The Methodist Church's Stand on Homosexuality

I recently was given a copy of a paper written by one who presumes to speak for the United Methodist Church on the issue of homosexuality and the Bible. I was not shocked or surprised to see that his conclusion was that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality.

I will not do a point-by-point rebuttal of the arguments used in the paper, but suffice it to say that to reach this conclusion, the author ignored three things:

1. He ignored the plain reading of the texts. The very term arsenokoitas found in 1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10 (arsen - man, koitas - sexual intercourse) is graphic and describes the homosexual act. Also, a plain reading of Rom. 1:26-27 would bring the conclusion that God condemns the homosexual act.

2. He ignored 3000 years of Jewish Tradition concerning the interpretation of OT regulations concerning sexuality. No conservative Jewish scholar was cited in the paper.

3. He ignored almost 2000 years of church tradition. No conservative Christian scholar (by conservative I mean one who holds a high view of Scripture and takes Scripture to be the ultimate authority) was cited.

To come to the conclusion that same sex union is acceptable to God, the author does some incredible exegetical gymnastics. His method of interpretation shows a disregard for the inspiration and authority of Scripture. He seeks to find justification for something that he wants validated but does so in a way that results in exegetical dishonesty. I am reminded of the words of the serpant in Genesis 3:1 "did God really say?"

So what should the church do in response to the homosexual community? We should interract with the homosexual as we would any other lost person. We need to demonstrate the love of God to him/her with the goal of introducing him/her to Jesus.

Apart from Christ, we all have a predisposition toward sin. We each choose different means of expressing our sin. Homosexuality is one such expression. We need to be gracious to all sinners and not condemn the sin of homosexuality louder than any other, nor should we show any animosity toward homosexuals.

It is possible to love the homosexual without validating his/her homosexuality.