The way you do the things you do...
Submitted by F.O.D. on November 24 2000 06:01:02
In reply to Why do we believe what we do submitted by Forgiven on November 24 2000 02:55:20
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you know the song don't you? UB40. Oh never mind. One thing I look for when considering the consequences of faith, is the complete consistency of it. If something seems not to fit in with the Whole, then it starts raising questions about whether that thing is actually meant to be there in the first place. Paul gives a number of examples of thinking this way in his letters. The issue of eating meat offered to idols is one he dealt famously with, though that issue itself is somewhat irrelevant to us (Western Christians) today. He noticed that in itself an idol was nothing, and eating meat offered to an idol meant nothing. You were no better off if you ate, and no better if you refrained. From this issue he introduces us to the concept of conscience, that if something is disputable, then you can do as you will with it if your conscience if clear before God about. If you think its OK, you mustn't depise though who think it's bad, if you believe it wrong, you mustn't condemn those who have no problem with it. Each one stands before God alone. But the other side of this principle is that if with your freedom to say its OK, you'll get someone else to act again their own conscience because they're weak, then you're doing a hurtful thing. Maybe the better thing is not to exercise your freedom in that case. I don't see any real reason why the issue of homosexuality cannot be compared to Paul's issue with meat offered to idols. In both cases you've got strong words in the Law speaking against it, in both cases you can extrapolate the freedom that Christ gives us to say it makes no difference at all to God. With regards to consistency of faith, I try to measure all things against the "bottom line", Jesus' greatest Commandments. "Love the Lord your God" and "love your neighbour as yourself". So the question is, how does homosexuality break either or both of those commandments? How do we love? That is the question. Are gay relationships intrinsically opposed to God himself? "The husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church". Does that mean a relationship of a guy with a guy breaks relationship with Christ? One might more readily say, that eating food offered to an idols more successfully breaks one's relationship with Christ... Or is a gay relationship intrinically detrimental to both guys? Seems a tall claim to make... Well, these are the questions I ask. With regards to reading the Bible, the point you made in your other post, I might say it's like reading it to understand the Spirit of it, even where concrete implementations might be under dispute. Enjoy the weekend :) Fod |
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