Review - Homosexuality and the Church: Defining issue or Distracting Battle

Awhile back a friend of mine suggested that I read this book by Howard Snyder. Being concerned by the Christian Church's response to the LGBT Community, it seemed to be a worthwhile read.

Howard Snyder attempts to very briefly discuss his views on homosexuality and Christianity. Apparently, this had started on a posting he had done on the Internet and grew into this quick and easy reading. Although he comments on the LGBT question in a very respectful manner, he fails on several points to explain why homosexual practice and Christianity are incompatible.

Probably one of the quick "red flag" remarks that appear are how often he states that Scripture "clearly" says that homosexuality is sinful. In fact, this word, "clearly" he uses several times. He doesn't expound on the Scripture passages. He doesn't justify them. He interprets the "clobber passages" of Scripture (specifically in Leviticus and Romans) as self-evident of their meaning when not all theologians are united in their understanding of these passages.

Here is a quote that really brought up my ire:  "Women deserve full and total equality in the church and in society because of creation. The same cannot be said, however, of practicing homosexuals within the church." His reasoning for this is bizarre.

Another quote:  "The church is based largely (though not exclusively) on marriage and family life, and stable, health society is built largely on healthy and stable Christian families." If this is the case, he has not only insulted all people in the LGBT community, but also all single Christians who have decided not to marry.

Snyder also seems to assign levels of evil to sin, implying that same-sex orientation is a worse sin.

Despite the vast amounts of current research into same-sex attraction, showing that, if not genetic, that there is a hormonal aspect to it that forms in the womb, he dismisses these scientific claims by saying that it is inconclusive. He supposes that even if it were conclusive, it does not justify it, comparing same-sex attraction to alcoholism.

Probably the strangest issue is the fact that Snyder brought in examples from the past where people were devout Christians, but practiced slavery and racial discrimination, yet were still Christians. By way of conclusion, he implies that people can be homosexual and a Christian at the same time. If that is the case, what is the point? He states that they aren't living in full holiness, but are still Christians. This is his weakest argument. He inadvertently justifies the Gay Christian's claim that one can be gay and a Christian at the same time.

Perhaps the only area where I agreed with Snyder is that he does not hold any credit to the "slippery slope arguments." Although he believes that same-sex attraction is not a "tipping point," it is a "turning point."

South African-Scottish Music

Many moons ago I purchased a CD, called Bravehearts. No, it had nothing to do with the movie, Braveheart, but it did contain a lot of Scottish music. I love Scottish music and this CD was a modern collection of new Scottish music.

My favorite song on this was Blair Douglas' Nelson Mandela's Welcome to the City of Glasgow. It incredibly blends South African music with Scottish music. It sounds unlikely. Doesn't it? Somehow it succeeds and takes on a greater life of its own more than it could if it were separate. There's a term for that:  Synergy, which, according to Mr. Webster, is "the increased effectiveness that results when two or more people or businesses work together." (1)

It makes me wonder. Why couldn't this work for Christians? We fight and bicker more with each other and convince the world that we do not practice what we preach. That mysterious-sounding song, "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love", doesn't mean anything to the world because they don't see it in us. Of course, this is a sweeping generalization, but to me has a ring of truth to it.

This reminds me of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, where he says, "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Paul goes on to expound on that analogy of the body. A body cannot consist of just an eye, but has different parts to it, all working together with Christ as our head.

Probably the biggest struggle we have amongst each other is trying to determine who is a part of the Body of Christ. In this area we have failed. We are not the experts in this matter. The only one who can determine that is Christ Jesus himself, who judges as to whether or not someone belongs to him. How have we failed? Just look at all of the Church splits: the Latin and Greek Church Schism, the Protestant Reformation, which resulted in the Peasant's War and the 30 Years War. Look at recent history with the Civil Rights Movement when white pastors insisted that racial integration went against Holy Scripture (2). Dare I say it? Loot at how the Church has treated our LGBT siblings in Christ.

Is this Christ-like? Does our hate for those who are different make us better Christians? Let us not kid ourselves either. Our hate for those whom Jesus loves separates us from Christ. Let us instead love without judging and leave that up to our Lord.

What is worship?

Just recently I was involved in a discussion about worship and what involves worship with God. That is a very loaded question and I will try to answer some aspects of it.

I love definitions, etymologies, etc. When I look at the word, "worship," I discover that etymology of the word comes from Old English and is "condition of being worthy, honor, renown" (1). I remember once a German Salvation Army officer, Major Andrea Weber, did a Bible study on worship and really loved the meaning of worship in English.

Let me return the favor and say that I really love that word in German:  Gottesdienst. The German language loves to combine words. (Don't get me started on that one.) In this case it is two words encased in a genitive form. We don't have the genitive case in English, but basically it means that it is a possessive form.  The two words in the German word for "worship" are "Gott" (God) and "Dienst" (Service).

It's nothing too spectacular at first glance, but to me it is a wonderful insight. It can mean two things:  Our service to God, but it also means God's service to us. It is a mutual relationship! I love that idea and am excited about it.

There are some people who get tired out with serving God. They work hard all during the week and when they come to worship at church, they get even more exhausted. Perhaps they are preaching that day. Perhaps they are teaching a Sunday School class or a Bible Study. They leave out any chance for God to minister to them. They get burned out. How very sad! If I am being honest, however, it is also something that I struggle with as an introvert. I love to preach and to teach. I love to express God's love to everyone, but then afterwards I am burned out, tired, exhausted and have neglected to even receive God's service to me.

Sometimes worshiping God means allowing God to minister to us:  to serve us. I am reminded of that beautiful passage in the Gospel of John that is not recorded in the Synoptic Gospels.  Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. After a day of walking outside in the dusty streets wearing only sandals and getting ready to eat by sitting on pillows on the ground, having clean feet was not only refreshing, but a necessity for proper etiquette. A servant would do this. In the absence of a servant, the person considered "lowest" in the group would do the washing. When the disciples and Jesus came to prepare for the Passover dinner, no one stood up to volunteer to wash people's feet. So Jesus did. He would have been the last person to do so. When He came to Simon Peter, Peter was a bit confused by it all. We read the following:

⁵ Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. ⁶ So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” ⁸ Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” (John 13:5-8 NASB)

What I find striking about this passage is that if we do not allow God to minister to us, then we have no part of Him. What does that mean for us? It means that when we worship God, we need to make the effort to allow Him to serve us as well. Maybe we need to be silent before God instead of talking His ear off in prayer. Maybe we need to allow someone else to preach, instead of always trying to have the last word.

Let us make an effort to not only serve God, but allow God to serve us.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

In 2012 my wife and I had the extraordinary opportunity of traveling to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to visit the Holy Land.  Having studied Biblical Archeology in college, I was excited to visit all of these archeological digs that not too many people realized what they were or why they were significant.  Some sites were only mentioned in the Bible a couple of  times.  I was like a kid in a candy store when we visited Beth Shean, Tel Dan, and Hazor.

As we made our way south towards Jerusalem, we made certain to spend a day in Bethlehem.  It was a day I will never forget.  For American terms, Bethlehem is almost a suburb of Jerusalem.  They are that close to each other.  However, in Palestinian terms, they might as well be a world away.  When we drove up to Bethlehem, our Jewish-Israeli tour guides got off the bus.  Our driver was a Bedouin Arab with Israeli citizenship.  Since 1995, Bethlehem, which has a majority Palestinian population, has been under the Palestinian Authority.

When we drove up to Bethlehem, it sent shivers down my spine.  I did not have thoughts of the song "O Little Town of Bethlehem" singing through my head.  Instead, I was confronted by a huge concrete wall that would put the Berlin Wall to shame.  Having lived in Germany for 10 years (after the fall of the wall), I had an eerie feeling as I saw this portion of the wall after entering Bethlehem:

The quote from President John F. Kennedy, "Ich bin ein Berliner," sent waves of uneasiness into my soul.

The stated purpose of this wall (barrier, or more euphemistically, "fence") by Yitzhak Rabin, the then prime minister of Israel, was: "This path must lead to a separation, though not according to the borders prior to 1967. We want to reach a separation between us and them. We do not want a majority of the Jewish residents of the state of Israel, 98% of whom live within the borders of sovereign Israel, including a united Jerusalem, to be subject to terrorism." (1)  Yitzhak Rabin was then later murdered by one of his fellow Israelis. (2)

Our guide through Bethlehem was a young Palestinian Christian named "Shukrit."  Recalling my scant Arabic from when I had visited Egypt in the past, I remembered that "shukran" meant "thank you" and asked him if his name and that phrase were related.  He said, "Yes, my name means 'thankful.' So I am always telling people that I am thankful!"

Christians tend to forget that the vast majority of Christians living in the Holy Land are not Jewish Christians (Messianic Jews).  They are Palestinians.  They are Arabs.  The United States' policy of aiding the Israeli government has led to the isolation of Christians in the Holy Land.  Once Bethlehem had a large population of Christians living there.  Now they are a scant minority, according to our guide, Shukrit.

We have turned a blind eye to the plight of our brothers and sisters living in squalor in the Holy Land.  While supporting the Israeli government, we do not question their motives in erecting this monstrosity of a wall to keep out terrorists.  Walls divide.  They do not unite.  They do not bring peace.

This video shows the true horrors of what is happening in Bethlehem.

Surnames

I thought I would share something a little lighthearted for once from my days as a missionary in Germany.

In 1997, I was studying for my Master of Arts in Missions.  One of the requirements was that I travel overseas for 6 months for a practicum.  My denomination, The Salvation Army, was very accommodating.  Since I could already speak some German, they found me a place with The Salvation Army's Missionsteam Hamburg.

Since I would be staying for over 3 months, I would need to get a visa.  I applied beforehand to the German consulate in Chicago, but the answer from them took so long that I arrived in Germany after they said I could stay.  So I went to the Ausländeramt, the German version of the Immigration Office.  I went to a waiting room for all applicants whose surnames (family name/last name) started with the letters "L-N."  My surname is McPherson.  So I went there to wait.  I could not make an appointment for this.  I just had to go and wait.

I waited.  I waited a long time.  I waited for 2 hours until my number was called.  Finally I went into the office where a tired official looked at all of my paperwork that I had filled out in advance.  Understand now that my German, although good, was not quite yet at the "fluent" rate.  After he perused my documents, he asked me, "Where is your Anmeldungsbestätigung?"  My school German went into overdrive.  Anmeldung = Registration.  Bestätigung= Confirmation/Verification.  OK.  The words I understood.  The fact that Germans love to combine words into even larger words made me crazy sometimes.  The official was patient with me and explained that when people come to a new city, they need to register first with the city.  This registration is required of all German citizens and foreigners.  The main purpose of this was for taxation.  It also allowed one to open up bank accounts and register for other every day things.

I went back to the the house where everyone else in the team stayed.  I told our officers what had happened.  They told me that they thought that this might happen, but weren't certain.  So I had to go to a different office and register at the local Bürgeramt (a citizen service center).  I waited for a little over an hour there and got my registration with no problem (after filling out the proper form).

Then I traveled back to the immigration office.  Remember:  My last name is McPherson.  I went to the room for all foreigners whose family names ended in L-N.  I waited again.  This time it was even longer.  I waited for 2 hours and 30 minutes.  Finally, my number was called.  I met with the same tired official.  He looked over my papers and I proudly showed him that I had my Registration Confirmation.  He nodded sagely and then looked at my last name.

"Your family name starts with the letter 'P.'"

"What?  No, it doesn't.  My family name is McPherson.  It starts with the letter 'M.'"

"But in Germany, we do not attach the Mc or Mac to the family name.  Your last name starts with the letter 'P.'"

"OK.  My last name starts with 'P.'  Is there a problem?"

"You are in the office for people whose family names begin with the letters L-N.  You will need to go to the office that handles people who family names begin with the letters O-P."

I was dumbfounded.  I found out later that this requirement was also for Germans who had a "von" in their name.  So Maria von Trapp (The Sound of Music) would have to wait in the "T" room and not the "V" room.  I also learned another truth.  Germans love bureaucracy.

So I trudged on over to the next office, waited again for a long time, but this time only a half an hour.  I received my visa and stayed for 6 months in Germany.

My time in Germany made me very aware how difficult it is to be an immigrant.  I was there legally, too!  I did everything right, but it was still an uphill battle to even be allowed to stay there.  Those who came from other countries which did not have good diplomatic ties with Germany had an even more difficult time immigrating.  Coming back to the United States after being overseas for 10 years made Germany seem easy to immigrate to in comparison.  A German friend of mine who also had a visa to stay in America for one year told me that when he arrived, the immigration officer told him that if he overstayed his visit by one day, that he would be imprisoned, deported, and not allowed to come back to the US.

A friend of mine reminded me recently of this passage from Leviticus 19:33-34 (NASB):  "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God."  This also goes hand in hand with Christ's admonition in Matthew 25:35b (NASB):  "I was a stranger, and you invited Me in."

If we are to be welcoming to all immigrants in our respective countries, we should practice what Jesus taught us to do, for in doing so, we are welcoming Jesus, too.

Neither Here, Nor There

A friend of mine once made a very nice logo for me, which I have really appreciated:

If you notice, it has my initials and the colors of the American flag as well as the colors of the German flag.  This blending of the 2 colors accurately portrays how I've been feeling lately.

Discussing feelings is not one of my fortes, but I will try to explain it.

Three years ago my family was transferred from Germany to the United States.  We were there for 10 years.  One of the things I have taken pride in is the fact that I have never requested a transfer.  I view each and every appointment as the appointment I will retire from.  So moving from Germany to the United States wasn't something I actively looked for, which probably made the move that much harder for me.

Since being back in the United States, it has taken a lot for me to adjust to this culture.  I try to put it in perspective for people.  I moved to Germany before the attacks on the 11th of September 2001.  A lot had changed in America since then!  To me, it seems that the country has become a bit more paranoid and divisive.

Most missionaries can understand me when I say this:  When people ask me how my time was in Germany, they are looking for a few words or a sentence here and there.  Rarely do they want to hear my whole story.  Instead, their eyes usually glaze over with disinterest.  I was even told by a fellow colleague to refrain from talking about my time in Germany whenever I preached.

Invariably I am asked 2 things:  Do I miss Germany?  Do I want to return to Germany?  The answer to the first question is the easiest to respond to.  Yes.  I miss Germany very much.  I miss the people and the culture.  I miss the 300 different types of bread they have there (not just wheat, white, and sometimes rye).  I miss how for Germans being on time for an appointment means being there 5 minutes early.  I miss how German Christians place importance on religious holidays that Americans have forgotten:  Pentecost, Ascension Day, Epiphany.

The second question is more difficult to answer:  I will return if God wills it.  For now, I am planning to retire from my current appointment.

Which brings me to my next point.  I have heard recently many people talking about American Exceptionalism, a concept which I find tantamount to idolatry.  Simply by expressing my objection to this idea will cause many people to object to that statement.

Recently, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said the following:  "It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation . . . We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."  (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html) I actually agree wholeheartedly with the President of Russia in his statement here!  I don't agree with all of his policies, but this statement is true.

When we start to believe that somehow God has ordained our nation to be exceptional above all other nations, then we start to believe that we are better than all other inhabitants in the world.  This is actually contrary to Scripture.  Paul said in his epistle to the Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."  If this is the case, then we need to stop viewing ourselves as somehow better than the other nations in this world.  We may see God at work in our country, but other countries see his hand at work in their nation, too.

Hopefully, we won't turn into the pigs of Animal Farm and start saying, "All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others."

At the Electric Chair

This image is from Paul Fryer's "Pieta."  It is a startlingly disturbing image of Jesus.  I can surmise that some people would be disgusted by the image and want to turn away.  Can you imagine now how shocking such an image would be to the disciples and listeners of Jesus when he said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his electric chair and follow Me."

Jesus' death was a gruesome experience meant to intimidate the local population.  It was a symbol of a tyrant against his oppressed people.  Crosses were placed outside of towns on the main thoroughfares as a warning to obey the tyrant or face the consequences.  In this context, Jesus said to His listeners that they needed to embrace this.  Can you wonder why this would turn people off?

Following Christ is one of extreme devotion.  Our great hymns tend to take on a new light.  What if we sang instead, "So I'll cherish the old rusty chair"?  "Jesus keep me near the chair."

It took the Early Church a long time to adopt the cross as a symbol for Christianity.  Beforehand, they would use the symbol of the fish.  The word "fish" in Greek, "ichthus," was an acronym in Greek for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior."  It also had the fortune of looking like the lower case Greek letter "Alpha."  I had a professor in college who speculated that if a Christian met another person he/she believed were a Christian, the first person would inscribe the letter "alpha" in the dirt and the other Christian would inscribe the Greek letter "omega."  This came from Jesus' statement in the Book of Revelation that He is the "Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and End." It wasn't until the third century that the cross finally because a symbol that Christians could say they identified with.

I hope that those of us who are Christians can appreciate what the cross truly symbolizes.