In my last post I looked at the question of what forms of homosexual relationship might have been recognised by Paul and the other New Testament writers. I concluded with the observation that given the diverse Roman / Hellenistic world that the NT writers operated in, they would have been familiar with a significant number of varied homosexual expression in the Mediterranean world. We identified two forms of homosexuality in particular that have the closest equivalence to modern western gay relationships, that of Greek pederasty in its most noblest forms and the Roman practice of taking someone of socially inferior status as a lover.
In this post I want to begin to turn to the New Testament texts that refer to homosexuality and to see whether understanding the cultural context of the time helps us to discern what is implied by the language employed by the New Testament authors. Before I begin this process however I need to point out the axiomatic basis upon which I am approaching these texts, namely, that the NT texts as we have received them are not just the opinions of humans but are inspired by the Holy Spirit. This means that we approach the texts on the understanding that they have been produced through the synthesis of God and man as a divine narrative that is as useful today as it was 2000 years ago. I don’t approach the texts as simply the thoughts of first century men and that we can dismiss their teachings if they don’t fit our twenty-first century mindset. Rather, we read the NT with the understanding that the fundamental moral precepts and guidelines are not relative to the society they were produced in, but in actuality are pertinent today. How might this work out? Well for example, if we discover that the NT texts when discussing homosexual practice allow a degree of liberty in this area, we cannot still take a conservative position on the issue arguing that such liberty was only for first century Christians. Equally, the converse applies.
Tags: Actuality, Axiomatic Basis, Conservative Position, Cultural Context, Equivalence, Gay Relationships, God And Man, Hellenistic World, Holy Spirit, Homosexual Practice, Homosexual Relationship, Homosexuality, Inferior Status, Mediterranean World, Moral Precepts, New Testament, Pederasty, Roman Practice, Testament Texts, Testament Writers
Q. How many Mormons does it take to fix a lightbulb?
A. Mormon lightbulbs aren’t fixed, they’re restored.
Don’t get it? By the time you’ve finished reading Latayne Scott’s reissued “The Mormon Mirage” you might. Zondervan have just put out a third edition of this classic text on mormonism from an evangelical christian perspective, updated for the twenty-first century. It contains chapters looking at LDS history, the Book of Mormon, LDS soteriology and concepts of revelation.
Revelation is the key of course to understanding what makes nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century mormonism tick. Bible not good enough for you? New revelation will fix that! Need to justify your extra wives? New revelation will fix that! Got a problem with a racist cosmology? New revelation will fix that as well! Scott explores the LDS mythology around the prophet Joseph Smith and like others before her, finds it lacking. She weaves personal stories of living as a mormon with historical facts and data that fly in the face of the offical line coming out of Salt Lake City.
Most important of all though, she describes her own personal moment of revelation, when discovering that she couldn’t please God after all (the reason she became a mormon) she finally met the true Jesus who saved her entirely through grace. This “Gentle Apostasy” of hers is the prayer that many of us have for our LDS friends and acquaintances, that they would also see the real Jesus of the Bible rather than the unreal Christ of the Book of Mormon.
Was the Church of Christ restored 200 years ago, or are LDS today the ones who need the scales lifting from their eyes? Latayane Scott would argue the latter and I think, after reading her book, you’ll probably agree.
Tags: Acquaintances, Apostasy, Book Of Mormon, Christian Perspective, Church Of Christ, Cosmology, Lds Friends, Lightbulb, Lightbulbs, Mirage, Mormon Church, Mormonism, New Revelation, Personal Moment, Prophet Joseph Smith, Reissued, Salt Lake City, Soteriology, True Jesus, Twenty First Century
I want to begin a series of posts looking at how Scripture approaches sexuality and slavery and to see whether the allegation that conservatives use two different exegetical principles has any basis. I’m going to begin by looking at one of the most common revisionist arguments in favour of same-sex relationships and move on from there to explore issues of exegesis where Scripture can seem to present ambiguity on a subject.
A word of warning – this post contains some description of sexual acts that some might find offensive. These descriptions are simply for the purpose of academic inquiry to provide context to the discussion of the specific meaning and intent behind the use of certain words in the NT.
To begin, let’s examine one of the most common revisionist arguments in support of blessing same-sex relationships. The argument goes something like this:
The writers (mainly Saint Paul) of the New Testament clobber passages on sexuality were unaware of the possibility of “permanent, faithful, stable” gay relationships. Therefore, their condemnation of specific same-sex acts (prostitution etc) cannot be read as prohibiting modern gay relationships.
It’s a convincing argument, but let’s break it down to examine in detail its constituent parts:
- The NT writers were unaware of permanent gay relationships
- The NT passages refer to specific sexual acts and are not a wider prohibition on same-sex activity per se
- Twenty-first century gay relationships are of a qualitative and substantive different form than those in the first century.
Tags: Academic Inquiry, Allegation, Ambiguity, Condemnation, Conservatives, Constituent, Convincing Argument, Exegesis, Gay Relationships, Hellenistic World, Homosexual Activity, New Testament, Passages, Prohibition, Revisionist Arguments, Saint Paul, Same Sex Relationships, Sex Activity, Sexual Acts, Slavery
