What authenticates loving, faithful,
covenant same-sex relationships?
I was replying to a man who was challenging me
on my Bible study, and my support for the relationships of those of our
christian friends.
Some lengthy letters went to and fro, and I would
like to share this part of one of those letters with you.
"..So what authenticates loving, faithful homosexual
relationships? We have a situation in which there is no condemnation
of loving faithful same-sex relationships in the Bible. But there seems
little that is specific referring to homosexual love to actually endorse
it.
There is of course Jesus' healing of the
Centurion's servant which, taking the evidence together of culture and
of language used in the story, identifies it as a loving homosexual partnership.
And unlike the account of the woman taken in adultery, Jesus does not say
'Go and sin no more' but commends the faith of the Centurion. I guess you
could say that was an endorsement.
Then there was Jesus referring to men who
do not marry in Matt 19:12 ie three categories, one of which was 'those
who are born that way'. I cannot think that
it meant other than that there were men who did not marry because they
did not love women. But it is stretching it to claim that as any kind of
endorsement.
The Bible references that state something
like 'Where love is, there is God' I
find supportive of all real life-enriching, dignifying love, including
homosexual love.
But in another sense arguments do not greatly
matter, for homosexual love receives the very highest endorsement - when
God gives the Holy Spirit to such people. Acts 10 makes the point rather
well. As I wrote earlier, God speaks in many ways - and one of the most
powerful is in the way God acts. All other arguments are vanity when God
speaks so clearly as Job and Peter found.
To Job, who had problems understanding another
issue, God had to be blunt 'Who are you -
where were you when I was creating....'. And
likewise to Peter 'What
God has cleansed call not thou unclean', and
having preached the gospel of grace to the despised gentiles Peter said'These
people have received the Holy Spirit; can anyone then stop them from
being baptised?'.
I struggled thro the Bible after being challenged;
I needed as someone who loves the scriptures to know for myself, and the
Lord graciously aided and guided me in this, though he made me struggle;
and remember I have no axe to grind.
If I had then found homosexual christians to be
people who were unfaithful to God I could not have continued in this ministry.
But my wife and I found people who were filled with the Spirit of God;
people who have taught us things of the Lord Jesus; people in whom the
fruit of the Spirit is clearly evident; some are 'single'; others in loving
partnerships, but blessed by the greatest blessing God can give - the gift
of His Spirit.
The crucial question is - are you able or prepared
to recognise the Spirit of Christ in these people in whom the Spirit assuredly
dwells? If not, will you recognise the Lord when you meet him? This
is an important question, for our homosexual christian friends include
some of the finest christian people we know - who love God in Christ -
and God has blessed them with this precious gift.
Think what the people of Israel lost because they
did not recognise Jesus - they had fixed ideas about Messiah - but they
were wrong and they missed the greatest blessing ever. I beg you not to
make the same mistake."
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