I’m worried that the noise of the arguments around gay marriage will cloud and confuse the real question for the Church, which is about the nature of inclusion. I am convinced that it is only as the Christian community grapples with this that we will find wise answers, not only regarding gay marriage, but also to related questions around the Church’s wider attitude to gay people.
I feel both compelled and afraid to write this article. Compelled because, in my understanding, the principles of justice, reconciliation and inclusion sit at the very heart of Jesus’ message. Afraid because I recognise the Bible is understood by many to teach that the practice of homosexuality, in any circumstance, is a sin or ‘less than God’s best’.
Some will think that I have strayed from scripture – that I am no longer an evangelical. I have formed my view, however, not out of any disregard for the Bible’s authority, but by way of grappling with it and, through prayerful reflection, seeking to take it seriously.
The Gospel and Jesus call us to be obedient to God. Scripture is crystal clear on this and on God’s position on homosexual relations, in fact, any sort of sexual relationship outside of one-man, one-woman marriage. The New Testament is uniform on the need for a disciple of Christ to live a sexually pure life, because to do otherwise is incompatible with having the Holy Spirit. I don’t have the right to come up with my own reasoning to change God’s clear commands. For example, I don’t have the right to go out and engage in a relationship outside of marriage, no matter how miserable my marriage might be, even though I am sure that as a creative self-justifying human I can come up with a narrative every bit as compelling as Chalke’s for why it must be ok.
In the end, yes it is a matter of integrity as a disciple of Christ. And that integrity requires that Christians live lives of fidelity in marriage and chastity outside of marriage. It may be difficult, but Jesus very specifically and repeatedly said that the path of a disciple would not be an easy one. Homosexual relationships, whether or not you try to call them “marriage,” do not fit within those God-prescribed parameters and are incompatible with being a Christian.
It deeply troubles me when there is a presumption that somehow it is only homosexuals that struggle with the requirements of the Gospel regarding purity. Many Christians go through a struggle that is just as difficult. To now give homosexuals a “pass” from the clear requirements of the Gospel demeans and trivializes the efforts of all other Christians who seek to live sexually pure lives as God intends.
Well he did stray from Scripture.