Lessons I Learned from the SoulForce Visit

Well, the SoulForce group came to the ACU campus yesterday and from my perspective the visit was a success. It stirred conversations among believers about a topic that is often avoided which in itself is a positive thing. (there were over 100 comments on Mike Cope's blog where he just mentioned they were coming to ACU.) I think it caused us as Christians to learn how to love more and judge and criticize less.

Here are just some of the things that I took from the SoulForce visit. I learned many other things but these are just a few.

1.) I dont like when the term "living in sin" is applied to Christian homosexuals who through their study of the scripture believe that their homosexuality is not a sin.
To me, this phrase seems to refer to someone who is living in an intentional defiance of God. The people who came to ACU are not people who believe that homosexuality is a sin and choose to live that lifestyle anyway. They have come to a belief through their study of scripture that it is okay. Why do we throw that phrase at homosexuals anyway? Arent we all in essence living in sin and need God's grace and mercy anyway. Couldn't everyone possibly be wrong on a couple of issues and the way we live our lives. I hope God's grace covers the areas in which I have interpreted scripture wrong and thus am living my life in the wrong way. As I tried to refer to in my last post, I think we may be wrong in saying that we have it all figured out and seeing anyone as a sinner first before loving them, accepting them, and seeing them as a person first.

2.) I (and I think a lot of Christians also do) am guilty of throwing around the phrase, "Go and sin no more" that Jesus said to people, without trying to really think about how that phrase should be applied.
Here is a comment from a post on Chris Field's Blog:

Who has the right to say "go and sin no more"?

Do we, as Christ-followers have that right? Does it belong only to Jesus? Do we have the right to say it, as long as its not the first thing out of our mouths?

I don't know--when can we say it? It would seem that our answer to this question would have a great impact on our response to this group, regardless of where we come down on the sin vs. heredity debate.

Though I think this message should be conveyed somehow, I think too often we appear judgmental and think we have it all figured out. We have a tendency to label homosexuals as sinners that they should stop their sinful behaviors without truly trying to understand them and love them, and get into their lives. Maybe we spend too much time trying to say "Go and sin no more." Here is excerpt from the account of the woman caught in adultery according to John 8.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Notice that all the people left. Jesus was the only one left to say "Go and sin no more." Everyone else is also living in a life of sin. There are all on the same playing field. We are all sinners. We all need to go and sin no more. Why do feel the need to tell other people that like we are above them?

3. Why do we think we have to change people?
I liked this quote from a comment on Mike Cope's blog:

Understanding homosexuality is important, but perhaps acceptance is more important. Accept people for who they are right now. Why do we have such a problem accepting people as they are? Don’t you hope that people accept you for who you are right now, even though you are full of flaws? And why do we feel such an obligation to change everybody? I can’t make my nephew change his mind about liking oranges, so how can I expect to change other people’s sexual preferences. Maybe we should just take a huge load off of our backs and breathe easier and let God change whomever he wants to while we throw open the doors and say “Welcome!”

This quote just hit me as interesting. Maybe we should try to love more, accept more, and let God do the changing. This seems to be a reoccuring theme.

4. Romans 2:1
A handout that ACU provided on Monday was called "Awaiting the Redemption of our Bodies: A distinguished New Testament scholars discusses the Bible and Homosexuality with candor and compassion." by Richard B. Hays, Ph. D.
In this discussion he talks about Romans 1:18-32 which he refers to as the most crucial text for Christian ethics concerning homosexuality because it places the condemnation of homosexual behavior in an explicitly theological context. However, here is how he ends his discussion.

One more thing must be said: Romans 1: 18-32 performs a homiletical sting operation. The passage builds a crescendo of condemnation, declaring God's wrath upon human unrighteousness, whipping the reader in to a frenzy of indignation against others. But then, in Romans 2:1, the sting strikes: "Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things."

We all stand without excuse under God's judgment. Self-righteous judgment of homosexuality is just as sinful as the homosexual behavior itself. That does not mean that Paul is disingenuous in his rejection of homosexual acts and all the other sinful activities mentioned in Romans 1. But no one should presume to be above God's judgment; all of us stand in radical need of God's mercy. That warning must temper the tone of our debate about homosexuality.

In his concluding remarks he also makes these statements:
Those who uphold the biblical teaching against homosexuality must remember that Paul's warning in Romans 2:1-3: We are all "without excuse"; we all stand or fall under God's judgment and mercy.

If homosexual persons are not welcome in the church, I will have to walk out the door along with them, leaving in the sanctuary only those entitled to cast the first stone.

We live, then, as a community that embraces sinners as Jesus did, without waiving God's righteousness. We live confessing that God's grace claims us out of confusion and alienation and sets about making us whole. We live knowing that wholeness remains a hope rather than an attainment in this life. The homosexual Christians in our midst may teach us something about our true condition as people living between the cross and the final redemption of our bodies.

Gary [the author's friend] wrote urgently of the imperatives of discipleship: "Are homosexuals to be excluded from the community of faith? Certainly not. But anyone who joins such a community should know that it is a place of transformation, of discipline, of learning, and not merely a place to be comforted or indulged.

So I am glad I have been educated on Romans 2: 1-3 which teaches me that I am in the same condition and should not pass judgment.

5. The homosexual life is full of pain, rejection, and hardship.
6. The issue is more complicated than we try to make it. Too many people just say "It's a choice" without trying to understand.

Here is a good comment from Mike Cope's blog that I think says it better than I could.

Bob said: “I don’t mean this as being unsympathetic, uncaring or anything else. We should remember, however, that this is a CHOICE homosexuals are making. Choices have consequences, right or wrong.”

I have to say, Bob, that as a teacher and a Christian, I’ve known a lot of gays and lesbians over the years. I’ve had students in my office weeping because their parents would no longer speak to them or acknowledge that they were alive. I’ve had students in my office who were verbally and emotionally abused to the point of suicide. I’ve had students in my office still bearing the bruises and scars of physical violence. And what I can say in every case is that I’ve never met a single person who CHOSE to be homosexual… Sat down and said, “You know, I think being gay would be a great idea. I’m going to give that a try for a while.” Such a choice, given the prevailing views of our churches, our families, and even our culture at large (which has voted overwhelmingly against gay marriage, gay rights, etc.) would be the stupidest and most short-sighted choice a person could make….

So in thinking about homosexuality, I suppose it might be illuminating to remember back to the days when we sat down and decided that our sexual orientation would be straight–looked at the options and said “I think I’ll be a heterosexual.” If it’s hard to remember the day you made that call–if you always just felt yourself to be who you are–then you can perhaps begin to understand where the homosexuals I’ve known are coming from… They didn’t pick this, and many of them have spent a significant amount of time trying to fight it or run from it or deny it–trying to pick something else. I don’t know whether it’s nature or nurture, something genetic or something that comes from things they’ve faced in their lives, but I do know that it’s just who my students feel themselves to be.

Many of the stories we heard from people from Soulforce were about this pain and rejection. And yes, even as Christians we treat them different than we treat other people. This treatment is what they want Christians to stop.

7. We must live in the tension.
Even though we may not agree with other people's views and feel uncomfortable with the issue, we must live with the tension and be Christ-like instead of avoiding the issue or treating people wrongly.

If you are to this point, thank you for reading my thoughts. Sorry it was long, I guess I learned a lot.