Posted on 12/03/2005 12:39:33 PM PST by sionnsar
Recently, in a speech given in Stockholm, Sweden, ECUSA's openly homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire, Vickie Gene Robinson, commented on the Roman Catholic Church's proclamations about gay priests and the appropriate ministerial responses toward homosexual people. Suffice to say that Rome considers homosexuality a sin, but also advocates a loving and truthful response to gay people about the transformative power of Christ through the Gospel message.
Vickie Gene's response? Now, remember, this is a bishop in the Church of God talking . . . "This (the Roman Catholic proclamations) strikes me as language from people who profoundly do not understand gay and lesbian people ... who know next to nothing about being gay or lesbian."
Robinson's response makes perfectly clear his foundation for understanding the mind and nature of God. And, his foundation for such understanding is not the gift that God Himself gave us for that purpose, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Instead, it is in the understanding of the base desires of human beings or at least certain segments of the human population.
The recent Roman Catholic proclamations about homosexuality are chock full of references to Scripture and advocate a loving and truthful response to gay people that would give them hope for a full life, not to mention an afterlife. It also clearly challenges homosexual people to rise above their unnatural and unscriptural lusts to live Godly and holy lives in the power of the Holy Spirit and under obediance to God's Holy Word. Discrimination and persecution of homosexuals is clearly forbidden. Instead, a "love them into the Kingdom" approach is advocated.
The Roman Catholic position is based on Scripture first, then understanding of one another.
Robinson would have nothing to do with this because it is based on the belief that the Scriptures are revealed and inspired by God and that their teachings are timeless, holy and true. Instead, Robinson wants to base his moral teachings on an "understanding of gay and lesbian people" . . . regardless of what the Scriptures say about this or any other issue.
This is an important difference of interpretation to understand, because one of the primary arguments of the homosexual lobby is to make their case based on social justice parameters drawing parallels between the current gay rights campaign and that of the women's movement, and the civil rights movement.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't understand a lot of what it means to be gay. But, I also don't know a whole lot about what it means to be black either. However, I know that racism and racial discrimination and persecution are wrong because the Bible teaches me to treat all human beings with dignity and respect.
When was the last time you heard anyone quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as saying that it was necessary for the Church to "understand black people" or to know something about "being black?" It never happened. Dr. King quoted Scripture often to point out the fact that God condemned racism and He said so in Scripture.
The founders of our country quoted Scripture to defend their belief that all men were created equal. They did not implore the King of England to "understand what it means to be living on the American continent." The Christian abolitionist movement quoted Scripture to advocate for the abolishment of slavery by showing that the 19th century American institution was not being performed as prescribed by the Bible. They did not ask slave owners to "understand what it would mean to be a slave."
Scripture also teaches both men a women a lot about what it means to be a member of the opposite gender. It does not condemn maleness or femaleness any more than it condemns blackness, whiteness, Hispanicness, Asianess or any other -ness. It does not condemn people who have disabilities, deformaties or illness simply because of their disability, deformity or illness.
The fact of that matter is that I can never truly understand what it might mean to be a different gender or a different race or anything different. And, such understanding, if I am not willing to subject myself to the teachings of Scripture, would never help me to change my opinion about a person in a different human situation anyway.
I can view all people regardless of race, gender, national origin or physical condition as equals. I can strive to live my life to treat all people justly because there is no Scriptural judgment on inate characteristics and qualities. I don't have to understand anyone or any group (though greater understanding always helps) in order to hear the clear call of Scripture in this regard.
However, the Scripture does provide a basis for judgment of people based on their behavior. That is why Robinson, Crew, Griswold, Bennison, Bruno, Sauls, Chane, Hobson, et al want us to shift our focus away from Scripture and towards an "understanding of other people." It sound so darn good, doesn't it? Surely, as Christians we are called to understand each other and all people as much as possible. However, understanding, even respecting other people does not mean that we must condone all of their behaviors.
But, understanding other people cannot trump understanding of God's Word. And, when God's Word is our foundation, understanding of one another will help us to treat one another as Christ would have us to do -- as God teaches in the Scriptures.
If we get the formula reversed, and make understanding of one another the foundation, then we will never be able to speak the Truth in love to one another because "understanding" will be more important than "Truth." We will ultimately do more damage to our fellow humans by understanding each other right into Hell. We need to keep the priorties in the order that God wants us to have in order to love each other into the Kingdom. That is the eternal goal, and the one that is the most important.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. In fact, you can't "understand" what it's like to be a different person from yourself, even if that person were exactly like you in every Federally-recognized category. I think that's one reason the commandment is "Love your neighbor as yourself." You don't have to know what it's like to be him.
Now I wonder why the bishop went to Sweden for a speech. I guess he was invited by Swedish homosexuals to rally troops, moral support, get-together of relative moralists, etc.
The Swedes are so tolerant of others' abberations. I'm sure everyone made him very welcome.
Homosexual death cult.
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