In my view, there are two layers to the issue of how major denominations handle the issue of homosexuality. First, of course, is whether they accept GLBT people as full members of the body of Christ. Second, for those who do not, is the emphasis they place on condemning gays and publicly campaigning against equal rights and their very existence.
No less an authority than Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu weighed in on how the Anglican Church is handling both layers of the issue. From the Christian Post:
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has strongly criticized the Anglican Communion for its stance on homosexuals.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4, the 76-year-old archbishop accused the worldwide church body of being “obsessed” with the issue of gay priests, while ignoring pressing global needs such as poverty and HIV.
"Our world is facing problems – poverty, HIV and AIDS – a devastating pandemic, and conflict," said Tutu.
"God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another,” he added.
"In the face of all of that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality."
Tutu went on to criticize the spiritual leader of the 70-million member Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, for overlooking God’s “welcoming” nature.
"Why doesn't he demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God?” he posed to the BBC.
God wants to draw us close, not push us away. Churches who push people away that don't fit a particular stereotype are acting outside of God's will and the example Jesus set for us that is described in the Bible.
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That is nice to say, and I am all for "getting over" our fixation on sexuality, but I want it to "get over" allowing me to live, love, and marry, as I please. Unfortunately, there are others who would say the only way we can "get over" this problem is by "keeping God happy" (my reductionism)and working to reduce the "sin" in the world. So again, we come to an impass.
ReplyDeleteI see this as a case where people become fixated on the tool, the Bible, and lose the message, God loves us more than we can conceive. We try to control God by following all the little details without realizing that, by definition, God is so much more than we can EVER comprehend.
BentonQuest,
ReplyDeleteYou are SO right. People like to bring God down to a human level so they can relate and believe they understand Him better, then assign their own prejudices and desire for judgement to Him. As you said, it is a given we will not ever totally understand Him, but the danger comes when people delude themselves into thinking they do.
My former Church did not approve of the Homosexual lifestyle, but neither did they march against it, and things like that. When I decided to leave, it was basically because I would be in a leadership role in a program they had for new believers, and because of who I knew I was, and it went against their Doctrine, I thought it best to just leave.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that the Church does not see that the Message of Christ is something that is inclusive for all people, and that when Jesus spoke to the Fundamentalist of his day, he was directly talking about those who used the law as a weapon, but knew nothing about God, and who he really is......and that is LOVE!