Sodomites will burn!
Submitted by F.O.D. on March 30 2000 17:37:24
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I'd like to ask for advice on how to approach a situation I'm currently in. I think I mentioned I met recently with a pastor from church to talk about homosexuality. He was nice about it in many ways, but at a basic level I felt he was missing "the point", which makes it difficult for me to respect him and continue dialogue with him. My church, it's evangelical, but it's pretty cool in many ways. The basic church articles affirm the acceptance of all who believe in Jesus, regardless of lesser details, like whether they're catholic or charismatic or whatever. So they're happy for people to be questioning about the faith and seeking truth. So I've taken up their offer of friendly openness and spoken to this pastor about homosexuality. Now, he's against it, which is not the problem and is really to be expected. But he's amicable and willing to talk about it, and affirms that gays are no worse sinners than anyone else. But I wonder if he's really able to listen. What I mean is, we can argue over the finer points of what Lev 18 is saying, and what Rom 1 is getting at, and that's fine. I can see the logic of his position there if you accept certain assumptions. But what worries me is that he appears to be missing the point on some very basic questions, and my reaction to that is that if he can't handle the basic questions reasonably, then how can I ever trust his judgement and reasoning on the more difficult passages and questions. To be precise, he perceives the Sodom incident to be a clear condemnation of homosexuality, rather than as a condemnation of rape (which happened to be homosexual in type). The rape situation seems to be beside the point to his mind. Similarly he believes the plague of A.I.D.S. to be caused by homosexuality, and would appear to be unconcerned that it is actually spread only by promiscuity. Neither of these conclusions seem reasonable to my mind. He mentioned these two beliefs in passing when I met with him the other week, and so when he asked if we will meet again, I specifically asked him to confirm his position on these two questions. Which he did. So now my reaction is to say "well, forget it then. You don't even have a reasonable stance on these questions, so what's the point taking the matter up any further?" But maybe that would be "sulking". I'm not really sure what to do with him. I could only write in reply (turning his words around), "Does that mean syphilis is the natural consequence of heterosexual behaviour?" What's the best course? Is it worth meeting with him further? Is he willing to listen and learn, so that he can stand against homosexuality out of knowledge and insight rather than out of prejudice and misunderstanding? I don't know if I have the strength to get him to that point. Should let him meet with me again, or just say "stuff it"? Fod |
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