Hmmm….I have thought long and hard before posting on this topic. Not out of a fear of putting forward my position but because it is such a hot topic that it is almost being done to death in Christian circles. Please refer to the various posts here for a multi-faceted view on the debate.
This issue has raised its head in a number of ways at NCC over the last couple of years. We have had several visitors from the homosexual fraternity who have come with the intention of recording some kind of ‘homophobic’ diatribe from the pulpit in an effort to gain publicity for themselves. Sadly, for them at least, my texts on those particular days have not been on the topic (one of the great benefits of consecutive, expositional preaching). There has been, in one form or another, a petition doing the rounds on the estate in an attempt to oust me from the church for my ‘homophobia’. Thankfully, it hasn’t gained too much credence, largely due to indifference and also down to the fact that many think we are more a ‘den of thieves and junkies’ than anything else!
We do have ex-homosexuals and lesbians in our congregation. Some of them are members and have repented of and ceased from their sinful lifestyle a long time ago. We also have others who frequent the cafe during the week and are fully aware that the Bible condemns the sin along with a whole host of others. Despite this, the locals know that we still seek to love and serve them the best way we can whatever their sexual orientation. We have young men with children to several young mothers and I am no less in their faces about their fecklessness, yet I have never been called ‘fecklophobic’ (maybe I can introduce a whole new phobia of my own here). We challenge people about a whole host of unhealthy and unhelpful lifestyle ‘choices’ (note the word there – deliberately used). We help prostitutes and rent boys here at the church and even though they dislike our biblical position they return to us time and again because they know that we can hold a strong opposition to their lifestyle and still unreservedly love them.
I resent this whole term ‘homophobia’ and I think it was a very clever invention by the homosexual lobby in an effort to demonise anybody who might hold a differing, yet legitimate view, on their radical worldview. So, I have come up with my own terminology for those who oppose the biblical view of human relationships.
They are ‘Hetero-Christophobic’. A bit of a mouthful, granted, but the point is clear. The church seems to be going into neutral or walking on eggshells around this issue for fear of offending and I don’t see why it should. Too often we are accused of Bible-bashing and shoving our views on everybody else, which makes me almost laugh out loud with incredulity. If anybody is being bashed it is Christians. If anybody is being clobbered by an agenda it is us. The way the media would have it, every other person in our country is either a homosexual or a repressed one. Contrast that with the portrayal of believers as fanatics, fundamentalists, brain-dead religious nut jobs completely at odds with the modern world. Yet, the statistics show that there are no more homosexuals in our country than evangelicals! They are just better mobilised and united under a common goal whereas we are divided on all sorts of stupid issues and losing ground in the battle for hearts and minds.
Some of my friends in the Church of Scotland are going through the mill at the moment over this whole issue of the ordination of homosexuals. Personally, I can’t see anything other than schism in their future but I keep my own counsel, pray for my Bible believing brothers and leave the deep theological stuff to others better qualified than I in this area.
I am just a simple guy with a high view of scripture. I do not believe that people are born with a predisposition to homosexuality any more than I believe that people are born with a predisposition toward bank robbery and mugging grannies. I believe that people are born with one predisposition only – to sin – and that this rebellious nature shows itself in a multitude of self-centred acts. I believe that the only freedom from any and all sin is to be found in the healing power of Jesus Christ. It is only through an active turning away from our rebellious lives and turning to Christ as Lord and Saviour can a person begin to find their true identity and true spiritual freedom.
As a church we are committed to helping ALL people regardless of their sexual proclivities discover the great love of God as found n the gospel of Jesus Christ. But sin is sin and we will call it whatever response we get from an unbelieving and hostile world. Not out of a sense of moral superiority or self-righteousness, but as those whose filthy, selfish, sinful lives have been transformed by the one, true gospel of Christ.
Are you a homosexual. Repent of your sin. Are you an adulterer? Repent of your sin. Are you not as bad as your next door neighbour? Repent of your self-righteousness. Are you living your life with no reference to Almighty God whatsoever? Repent of your wicked rebellion. The Bible commands all sinners everywhere to repent. What you will find at Niddrie is a challenge to leave your idolatrous lifestyle behind and bow to King Jesus. However you respond to our message, we will continue to love you, support you, teach you and encourage you to hear the Word of God and respond to it in obedient faith.