Gays and Christianity: The same old story

I was going to write a post to explain that traditional Christianity's opposition to homosexual practices is no innovation, for it dates back to Christianity's beginnings. The church began within the gay-friendly Roman Empire of the first century AD. The nascent church denounced homosexual conduct among church members and called on them to forswear it.

But I found that someone else had already written the article I had in view to write. You may read it here:

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/gay-marriage-and-homosexuality-were-part-of-moral-landscape-in-ancient-rome

What I am getting at is that the people who say it's 'only a matter of interpretation' whether the church can adopt cultural norms in this matter, and now approve of homosexual practices after having all along opposed them, have it wrong. If we were going to go along with the culture we had a fine chance about 2000 years ago.

Of course the comeback to that is to say our times are somehow different and what is now understood about homosexuality, and maybe even the definition of what homosexuality is in its cultural context (for sexuality is, some say, culturally defined) is different today. We need to change the church's position because the question of homosexuality is no longer the same question.

I do not see a great distinction between then and now. Then as now, the problem Christianity finds is rejection of the created order in favor of personal predilections and manmade justifications. The problem with sin is that it hurts us and others. There is nothing of arbitrary rulemaking about it.

In the case of homosexuality there is whatever spiritual harm* befalls one who rejects the order of things that God places before us, and other, more evident harm as well, as in Paul's statement, ",,,the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." (Rom 1:27) As to what penalty he means, that is perhaps debatable, for the text does not specify that, but the emotional, mental and physical consequences may be discussed in light of present-day experience.

If you say that you are a gay man who has been hurt not one whit by marrying a man, well and good. And I will concede that there are men who have married women and come to grief thereby. But I encourage you to consider the question in broad aggregate: many examples over time rather than undue generalization over a few examples. Broadly speaking, if proper guidelines are observed, mating with a woman is a good thing for a man. Can the same be said of mating with a man?

Harm to self and others is why, I think, the word of God says what it does about homosexuality, but whether I am right about that or not, it is still the word of God. Attempts to re-read it to say something pro-gay or neutral are unconvincing because of the bluntness of the words, in the Romans passage and elsewhere in the Bible. Scripture has nothing good to say, in any part of it, about same-sex sex. Other-sex sex it lauds as a fine thing in its place; see the Song of Solomon.

But, in whatever way you sort out that bit of theology, there can be no question that the homosexuality question is divisive in the church world at this time. Postmodern liberalism goes down one path and Christianity as it has endured goes the other way. Tradition's objection is something gay activists seem unwilling to call by its right name: principled objection not bigotry. That, I think, is why progress on the topic is and will remain impossible. This is what traditionalists hear the other side saying: If you do not agree with me and my justifications you are a bigot, that's all.

It is an issue that touches on core questions of who we are and who God is, and whether God means what he says. What postmoderns are saying on the point is irreconcilable with what long tradition is saying. If we want our viewpoint to be consistent with that of the early church, we already know what they had to say about the gay question.

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* While not immediately evident outwardly, the effects of rejecting godliness can be dire, and such rejection can take any number of forms besides sexual misconduct of whatever kind. See, in this connection, 1 Cor 6:9-11, with its context and cross references.