Dear Laura,

Thank you for responding to my email as to your stance on Christianity and homosexuality a couple of weeks ago. I understand what you have said, but simply can't fall into agreement with parts of it. First, I want you to know that I am not a minister, have never been to seminary or any type of Bible School (other than Vacation Bible School, as a kid). I do teach a Bible Study class at my church. In fact, I write the lesson for a website every third week (http://home.att.net/~timcochran/FBCH). I try and look at a lot of different issues and base my thoughts and acceptance or lack thereof upon what the Bible says. It holds a much higher place in my estimation, than any Christian author, minister, evangelist or teacher (Billy Graham, Robert Schuler, The Pope, my pastor, anybody).

>
>I AM a Christian! I say it, I speak it, I LIVE IT!
>
>
>I read the Bible as a book of wisdom, passed down from our ancestors.
>It is the greatest book ever written. However, I do NOT believe it is
>innerrant, or the exact word of God. I believe it is man's narrative of
>their understanding of God. Many people believe this.
>

I, too, am a Christian - I base my salvation wholly upon acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, nothing more, nothing less. However, I don't see how we can come to a saving faith, without the Bible. In John 5:39, Jesus said "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and they do testify of me." I just can't see the Bible simply as a book of wisdom, even if it is considered to be the greatest book in the world. If I didn't see the Bible as the inerrant word of God, I couldn't stand in assurance before God at the end of my life. In essence, if some parts of the Bible are to be trusted and other parts are just good stories or a human perspective of God, who gets to choose which parts fall in which categories?

Proverbs 30:5 states that "Every word of God is tested". I take that to mean that every word is pure. Jesus never invalidated what was written in the Old Testament. He indicated that many took a wrong slant to what was written, but He never said it was wrong. If it was wrong, wouldn't He have taken the time to say so? And isn't He the authority we should follow? He never made the claims that many make today. He wasn't misleading.

The only text that Jesus ever referenced was the Old Testament. In Matthew 4:4, He said "Man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." In Matthew 5:18, Jesus said "Until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one title shall pass from the law, until all is fulfilled." This only gives more credence to Jesus' belief that the Bible was inerrant. Whether or not inerrancy of the Bible is a popularly held belief by people today or not matters little to me.

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>1)If we read it in a historical context, that Leviticus was written by
>religious leaders of the day to prevent Judiasm from dying out after the
>40 years in the wilderness, and the laws were written at a time when
>there was no understanding of sexual orientation,.... we can see it in
>a different light. We eat shell fish and pork, those laws were written
>at the same time.
>

The laws against unclean animals were annulled with Peter's vision in Acts 10:9-16. However, I have never found any changes regarding sexuality, of any kind. It seems that the only type of sexuality that was ever mentioned in a positive light was that of husband and wife, male and female.

>2)Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, but had a lot to say
>about helping the marginalized and the poor, and most of all about
>loving your brother and not judging others.
>

You correctly stated that Jesus had a lot to say about helping the marginalized and the poor - and loving your brother and not judging others. I guess my question is "What does it mean to love your brother?" If I truly love someone, I want to tell them the truth. Even totally apart from the Bible, homosexuality has destroyed many lives; a homosexual has a much higher probability of dying earlier and then there is AIDS, which has infected much of our population. It would seem to me that loving my brother, homosexual or not, means that I help them to learn the truth and live a more productive life. Jesus loves them, just as He loves you and me, but He desires each of us to be free from the sin that enslaves us, rather than staying in it.

>3) When one studies the background of Paul, and how he was raised to be
>a great Jewish scholar - some of his pronouncments came as a direct
>result of that, not necessarily what Jesus taught. He was an old
>testiment scholar, basing much of what he said on the old testiment,
>taken out of historical context.
>

As I stated earlier, I do believe the entire Bible to be the truth, inerrant. I put as much credence in Paul's writings as I do of any other writer in the Bible. I believe what was written in 2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

The New Testament does mention homosexuality. In every instance, it is not shown in a positive light (1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:8-10, Ephesians 5:5 and Revelations 21:8, etc.).

>So, personally, I feel ones sexual orientation is a gift from god,
>whether gay or straight. Morally, it is equivalent to being left
>handed- a minority handedness, and we used to make left handed people
>right with their right hand. We no longer do that, we are beyond that.
>We are doing today with gays and lesbians what we did 50 years ago with
>people that wrote left handed.

If we are both Christians, shouldn't that mean that we desire to live as God intended? Man's thoughts and ideas are not in agreement with God's. He is the judge - His ways are above our ways. I tend to believe that we are to stand in agreement with Him and not with the world. I don't believe that there is a lot of gray area in God's thoughts. He either approves or disapproves. We're not really playing a game - this is our life. One of my favorite passages in the entire Bible is Deuteronomy 32:46-47. In summary, God's words are not idle words for us to mentally assent to, but they are our life. Any bias on left or right handedness is clearly man's - God never told His people to be right or left handed. He has, however, made clear reference to 'sexual orientation'.

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>We used to believe that black people we inferior to white, had no soul,
>whatever.... People used the bible (some still do) to justify their
>bigotry. We no longer believe that, as a society, we are beyond that.
>

When God calls each of us, He calls us to repent in areas of our lives that we fall short. A liar, adulterer or thief cannot continue to consistently live as a liar, adulterer or thief once they have been redeemed. Jesus is our Savior AND Lord. He desires that we change to walk in the light. I have seen many people repent from lifestyles that did not bring glory to Christ. In many cases, it was a difficult, but never impossible transition. No sin is equivalent to being born black. A black man cannot become a white man. However, many homosexuals have been changed to heterosexuals, and many others have conquered change in their lives after coming to Christ.

>It is time we started to get beyond sexual orientation.
>

To be honest, I'm not looking to judge anybody. I have enough to keep myself walking in a way that glorifies God daily. My friends and myself strive to keep each other accountable. When we are out of line, our motive is not to judge, but to restore in love.

My whole purpose in writing you to begin with was to try and get an understanding of your position. I appreciate your candidness in return. It does help me to understand how others believe, but I cannot join those ranks. I have to seek to live my life by the principles, guidelines and standards set by the Bible. I do not claim to be perfect, far from it, but seek to change areas of my life where I fall short of giving glory to God. Nothing in this life is more important than living for my Savior.

In closing, suppose you are right. What have I lost? Nothing. I have a peace of mind that I am following what God has revealed in His word. I truly have peace in that respect. I'm not trying to judge others, but am seeking truth. However, what if I am right? Much responsibility is required from teachers. If we lead others away from God in the name of Christianity, what have we done? The most important part of life is lost in the name of human freedom. I choose to live according to the truth of His word.

I'll be praying for you - won't you pray for me?
In Christ,
Don

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