Week 6: LGBTQIA+
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John 13:35 - By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Smith & Petras -
A lucky, lucky girl
She got married to a boy like you
She'd kick you out if she ever, ever knew
'Bout all the s**t you tell me that you do
Dirty, dirty boy
You know everyone is talkin' on the scene
I hear them whisperin' 'bout the places that you've been
And how you don't know how to keep your business clean
“What about Jesus and the LGBTQ+ community?”
Language. Posture. This cultural moment. The Bible.
Language
Whether or not sexual intercourse between two people of the same sex is blessed by God?
What should be the goal for a Christian with same-sex attractions?
Is sexual attraction to the same sex sinful?
Can and should a person with same-sex attractions pursue changing their attractions through therapy or interventions?
Can people with same sex attractions identify as LGBTQ+ while being Christian?
What if unfamiliar words and categories were primarily an opportunity to learn and love?
Commendation & Compassion.
Jesus - “Do you see this woman?”
Posture > Position
We can show kindness and dignity to those whose views, lifestyles, and convictions chafe against our moral intuitions.
This Cultural Moment
Kirk & Madsen - "As cynical as it may seem, AIDS gives us a chance, however brief, to establish ourselves as a victimized minority legitimately deserving of America's special protection and care."
Desensitize - Jamming - Conversion
Kirk and Madsen - "Open, frank talk makes gayness seem less furtive (sneaky), alien, and sinful; more above board…Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided on the subject, and that a sizeable bloc - the most modern, up-to-date citizens - accept or even practice homosexuality."
Kirk & Madsen - "The purpose of victim imagery is to make straights feel very uncomfortable; that is, to jam with shame the self-righteous pride that would ordinarily accompany and reward their antigay belligerence, and to lay groundwork for the process of conversion by helping straights identify with gays and sympathize with their underdog status."
Jerry Falwell - "Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America! If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way ... and our nation will pay a terrible price!"
Jerry Falwell - AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.
"Woke people disgust me."
"Christian nationalists disgust me."
"The LGBTQ community disgusts me."
"White heteronormative people disgust me."
"People who voted for Trump disgust me."
"The radical left disgusts me."
Stanley Hauerwas -“By and large Christians have not lived or understood the political nature of their convictions about marriage and sex, our current sexual ethics is largely made up of inconsistent borrowings from the various options provided by our culture.”
The Bible
Genesis 2:18 - 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
kenegdo - “a help corresponding to him i.e., equal and adequate to himself” - BDAG
Preston Sprinkle - If it were simply Eve's humanness that made her a helper, then the word ke ("like") would have been just fine. The verse would then read: "I will make a helper like (ke) him." But to make the point that Adam needed not just another human, but a different sort of human - a female - God used the word kenegdo. This word potentially conveys both similarity (ke) and dissimilarity (neged). Eve is a human and not an animal, which is why she is ke ("like") Adam. But she's also a female and not a male, which is why she is different than Adam, or neged ("opposite him").
Genesis 2:23-25
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
God formed humanity - Humanity received distinction - Diversity comes together in unity
Leviticus 18:22 - 22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable (taboo).
Leviticus 20:13 - 13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable (taboo). They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Context
Incest (18:6-18; 20:11-14, 17, 19-21)
Adultery (18:20; 20:10)
Child sacrifice (18:21; 20:1-5)
Bestiality (18:23; 20:15-16)
Theft (19:11)
Lying (19:11)
Oppressing your neighbor (19:13)
Cursing the deaf (19:14)
Showing partiality in the court of law (19:15)
Slander (19:16)
Harboring ill-will toward you brother (19:17)
Taking the Lord's name in vain (19:20)
Making your daughter a prostitute (19:29)
Turning to witches or necromancers (19:31)
Alternative
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (19:18).
What’s being prohibited? &, Are Leviticus 18 & 20 relevant today?
J.R. Daniel Kirk - “What were you doing SATURDAY?!”
Romans
Rebellion in Romans 1
Suppressing the truth
Foolishness
Idolatry
Exchanging the glory of God for created things
Sexual impurity (pornea)
Envy
Murder
Strife
Deceit
Malice
Gossip
Romans 1:26-27 - 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Romans 2:1 - 1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Romans 5:6 - …at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Paiderastes “the love of boys”
Paidophthoros “corruptor of boys”
Paidophtoreo “seducer of boys”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 - Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Malakoi - men who cross gender lines and receive sex from other men.
Arsenokoites - men who have sex with other men
Erastes (lover)
Eromenos (beloved)
Leviticus 18: 22
meta arsenos ou koiméthese koiten gynaikos - Septuagint (Gk. translation of OT)
(you shall not lie with a male as with a woman")
Leviticus 20:13
hos an koiméthé meta arsenos koiten gynaikos - Septuagint (Gk. translation of OT)
(' whoever shall lie with a male as with a woman")
Isaiah 56:4-5 -
4 For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
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Each Sunday we come together we offer an open invitation into the way of Jesus. An invitation to enter into sacred rhythms - to draw near to God through singing, giving, learning, and praying.
As a community that desires renewal in Des Moines as it is in Heaven, we recognize that we cannot offer what we ourselves do not have. We cannot lead where we ourselves have not been led; in turn, these questions aim at reflection. Reflecting on God’s word and making space for his leadership.
After watching or listening consider the following discussion questions as a large group or in groups of three to four:
What stood out from the teaching?
What are the challenges you’ve faced when trying to navigate faith and sexuality in the marketplace?
Why do you think it is so difficult to dialogue across differences that arise in the LGBTQI+ conversation? How does our relationship with Jesus complicate or help us?
Talk about how we can go about holding our positions with compassionate postures. What does it look like to be compassion without compromising your position?
Pray