One of the supposed truisms bandied about by Christian opponents of homosexuality is that, "The Bible clearly teaches against homosexuality." In truth, one has to cherry pick a handful of doubtful passages to make that claim. The Rev. Amy Butler, pastor of
Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, D.C. recently preached an excellent sermon on the misuse of the Bible to attack homosexuality, which can be found online (
here). She concludes,
"So. What I’ve just recounted here is the total biblical witness on the topic of homosexuality. With careful study it’s clear that these six passages either address cultural and historical situations that differ from our own or their translation and meaning are ambiguous at best. The bottom line is this: we do scripture a disservice when we use it to address issues it was not written to address. And I would even go so far as to say that we use the Bible irresponsibly when we ask it for answers to questions about sexual orientation or loving same-sex relationships. The Bible does not address this topic at all, other than to hold up for us God’s high standard of radical love expected from all people."
And she goes on to affirm that, "As people of faith, when we tackle a hard issue like this one, we want to be very careful to look closely and prayerfully at the scriptural witness. And we also want to be careful that we don’t use scripture to defend a position we hold because it’s a position we’ve always been taught." It is a helpful, worthwhile sermon. Check it out.
