertine culture, I stand
utterly opposed, as I have throughout my entire career.
But if what we're talking about is carving out space for
serious, committed Christians who happen to be gay or lesbian
to participate in society as equals, in church, as kin, and
in the blessings and demands of covenant on the same terms as
everyone else, I now think that has nothing to do with the
cultural, ecclesial, and moral decline and everything to do
with treating people the way Christ did.
I don't believe any of what I just said in spite of Jesus and
Scripture. I believe it because of them,
and I believe it because of the rotten fruit I've seen come out
of marginalizing and excluding the queer community.
And I believe it because of the Christ like fruit I've seen come
from empowering LGBTQ folks to follow Jesus with their whole
selves. Again, I'm not trying to get you
to come to the same conclusions that I have.
You can interpret scripture actually in a more traditional
or non affirming way and still be fully inclusive.
We actually do this all the time.
The best example is with divorce.
See, the Bible talks a lot about divorce, including the very
direct words from Jesus we read earlier.
But Christians are far from unified about when it's OK and
when it's not. In fact, I bet if you asked
everyone here their perspective on divorce, you would get as
many opinions as there are people.
And yet we do not feel the need to force our opinion on others.
And we certainly don't feel the need to exclude or marginalized
someone who's been divorced, even in a way that might confuse
us. In the same way, interpreting
the Bible in a way that leads to non affirming theology is not
inherently homophobic or transphobic.
I'm going to say this again, this is very important.
In the same way, interpreting the Bible in a way that leads to
non affirming theology is not inherently homophobic or
transphobic. But forcing LGBTQ plus people to
adhere to a non affirming theology in order to fully
participate in the life of a church is.
Does that make sense? You nod with me.
OK, Thanks for clapping. That's nice.
And that is why we are fully committed to full inclusion.
We join with God and the first church in the rejection of
discrimination against sexual and gender minorities and the
full inclusion of LGBTQ plus folks in both God's family and
in our family here at Restore. So I'm going to close with a
message I got this week from a gay member of our church.
It's a beautiful example of what that Christ like fruit looks
like that comes from celebrating, embracing,
including our LGBTQ plus siblings.
This is shared with permission, he said.
My mind seriously couldn't comprehend a world where I could
be gay and a part of a religious community.
I had shut myself off from even entertaining it as a
possibility. But God's love finds a way
through, and I was able to find my way back to Him through your
demonstration of His love. I found He never left and was
simply patiently waiting for me the whole time.
The love I received at Restore is why I'm able to share that
same love with others. Your love is baffling.
God's love is baffling, and my motto lately is that I want to
love in a way that baffles stories like that.
Or why we are so committed to this hard but important work and
we believe it's how Jesus has confirmed again and again that
this is what he has asked us to do and who He has asked us to
be. I'm going to pray or he be done.
Lord God, you are good, You are holy, and you see us as your
beloved children with whom you are well pleased.
We are so grateful for that. I'm also grateful for these
stories in Scripture, for your words through the mouth of
Jesus, for your words through the prophet Isaiah, and for your
specific direction of Philip to fully include sexual and gender
minorities, not in just your family, but in the local church,
the first church, so there wouldn't be any question about
this. Thank you for your clarity,
thank you for your grace and your hope and your love.
I pray that we would do everything that we can to step
in and live in to who you've called us to be, both as
individuals and as our church family here at Restore.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Wow, there is so much here. Pastor Lambert opened talking
about 3 Old Testament clobber verses and he says. 1 is about
Sodom and Gomorrah, a really bizarre story about a group of
men forcing themselves on angels, and the other two are in
the Levitical law which Christians don't abide by and
includes commands like don't eat pork and don't cut your
sideburns and don't mix your fabrics and stuff like that.
Of the many podcasts that I have produced, the most popular
remains Sodom and Gomorrah, the most misused scripture in the
Bible. I also have several podcasts
dealing with the hypocrisy of conservative Christians who
throw out most Levitical laws while claiming that sexual
minorities have to follow 2 obscure verses in Leviticus.
Speaking of the New Testament, clobber verses from Paul's
epistles, Pastor Lambert says. The homosexuality forbidden in
Scripture is not the same thing as the loving, equitable, same
sex relationships we see today. Instead, the homosexuality that
Paul was talking about is about power and abuse and unrestrained
lust. Many theologians agree with
Pastor Lambert. The Roman sexual practices that
Paul is condemning refer to sex trafficking, sexual slavery and
adult men having sex with children, Pastor Lambert also
points out. The word homosexuality did not
appear in the English translation of any Bible until
1946. The homosexuality being
forbidden in the Bible bears no resemblance to the loving,
monogamous, spirit filled same sex relationships of my queer
siblings. The sexual practices Paul is
condemning bear no resemblance to the loving, monogamous,
spirit filled same sex relationships that we see today
between consenting adults. And finally, I loved this.
Single people are not incomplete.
They do not reflect any less of God's image or fulfill any less
of God's mission without a spouse or a partner.
Putting the lie to the myth that the Christian ideal is marriage
and having babies. Another conservative myth that
exists nowhere in the gospels. I'm so glad you have joined us,
and I do hope you will join us again.
Until next time, remember that God created you exactly as you
are and has promised you a place in His Kingdom.
I am Elton Sherwin, stay safe, be brave, and God bless.