Sometimes it feels like the news tends to recycle itself.
Accordingly, there has been a flurry of news recently on the topic of homosexuality.
To recap:
Wednesday, it was released that the Pentagon has called labeled homosexuality as a mental disorder leaving many on the left up in arms. [link]
Turning to matters of faith, on Tuesday, the Presbyterians opted to allow gay clergy members to hold leadership positions within their churches. [link]
That same day, American Anglicans, who have already elected their first gay bishop, elected the first female leader of their church. In turn, she immediately declared her support of gay marriage within the denomination. [link]
For all of the headlines, it has been difficult to sift through the many competing messages on the topic. The left speaks out vociferously in support of marriage rights for gays. The right bemoans with equal fervor a decline in family values. I am naturally inclined to agree with the latter rather than the former, but I can't help but wonder what role the Gospel serves vis-à-vis the life of the homosexual.
Following that line of thought, I stumbled across the above article by Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Even though he’s a reformed scholar (viz., Calvinist) he does have some good things to say from time to time and his presentation is always impeccable. In truth, his position on salvation where I take a firm departure from Calvinist thought (specifically, the TULIP L representing Limited Atonement for my theologically inclined readers) is actually much more sophisticated than many Reformed scholars I have read.
The article, however, deals not with salvation but sin. In particular, it addresses how the church is to deal the issue of homosexuality in an increasingly secular culture. His suggestions are very practical and also quite rare in public discourse. Quoting Paul’s letter to the Corinthians [link], the crux of Mohler’s argument is found in its conclusion:
Such were some of you . . . The church is not a place where sinners are welcomed to remain in their sin. To the contrary, it is the Body of Christ, made up of sinners transformed by grace. Not one of us deserves to be accepted within the beloved. It is all of grace, and each one of us has come out of sin. We sin if we call homosexuality something other than sin. We also sin if we act as if this sin cannot be forgiven.
We cannot settle for truth without love nor love without truth. The Gospel settles the issue once and for all. This great moral crisis is a Gospel crisis. The genuine Body of Christ will reveal itself by courageous compassion, and compassionate courage. We will see this realized only when men and women freed by God's grace from bondage to homosexuality feel free to stand up in our churches and declare their testimony–and when we are ready to welcome them as fellow disciples. Millions of hurting people are waiting to see if we mean what we preach.
[link]
His point is well made and well taken. Homosexuality in a Christian worldview is indeed sin, but it is no more a sin than any of the many other sins with which believers struggle on a daily basis. A farmer in Oklahoma is just as accountable before God for his sins of pride as the gay male from San Francisco.
The equalitarian nature of this message notwithstanding, Mohler's more profound point is that the national debate over homosexuality is in essence a debate over the nature of the Gospel. Mohler is right in that the message of the Gospel requires courage to deliver and compassion to accept. But the interesting point of this is that in its nature the Gospel completely levels both sides.
The Gospel of judgment applied to gays by some Christians, is actually the same Gospel they struggle to live by during the week. Yet, it is not a Gospel which tolerates a life of sin when Believers are to be changed by Grace. The national debate is turned on its head when viewed through Mohler’s article because he pulls no punches in calling gays sinners; yet he also pulls no punches in calling Christians sinners as well. The end result is that both camps have their own, personal and communal issues to mitigate before the Lord.
There was an old saying I heard in Sunday school that mused, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
Mohler’s point is that the ground is level because everyone at the foot of the cross kneels in humility because we all sin profoundly.
The message of the Gospel is not that people who are Christians are good.
It is that God is good and allows people to become Christians.
It is an obvious, yet important message to recall.
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Romans 2.1-2
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