Reading the weekly e-zine from Sojourners/Call to Renewal, I was surprised to see an advertisement for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Readers may recognize HRC as the leading gay-rights organization, so I wondered what this group would have to say to Christians. I dutifully clicked on the ad and landed on the home for Out In Scripture, a resource website promoting a pro-gay hermeneutic.
Most interesting was HRC’s explanation of the project. “You don’t have to leave your mind, heart, and body behind when you encounter the Bible,” HRC explains. “This Human Rights Campaign resource places comments about the Bible alongside the real life experiences and concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of faith and our allies.”
Without reading too closely between the lines, HRC seems to imply that the Bible offers something less than a relevant historical account of real life. The website goes on to say, “Out In Scripture is a resource for you””anyone open to God’s voice for today. ”¦ The Bible’s not about beating you up, but lifting us all up.”
By appealing to “anyone open to God’s voice for today,” HRC recalls the United Church of Christ’s “God Is Still Speaking” ad campaign. Don’t like what the Bible says? Lucky for you, God changed his mind, the UCC insinuates. HRC, on the other hand, purports to take Scripture seriously, if checked by an individual’s experience. In one study, Out In Scripture tackles the lectionary reading from 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5. The HRC contributors explain the passage this way:
[I]n the course of our conversation together we realized that, in fact, Scripture is our Scripture. LGBT people are not excluded from affirming this Scripture’s teaching that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness” (verse 16). We are not excluded because this affirmation does not mean that we believe we should robotically “do” everything we might read about in Scripture.
The study’s authors suppose that Christians who disapprove of homosexuality could be akin to the mythmakers Paul warns Timothy to “correct, rebuke, and encourage.” HRC turns the tables on Christians who have used this same passage to defend orthodox teaching. The tactic may not be compelling to Christians familiar with the Bible’s many plain teachings against homosexual behavior. But the approach has a certain appeal to those who respect Scripture but don’t understand it. These people would not be so persuaded if HRC simply denounced Scripture as a relic of ancient culture. Misguided theologians of earlier eras sank venerable denominations with that strategy.
[blockquote] … The Bible’s not about beating you up, but lifting us all up.[/blockquote]
Generally true but the rub comes when trying answer how one is lifted up. There are those of us who believe in the transformative power of Christ working in us to move us “on to perfection” (as Wesley said) so that we can grow to His full stature and fully share His mind (personal holiness and holy living). We would therefore see any message that tells folk–ANY folk–it’s OK to remain where you are (broken and alienated from God by sin) as distinctly unloving.
I suspect, however, that these folk do not share that view of love.
Fate, you are right – but the challenge is discerning what his Mind might be like. If one begins with the view that homosexuality is fundamentally disordered, then we should do everything we can to reconceptualize and supress it. If it is just one apsect of God’s varied creation that expresses joy and peace within a promise, then we are somewhere else.
But isn’t it the reappraisers who in fact are the active parties in reconceptualizing homosexuality? Up until the 1960s or so, Christianity has been solid in the sense of theologians and faithful that homosexuality was out of line with God’s purposes for us.