Finding Our Balance

A bridge between two ancient churches.

A theme you pick up from my writings and from the best books on LGBTQ issues is the matter of balancing grace and truth. How do we cling to the scriptures while offering the unconditional love of God? First of all, let’s consider how we handle the scriptures.

For example, I baptize babies. No, I don’t plunge them into baptismal tanks, but I do believe in having parents present kids to be sprinkled.

Recently, when preparing a sermon from Acts, I read a commentary by R. C. Sproul. He made the point that most older Christians have settled into a position on baptism based upon the church and family they love. You can find scripture on both sides of this divide, but often our hearts guide our minds.

When I became a United Methodist pastor, I had to do the hard work of sifting through the scriptures regarding baptism. More than just looking at some isolated verses, I began considering the theological arc of scripture from beginning to end to fully understand infant baptism. It took thorough study, but I became convinced. And I continued to be gracious toward those who disagreed.

As for the nature of marriage, there is far more scriptural support for heterosexual weddings than there is for sprinkling babies. Far more. No tedious spade work is necessary. The specific verses, repeated metaphors, consistent practices, and foundational theology threaded from Genesis through Revelation, all point to marriage as heterosexual, monogamous, and covenantal.

And for LGBTQ matters, it seems traditional Christians know that they know that they know what scripture makes clear . . . until it is their son or daughter or friend who comes out. Then their views change—especially when they see the flippant judgmentalism of churchy types. They become riddled with doubts.

In questioning the scriptures, they ask:

·      Is today’s context different?

·      Are the harsh laws against same-sex intercourse aimed primarily at abusive relationships? Or ancient pagan practices?

·      Could it be that Paul would have written Romans 1 differently if he had understood sexual orientation?

·      And aren’t there other issues about which the church has changed its tune? Slavery? Women in ministry?

There are solid answers to each of these questions. But the evidence is hard to see when those we love and ache for are sitting across the table from us. The lived experience of sons, daughters, and grandchildren have convinced both laity and professionals to abandon the traditional view.[1]

Many of those questions are addressed to some degree in Into the Light: Healing Sexuality in Today’s Church. And I will eventually explore them further in future blogposts.

But for now, let’s consider the churches of Revelation 2 and 3. Each were urged to persevere in the midst of persecution, and most of them were called to repent. Two churches stand out to me as particularly relevant for us today as we navigate ministry among the LGBTQ community.

The church in Ephesus, thriving in the midst of a city known for magic arts, had received much time and instruction from both Paul and John. And in the Revelation, Jesus commends them for their staunch resistance to heresy and tireless toil in ministry. But the Spirit of Jesus sternly warns them to repent, and threatens punishment if they don’t. Their error? Lack of love. “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:4).

In his amazing book Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say, Preston Sprinkle states that sexual minorities experience “church not as a hospital for saints but as a graveyard for the marginalized—and so many Christians are whistling through it.” Wow.

And so today, I believe many of the biblically astute ought to seek an outpouring of love from this God who “raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people” (Psalm 113:7-8). Those who disagree with us view us simply as people who don’t care.

The other church I have in mind? Thyatira. They were commended for their “love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first” (Rev. 2:19).

Their error? Not confronting erroneous teaching within the church regarding sexual immorality. They tolerated a false prophet nicknamed “Jezebel”—a proponent of sexual excess.

Most of you get this, whether you agree with the traditional view or not. But here’s my concern:

Good pastors and counselors who work with victims of the Sexual Tsunami often have tender hearts. It seems to me that counselors, who are under a tremendous amount of pressure to conform to our cultural norms, find it increasingly easier to fudge on the Scriptures. Our compassion for the confused moves us toward leniency.

And let’s face it: We find it difficult to point people down a path that causes suffering. And there is indeed suffering! Those who experience the daily chafing of gender dysphoria, or battle incessant temptations to lust after the same sex, do suffer!

And so in future posts we will consider God’s call upon all of us for modeling a life of patient endurance as we guide people down the path of life.

Do you baptize babies or believers only? Yeah, I don’t really care—unless you are a pastor! Then you’ve better done due diligence with the scriptures.

Do you counsel people from the LGBTQ camp? I’m glad you do! And I trust you will likewise diligently study to guide properly these whom God so deeply loves.

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[1] This is not to say that those who hold to a progressive view have not thoroughly studied the scriptures. Some have. But far too many simply shrug their shoulders and say, “Hey, I love my kid. How can God say their feelings are wrong?”