DEALING WITH CONTROVERSY BIBLICALLY
MARK 12.28-34
AUGUST 12, 2007
Wesley United Methodist Church
Douglas Norris
This afternoon the film,
In God’s House, will be shown, followed by a panel discussion of distinguished
guests. The film shows the struggle that
Asian gays and lesbians have in the church.
A United Methodist woman
pastor in Pennsylvania announced to her congregation that she was lesbian and
that she had a partner. Charges were
brought against her and the Conference withdrew her orders. However, her church hired her to continue
ministry as a layperson.
In Texas a United
Methodist pastor denied church membership to a gay man. Charges were brought against the pastor, but
the Judicial Council (the Supreme Court of our denomination) decided in the
pastor’s favor, saying he did not violate church law.
Homosexuality is a
controversy that is dividing the United Methodist Church. How do we deal with controversy
biblically? In particular,
homosexuality. Behind the conflict over
the rights and status of homosexual persons is an ancient and deep-seated
disagreement about the role of the Bible in our faith and practice, and the
interpretation of the Bible. What is
the authority of the Bible? How do we
understand and apply the Bible to us today?
I join with those United
Methodists who subscribe to the historic, Wesleyan traditional belief in the
authority of the Bible. 2 Timothy 2:16,
“All scripture is inspired by God.”
Therefore, because the
Bible has authority over us, what about troublesome passages like:
Leviticus 11:2-8 forbids the eating of rabbits and pigs.
Leviticus 12 forbids a woman who has given birth to a son
from going to church for 33 days, because she is impure. If she gives birth to a girl, she is impure
for 66 days!
Leviticus 20:13,
“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination; they shall be put to death.”
Deuteronomy
12:18, 21, “If someone has a stubborn and
rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother…Then all the men of the town
shall stone him to death.”
Leviticus 20:10,
“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer
and the adulteress shall be put to death.”
1 Corinthians 11:5, “Any
woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head.“
Psalm 15:1,5,
“O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?… Those who do not lend money at
interest.” (Where would America’s economy be if we took that seriously?)
Do you know anyone who
obeys all these passages? It is obvious
that all Christians use some method by which we decide which verses and
passages have more authority than others.
Let’s look at some methods of biblical interpretation.
1) “Pick
and Choose” is the most popular form of biblical interpretation. Pick out the passages with which we agree
and discard the rest. This method
assumes the Bible has no inherent authority.
Whatever agrees with our biases, prejudices, and what we want to do, is
chosen, the rest discarded. Whatever
one agrees with has more authority than the Bible. Those of us who believe in the authority of the Bible must reject
the Pick and Choose method.
2) The “All or Nothing” method assumes that
every word is literally written by God and every word is authoritative. If some passages are questioned, then the
entire Bible is in question, they say.
Such believers, however, are rarely consistent. Do the women wear head coverings? Do they throw stones at their misbehaving
children? Do they lend money at
interest? We must reject the All or
Nothing method as unworkable, and not even followed by its own adherents.
3) The “Filter” or historical method. God did not write the words of the
Bible. God inspired human beings to
write down what God inspired them to write, but God did not suspend the
humanness of each author. The Bible is
the Word of God communicated through the experience, language and culture of
humans. In other words, what they wrote
comes through the filter of the cultural and religious customs of their
day. In order to understand the
author’s filter, we must ask questions of each passage and book: When was it
written? Who wrote it? What was going on at the time? Why was it written? To what situation and to whom was it
written?
The Bible covers a
period of about 2,000 years--from Abraham through the early church. There are different cultures reflected in
the Bible, from the nomadic Hebrews to the sophisticated Greek culture of the
Roman Empire. There are many filters to
work through. Many of the troublesome
passages can be attributed to cultural filters, and therefore do not have
authority over us.
4) The “People First” method. When deciding what is authoritative and what
is not, what criteria do we use? Our
own ideas, our own cultural bias, modern science? I believe I have come to a conclusion, which I hope will be
helpful for the church. As Christians
who follow Jesus as Lord, who recognize Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of our
faith, we attempt to understand and look through Jesus’ filter. Jesus Christ is our ultimate authority, and
Jesus put PEOPLE FIRST.
Jesus reinterpreted
Scripture, and even changed Scripture.
He was not bound by the traditional interpretations. Matthew 5:38, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ (Jesus is quoting Exodus 21:24 and
Leviticus 24:20) But I say to you,"
Do not resist an evildoer.” There
are those in our day who still quote Leviticus, and ignore how Jesus changed
the old Leviticus law. Another example
is Matthew 5:43, “You have heard that it
was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies.”
Also, Jesus defied the
legalists and their literal, strict interpretations of Scripture. Jesus flagrantly disobeyed laws and violated
tradition, much to the consternation of the legalistic Pharisees. The criterion Jesus used was that he put
people first. The needs, hurts and pain
of people were more important than laws.
When his disciples were hungry and picked grain on the Sabbath,
violating strict Sabbath laws, the Pharisees were livid. Jesus replied, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the
Sabbath.” (Mark 2:26) Do you hear
the principle, how Jesus interpreted Scripture? People are first.
When Jesus healed the
man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees were again livid and
immediately conspired against Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Is it lawful
to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (Mark
3:4) People first! Saving life is more important than observing
the Sabbath.
When the Pharisees
questioned him about divorce, Jesus changed Scripture. He overruled Moses! The Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 24:1) allowed a
husband to divorce his wife simply by giving her a certificate saying they were
divorced. Jesus opposed this easy
divorce law (of course, the wife did not have the same freedom), and declared, “What God has joined together, let no one
separate.” (Mark 10:9)
When a woman was caught
in the act of adultery, the Law of Moses commanded that she be stoned to death
(Leviticus 20:10) Jesus undermined the authority of the law by turning it back
on the accusers. “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone
at her.” (John 8:7)
In the current
controversy over homosexuality, there are many United Methodists who are quite
passionate about the few Bible verses that condemn homosexual behavior. They are also quite passionate about our
denomination’s position, which accepts homosexuals as “individuals of sacred
worth” but condemns “the practice of homosexuality.” I don’t understand the distinction. It’s as if we accept tennis players, but they are forbidden from
playing tennis. Or, we accept swimmers,
but they are not allowed to swim. We
accept homosexuals, but they can’t act like one!
Also, the official
position of our denomination--“fidelity in marriage, and celibacy in
singleness”-- is cruel. No sex outside
marriage sounds right, but our denomination does not allow “holy unions” so gays
are forever single by definition, and therefore are commanded to be
celibate. In 1943, Esther Oda of our
congregation, left the Internment Camp in Washington, and went to Mississippi
to marry her fiancé who was a soldier in the U.S. Army. They asked the Army chaplain to marry
them. He refused to marry them because
they were Japanese! Imagine. Isn’t it equally tragic for the United
Methodist Church to prohibit gays from forming holy unions and thereby forcing
them into singleness and celibacy? It’s
easy for married heterosexuals to condemn gays to celibacy. Easy and cruel.
United Methodist
legalists are quite passionate about their beliefs, but are either ignorant of
or do not care how their beliefs affect people, how homosexuals are hurt by the
church laws. We are not putting people
first.
Jesus
was impatient with the legalists of his day.
Jesus
cared about the man with the withered hand, and healed him, even though it
meant violating the Sabbath laws.
Jesus
cared more about the need of his disciples to eat than he cared about the
Sabbath law.
Jesus
cared more about the rights of women who could be divorced easily, than he
cared about the sanctity of the holy Mosaic scriptural law!
There
is no record that Jesus ever said anything about homosexuality.
And, I believe, Jesus
cares more about gays and lesbians than he cares about the Social Principles of
the United Methodist Church!
Jesus
put people first.
Love God, love neighbor
is our church’s mission statement. I’ve
been explaining that these commandments are summaries of the Ten
Commandments. Last Sunday I summarized
the first four commandments: Let God Be God.
The last six commandments can be summarized: Love neighbor by putting people first. If we truly put people first, there would be no stealing, no
murder, no adultery, no coveting, etc.
Put people first.
I suggest to you that,
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the criterion by which we decide what in
the Bible is authoritative for us, and what in the United Methodist Book of
Discipline is authoritative for us, is that we, following Jesus, put people
first.
We’re not just talking
about laws, principles, Biblical interpretation, we’re talking about people—real, live human beings who hurt, who
suffer, who struggle with their lives, trying to fit in, trying to belong,
doing the best they can, wondering why they are the way they are, agonizing why
God made them that way.
We’re not just talking
about people in the news or demonstrating on the street, we’re talking about people
we know, people in our families (most families have a gay person
somewhere). We’re talking about people
in our church—people who have been raised in this church. People, I believe, Jesus puts first.