Church - a Healing Place?

Paul penned his letter to the Roman Church around AD 57. The Church in Rome was largely Gentile with a minority of Jewish believers. After his opening remarks in verse 18 he turns his attention to the nature of fallen humanity. Although they had no excuse for doing so as the Creation gives witness to God, people had turned away from Him to worship idols. Consequently God had left them alone to follow their own desires, including the pursuit of homosexual practices. The picture he paints is not a pretty one:

Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. (Rom.1:29-31).

The Jews of the day considered homosexuality a Gentile sin. When Paul wrote the Roman elite had been influenced by the Greeks. As it was generally, but not exclusively, practiced male homosexuality was more akin to what we call paedophilia. Probably because of a shortage of women owing to the practice of abandoning girls at birth adult men engaged in sex with pubescent and adolescent boys - the latter being considered adult. Most Greek men married around the age of 30 by which time their numbers had been thinned by death to girls around the age of 18. Same sex marriage was considered an absurdity because of the need to produce heirs. Lesbianism, although practiced, was no where near as common.

Listening to the first chapter I can almost see the congregation nodding their heads in agreement and even pronouncing an amen or two. After all, Paul was speaking about those unbelievers and their objectionable behaviour wasn’t he?

In chapter two he turns up the heat on the believers. Who are you, he says, when you go around thinking you are better than everyone else. You’re ‘just as bad, and you have no excuse!’ (v.1). Just because you claim to be a Christian means nothing if you go around judging others when you do what they do.

Now here’s the point. Christians may take pride in their knowledge of the Law, but if they break it they are still sinners. And that puts us all in the same boat. Do we take pride in our law-keeping, our knowledge of Scripture, our Christian way of living? Are we like the Pharisee who stood in the Temple and prayed ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income’? Or do we bow with the tax collector and pray ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner’? (Luke 18:9-14)

There are ‘sinners’ in this world who do not have the knowledge of the Bible that you and I have. These include those who have been hurt by Christians or turned away from the Church by the way they see us behaving. We may see some of them as being rough, perhaps uncouth. Yet when they act with compassion for others, go the extra mile to help someone in need, they do as God’s Law requires. Some of them may shame us in the way they behave. Perhaps they are closer to God than we are in many ways, even if they are ‘living in sin’, straight or gay.

We come to the Cross as sinners, not saints. And, I suggest, that is what the world needs to see. Not good, moral people, but sinners admitting their need and supporting one another to  grow together in our understanding of God and of what it means to live with Him.

Inside the Garrison Church, Sydney

The Church has been likened to a hospital. It is a good analogy, yet it can only be a place of healing if it admits people in need of healing. Alcoholics, gamblers, straight, gay, abused, the foul-mouthed, the spiritually proud and more. More than anything else we need acceptance, and for many of us acceptance is a greater need than forgiveness, for it will only be when we understand we are loved and accepted as we are that we will truly understand we can be forgiven.

Bible Translation: New Living Translation.

Acknowledgement

I acknowledge the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible regarding homosexuality.

You Must Prophesy Again

Revelation excites me like no other book in the Bible. Saying this, I do not detract from the Gospels or any other Bible book. Through its lens the prophetic voice of the Old Testament comes alive to the political, economic and environmental conditions of the world I live in, challenges my views on these, and points me to Jesus as the answer to the problems of the day.

That which I find so compelling is they way its rich imagery is drawn from the Old Testament. The rainbow, the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, the language of judgement, and the judgements that fall under the seven trumpets and seven seals reminiscent of the Old Testament covenant curses. Then there are those ancient cities and countries - Sodom, Egypt, Babylon, and Jerusalem.

The Sea Beast of Chapter 11 reminds us of the four beasts of Daniel’s dream in Daniel 7:4-6. The serpent who leads Adam and Eve astray in Genesis 3 appears in Revelation 11 as Satan or the Devil, the enemy of God who is cast out of heaven and wars against God’s people on earth. When Adam and Eve sinned they were barred access to the Tree of Life. Those faithful to God regain access to the Tree in Revelation 22.

As one reads Revelation it is obvious it is universal in scope. It encompasses heaven and earth, the sea and land, and people and tribes from all nations. On the other hand, the Old Testament primarily focused in Israel and the nations surrounding it.

The Old Testament is the ethical underpinning of the New. Its specific, cultural and economic rules reveal principles of justice, fairness and compassion. Israel and her neighbours are continually rebuked for their cruelty, injustice, exploitation of the weak and marginalised, and idolatry. One thing that stands out is the clear association between environmental degradation and the idolatry and injustices practiced.  

When I reflect on the promises God made to Israel I know they could only be kept by a supernatural power, one Christians believe in. This leads me to believe the calamities that fell on Israel and her neighbours were the result of God withdrawing His supernatural protection. It is clear the resultant curses were meant to cause reflection and give opportunity for repentance.

I see Revelation in much the same way as the OT. God's promises require a response. If we disobey we reap the results. If we obey, He blesses and protects. In fact, in the OT God states He will not bring harm if the evil repent, or good if the good turn away (see Ezekiel 18). Obviously there are things in there that are unconditional, such as the return of Jesus to usher in the reign of everlasting righteousness. There is also the call to come apart from all that is exploitative, destructive and evil, to follow God’s way and not Satan’s. So we must conclude there is opportunity for universal repentance, for accepting God’s forgiveness, and avoiding the consequences of our rebellion.

God does not change (Malachi 3:6). He always has, and always will, require us ‘to do what is right, to love mercy, and walk humbly with God’ (Micah 6:8).

I believe the symbolism of Revelation is meant to cause us to reflect on those Old Testament themes it reflects. It allows, or even mandates, us to recast the Old Testament prophetic call to all the world. Surely God wants the world to see the sharp contrast between that which He intended and that which we have created by walking away from Him.

It was God’s intent that Israel would be the model for the world, the nation through which the supremacy of His way stood out. We see this in Deuteronomy 4:5-8:

Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy.  Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’  For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?

Has the time come for the the Church, the people of God, to ‘prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings’ (Rev.10:11)?

Quotes from the New Living Translation

Star Wars - the Original

‘Then there was war in heaven. Michael and the angels under his command fought the dragon and his angels’ (Rev 12.7).

Like a good mystery novel the Bible contains different threads that weave through the story until they are finally pulled together at the end. This happens in the Book of Revelation. As the story unfolds we see different events that legitimately raise questions about the nature of God? Is He really a god of love as the Bible claims or is He a demonic, vengeful despot guilty of genocide and other atrocities as some claim?

While it is not my intention to answer those questions in any detail in this piece I would like to take a brief look at one of the themes woven into the plot of Scripture - the conflict between Michael and the dragon and their respective followers.

The dragon is identified in Rev 12:9 as ‘the ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan …’ We are introduced to him in Genesis 3 as the one who led first Eve, and through her Adam, to sin. Consequently the serpent is cursed. In pronouncing the curse God says to Satan ‘From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel’ (Gen 3:15).

Other than Genesis 3 Satan, the serpent or the Devil, hardly rates a mention in the Old Testament.  He appears in 1 Chronicles 21:1 where he is said to have tempted David to complete a census of Israel and again in the first 2 chapters of Job where he is called ‘Satan the Accuser’ (1:6), a name repeated in the New Testament Book Revelation 12:10. In the Old Testament God generally is seen as the instigator of both good and bad. So the conflict foreseen in Genesis 3 is not readily apparent in the Old Testament. It is, however, there.

In Revelation 13 we are introduced to two beasts. The first looks like a leopard with a ‘bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth’ (v.2). The second appears like a lamb but speaks as a dragon (v.11). To the first beast the dragon gives ‘his own power and throne and great authority’ (v.2). In turn, the second beast exercises ‘all the authority of the first beast’ (v.12). Through these two beasts all earth’s people worship, or give honour, to the dragon, or Satan.

It is against this background chapter 14 portrays 3 angels crying out to the people of the world. The first calls on people to worship God as the Creator, the second announces the fall of Babylon, and the third warns of the consequences of worshiping the beast or of loyalty to him.

Of Babylon the angel says ‘Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen—because she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her passionate immorality’ (v.8). One of the great cities of antiquity, Babylon had been nothing but a pile of ruins for well over a century and probably forgotten by most people when these words were penned, so the reference cannot be to the literal city. It is clearly symbolic, warning of something the city represents.

Babylon is first mentioned in Genesis 10 and 11.  After the Flood earth’s inhabitants planned to ‘build a great city ... with a tower’ reaching to ‘the sky’ in the Babylon area. Rather than spread out and fill the earth as God had commanded in Genesis 9:1 this was a move to keep the people together. The other, and perhaps stronger motive, was pride - ‘This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world’ (11:1-9). Jeremiah later describes Babylon as a ‘land of arrogance’ (Jer. 50:32).

Around 587 or 586 BC Jerusalem fell to the armies of Nebuchadnezzar and most of its elites were taken captive to Babylon. One of these was the young man Daniel, the authour of the Book bearing his name. The Book records a number of dreams, the first that of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2. Starting with Nebuchadnezzar the dream foresees the rise and fall of successive kingdoms culminating with the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth.

In his interpretation of the dream Daniel says, ‘Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold, (Dan 2:37,38).

Note the similarity to Genesis 1:26. ‘Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life -- the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals."'

Human beings, created in the image of God, were given the authority to rule over the earth. When Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan they surrendered that authority to him. Hence Jesus could refer to  ‘Satan, the ruler of this world’ (John 12:31)

In chapter 7 Daniel is shown the future in a dream. It expands on Nebuchadnezzar’s in chapter 2 with further detail provided in chapter 8. Babylon’s rule passes to Medo-Persia and then Greece. After Greece comes a ‘fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path’ (Dan 7:23). As we read on we see a ruler arises from this power to war against God and His people. This power continues until God sits in judgment on the Earth and hands ‘the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven … to the holy people’, that is, the people of God (v. 27).

Compare the words of Daniel 7:23 with those of Revelation 13:7. ‘And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.’ This beast, as we have seen earlier, gets its authority from Satan, the real ‘ruler of this world’ (John 12:31).

In Revelation 18 another angel appears, again proclaiming the fall of Babylon (v.2). This is followed by a call to  ‘Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her’ (v.4).

The pronouncements in Revelation 14 and 18 reflect the language of Jeremiah 50 & 51. Jeremiah foretells the fall and utter destruction of Babylon. ‘Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves!  Don’t get trapped in her punishment!’ warns Jeremiah (51:6. See also 50:8).

One final comparison between Jeremiah and Revelation. God, in Jer 51:25 says of Babylon, ‘Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy’. In Revelation 11:18 the twenty-four elders who sit on thrones in front of God praise Him, saying ‘It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth.’

‘Then there was war in heaven. Michael and the angels under his command fought the dragon and his angels’ (Rev 12.7). The Old Testament is silent on this. In fact, as seen above, the Old Testament is almost silent on Satan. Yet the rebellion in Heaven must have taken place before Adam and Eve sinned. Looking back through the light of Revelation we see this battle working out in the conflicts of the Old Testament, in the rise and fall of arrogant, oppressive nations.

It is these nations that oppress and destroy as they work out principles that are diametrically opposed to those of God. The spirit behind them is much older than Babylon. We are told that the pre-flood world ‘had become corrupt and was filled with violence’ (Gen 6:11). While it says God was the destroying agent (Gen 6:13) I wonder.

I look to the history of Israel where God was said to bring either good or bad. Within the culture of the day nations worshiped their national gods. Wars between nations were understood as wars between the gods of those nations. This is seen in different places in the Old Testament and was obviously the understanding of some of its writers. It follows that God would communicate in a way the first hearers of His messages would understand.

It is only in the New Testament, and the Gospels in particular, that we begin to see the conflict between Christ and Satan. We see, for example, in the account of the Temptation in the Wilderness the issue is about worship and authority. In Luke 4:5-7 we read:

Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”

There is a place where Jesus says we reap what we sow. Hosea says in 8:7, ‘They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.’ In Rev. 11:18 it is we, the people of earth, that have brought its destruction.  So if God does not change, as He says in Malachi 3:6, it would seem that He intervenes in human history to save those of us who seek after Him from the destruction rebellion brings on the earth. So what of the flood, or other disasters such as Sodom and Gomorrah? Destruction by God, or intervention to save the faithful few from human caused or natural disaster?

Bible Quoted: New Living Translation

Is God the Cosmological Puppeteer?

Only one of us in this relationship described as husband and wife had drummed into them from a young age the importance of turning up five minutes before parade time. That importance was reinforced regularly for twenty years and has plagued me for the last thirty. It's not only my wife, but most people I know who live with a different concept of punctuality.

Recently we had tickets for a concert in the Sydney Town Hall. I had worked out what train we needed to catch and what time to leave home. By the time we left I knew it was tight, especially as finding a parking spot would be difficult. Of course I said a prayer or two. There was no delay at the end of our street as there often is, no delays at traffic lights, a parking spot waiting, and we made the train with two minutes to spare. ‘Thank you God’ I said.

Sydney Town Hall

I know I’m not the only believer who can tell a similar story. It can be a good feeling that God is looking out for you, perhaps reassuring to believe you are still in His good books. If that is the case, then how do we explain the times we were late because of a traffic jam, we were too absorbed in something else only to realise we had an appointment too late, or whatever reason? Then there are the times non-believers or sceptics can tell similar stories without seeing any evidence of God’s intervention on their behalf.

I am not saying there are not those times when God intervenes in our daily affairs to our advantage. It may be that overwhelming feeling to go a different route, to talk to someone, or a clear reminder that we do have an important appointment. Sometimes there may be an apparent reason, sometimes not. If He does, why not for others? How do we know when He has intervened and when it is simply a matter of luck or coincidence? Would He do it for something as trivial as a concert, sporting event or other inconsequential thing?

I do not see God as the cosmological puppet master, pulling the strings controlling the affairs of this planet to the benefit of believers. Think about it. If every time we got it wrong because we failed to plan, made poor decisions, were distracted or whatever, God bailed us out of the mess of our our creation would that really help  us? We may do that for young children, but as they grow good parents let their children learn from their own mistakes. While God calls us His children He expects us to grow in maturity, to be responsible for what we may or may not do. Remember the saying we reap what we sow? It is in my view insulting to both God and us to believe He mollycoddles us through life.

Then there is the impact on others. Should we expect God to save us a parking spot, disrupt traffic, interfere with the weather or whatever at someone else’s expense? What if providing a parking spot for us makes someone with more pressing needs late for an important appointment? What if He delays traffic and slows an emergency vehicle on a life-saving mission? The very idea is selfish, uncaring for the needs of others. If that is what we expect of God we can’t claim to be like Him.

True evidence of God’s interest in our lives is seen in the development of character, of us becoming more loving, patient, tolerant, forgiving, understanding of others and focused on their needs, not ours. Maybe the only reason for thankfulness in an experience like I had the other day is because it reminds me to be better prepared, more disciplined and to plan my time more effectively.

Sodom's Many Sins: The Sins of Our Day

The word Sodomy, generally taken to mean anal sex, finds it origins in the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah told in Genesis 19. Sodomy is said to be an abominable sin and the story used to illustrate how abhorrent it is to God. There is, however, much more to Sodom than homosexual activity and this may not have been the reason for the city’s destruction. Rather it may speak to the social and economic conditions of the world today.

Sodom is used in different places throughout the Bible as an example of extreme wickedness. We read in Genesis 18:20, 21 that God said to Abraham “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant. I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.”

In the evening two angels, appearing as men, enter Sodom to be greeted by Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Lot is insistent the strangers stay under his roof that evening in keeping with the custom of the time. Culture demanded a householder extend hospitality to travellers and afforded them protection under his roof,even at the expense of family members.

This is where it gets nasty. The men of the city turn up on Lot’s doorstep, demanding the strangers be given to them so that they may have sex with them. They are not satisfied when Lot offers his daughters instead and so the angels blind the mob.

Compare this to the way Abraham welcomed the strangers in the previous chapter. He ran to meet them, implored them to accept his hospitality, and waited on them as a servant. This was as it was meant to happen.

We are not told specifically why Sodom is condemned although it is obvious that pack rape not only violated the important obligation of hospitality to the stranger, an obligation born of necessity in a dry and hostile environment, but also would have caused grave injury if not death. But was that the sole reason for the destruction of the City and its neighbours?

2 Peter 2:7 says they were destroyed for their ‘shameful immorality’ and Jude 7 mentions ‘immorality and every kind of sexual perversion’. However if we stop at ‘every kind of sexual perversion’ we only have part of the picture, for their ‘immorality’ was much more than sexual in nature.

In Lamentations 4:6 the guilt of Israel is said to be ‘greater than that of Sodom’ because ‘her prophets  and … priests … defiled the city by shedding innocent blood’. Isaiah, in chapter 1, sees the land of Judah laying in ruins, devastated by the nation’s enemies. If it had not been for God’s intervention it would have been totally destroyed as had Sodom and Gomorrah. Both its rulers and its people are likened to those wicked cities. ‘Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah”’ (Isa 1:10).

They had turned their back on God. He was turned off by their sham religious ritual, their meaningless ceremonies, rituals and celebrations. He refused to listen to their prayers for they carried the blood of the innocent on their hands

Justice and righteousness had become a thing of the past. Jerusalem was full of thieves and murderers. Her leaders were corrupt, not only accepting but demanding bribes and neglecting their responsibilities to defend oppressed, widows and orphans.

In chapter 3 we read the Nation had been ruined by its leaders (v.12). They had  oppressed and mislead the people, stolen from the poor and ground their faces into the ground. Jerusalem is likened to a ‘haughty’ woman, craning her elegant neck, flirting with her eyes, walking with dainty steps, tinkling her ankle bracelets’ (v.16). ‘The very look on their faces gives them away.  They display their sin like the people of Sodom  and don’t even try to hide it (v.9).

Jeremiah and Ezekiel likewise compare Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah. Although Jeremiah accuses the prophets of Samaria of leading Jerusalem’s prophets to sin he said ‘...  the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse! They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.” (Jer. 23: 13,14).

Ezekiel, in Chapter 16, likens  Samaria, Jerusalem and Sodom as sisters, with Samaria the eldest. Of the three, Jerusalem is said to be by far the most corrupt. In verses 48 - 50 we read ‘As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters. Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.’

Sodom is last mentioned in the Book of Revelation, again linked to Jerusalem. In Revelation 11 God’s two witnesses, or prophets, testify for 42 months before they are killed by ‘the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit … (v.7).’ Their ‘bodies … lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified’ (v.8). Jerusalem is again likened Sodom and also Egypt, the nation that oppressed the Israelites and held them in slavery, refusing to let them go when God called on them to do so.

Neglect and exploitation of the poor. Corruption in high places, pride and the display of wealth. God denied or ignored, or a show of religion that is devoid of concern for the poor and the weak. Sexual perversion of every kind. Does this not describe our world - a world worse than Sodom and Gomorrah?

It was to these things that the prophets of old called attention and sounded warnings of destruction. In Isaiah 3:9 we read the Nation has ‘brought destruction’ on itself. In Jeremiah 23:1,2 it is the leaders who through their wicked behaviour brought destruction on Israel. In Revelation the earth is destroyed not by God but by the sins of its inhabitants, the sins of Sodom (Rev 11:18).

While the Bible warns it does not leave us without hope. There remains time to turn back from our destructive ways, to return to the way of the Creator.

Bible quoted: New Living Translation

Can Abraham Help Us Better Relate to the LGBTI Community?

Many years back I read a newspaper article about Bob Brown, the former leader of the Australian Greens, and him coming to grips with his homosexuality. He had been told to pray about his feelings by his Christian counsellors but to no avail. Eventually a doctor in London where he was studying at the time told him to accept who he was.

Bob’s story is not alone. Many can tell of the torment of feeling different, whether it be with same sex attraction, of feeling like a man trapped in a woman’s body or the other way around, or other dealing with other issues. Many try to deny who they are, fearing rejection and shaming by family, friends and the community at large - and for good reason. It is little wonder that mental health statistics among this community, including suicide rates, are higher than the community average. It is so tragic to hear of anyone taking their life, and it seems even more tragic if the victim is still a child.

As Christians we would like to think they could find safety in the Church but the reality is they don’t. Why? Being told you are an abomination, you will burn in hell forever, you must change your ways and, no doubt, just the feeling of being different keep them away. The Christian community is all too often not a safe place for LGBTI people. One can only wonder what the stigmatisation of this sub-community by the community at large and the Church in particular has on their children.

The community has been judged, shamed, oppressed and outed for centuries. Being LGBTI is not a lifestyle choice. It defies logic that people would choose to be LGBTI knowing all that being found out as such entails.

After centuries of discrimination this community see the enactment of Marriage Equality as going a long way to them as being treated as equals, of being accorded the same dignity most of us take for granted. When they see this move being opposed by many Christians and Churches, what do they see? Love? Or the Churches wanting to continue the inequality and shaming they know only too well? Is there any way they will see in this the professed love of Christians, or Jesus, for them?

I know there are verses in the Bible that talk about homosexuality as a sin, as an abomination. There are some theologians and Bible students who believe these texts do not speak to modern homosexuality and that they are not condemned by Scripture. It is not my intent to discuss those texts. I believe it is important to look at them within the overall context of the Bible, not that it is possible to do full justice to that aim in a short essay.

I am, however, reminded of the story in John 8 of the woman who had been caught in the act of adultery being dragged before Jesus. The penalty, as given in the Law, for such a sin could not have been any clearer. She must be stoned to death. But Jesus, the Lawgiver,  took a different approach. 'If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.'

Abraham’s story is recorded for us in Genesis chapters 12-25. Perhaps when we look at his story and understand how God developed a relationship with him we might see  how we can better relate to members of the LGBTI community.

Abraham ‘was called God’s friend’ (James 2:23) and ‘father of all who believe …’, both the circumcised and uncircumcised (Romans 4:11.12). So what do we know of this highly honoured man?

• His ancestors, including Nahor, his father, ‘worshiped other gods.’ (Joshua 24:2). Was Abraham raised to do the same? If so, at what time in his life did he stop worshipping these idols? Obviously the writer of Genesis did not think this was important enough to record.
• He was married to his half sister - that’s incest.
• He lied about his relationship with his wife twice, being prepared to let her have sex with other men to save his own skin - hardly the action of an honourable man.
• Genesis 15:6, ‘Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness’, is well known. But two verses later in response to God’s promise to give him the land he questions “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” Is this the response of strong faith?
• Many years later God tells Abraham his wife Sarah will bear him a son. In response he ‘fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”’ (Gen. 17,18)
• He fathered a child with his wife’s servant. We would call that adultery. He also had children to his concubines - we are not told how many children or concubines (Gen. 25:6).
• Then there is the story of his willingness to offer his son as a sacrifice. This was a common cultural practice. Abraham seems to have immediately set out to comply with the command. Was his knowledge of God such that he believed this was consistent with His character? Was he aware of God’s covenant with Noah and all his descendants, especially the provision dealing with the shedding of human blood?

And for your lifeblood I shall surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the blood of his fellow man.

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. (Gen. 9:5,6)

So that’s Abraham, the first person in the Bible to be called a prophet (Gen. 20:7). I know I have focused on the negatives but I have a reason for that. He doubted God, lied, fathered children to women other than his wife with whom he shared an incestuous relationship. He did not question the command to sacrifice his son, and he may have worshipped idols, at least for some of his life. Can you imagine any Church today welcoming Abraham into fellowship, let alone giving him a position of leadership? I can’t.

Love is not something God does. It is what He is. And He looks to those who profess His name to share that love with a hurting world. His love does not exclude anyone, for all have the invitation to accept His embrace. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is a great descriptor of what that love is:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

We see this love worked out in God’s relationship with Abraham. Despite Abraham’s many failures God maintains the friendship. There are no words of condemnation, no dishonouring of His friend. When Abraham fails God maintains the conversation, the relationship, working with him and bringing him back to the next test. This is a friendship that ‘always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres’.

Is this a model we can use to build friendships with others, and within the context of this essay the LGBTI community in particular?

We know that God calls homosexuality a detestable thing (Leviticus 18:22). But if we read that verse in context it is only one of different things also seen as detestable, including having sex with one’s sister (as did Abraham) and sacrificing children to Molech. It is also worth noting that ‘a lying tongue’ is also called ‘detestable’ (Proverbs 6:16,17). We can therefore only conclude that if gays are detestable in God’s eyes then they must be seen as standing side by side with God’s friend Abraham. So can we as Christians stand beside them and others in the LGBTI community as their friends also?

We need to live out the same principles we see in 1 Cor 13:4-7 as we walk with our LGBTI family members, friends and neighbours. God gave Abraham time to grow, not to any preconceived standard we may have set, but as God led. Just as God protected Abraham so we must protect others from the barbs, condemnation and shaming of the world - and others in the Christian community. At no time did God set out to dishonour, or shame, His friend. Rather, He honoured him as the first named prophet in the Bible, and as the Father of the Faithful, the Friend of God. Surely there can be no higher honour granted any human being than this.

If Abraham was given such high honour why should be stand in the way of  members of the LGBTI being treated as equals in the community of God,being loved, supported and allowed to grow in grace along with the rest of us?

Quotes from the New International Version

Not Another Love Child!

When we think of the Stolen Generation our minds turn to those indigenous Australians taken from their families to be raised by good white folk. But they are not the only ones stolen. We know the stories of those white babies, snatched from their single mothers at birth ’in their best interest’. This was not a uniquely Australian practice. Between the 1920s to 1970s over 130,000 children were shipped from England to Australia to give them a ‘better life’. Many of these were born to single mothers and many experienced abuse, hard labour and servitude in their ‘land of hope’. Black or white, many of these children continue to live with the pain of separation from their families and the treatment they received.

Diana Ross and the Supremes have always been one of my favourite female groups - I know I’m showing my age now. In 1968 they released their hit 'Love Child' controversial at the time because it spoke of the shame felt by child born to a single mother.

It’s almost fifty years since that song was released. Now we try to work with troubled families in an effort to maintain family connections. Our attitudes to First Australians have changed to a large extent, and there is not the stigma attached to children born out of wedlock. I see this as positive, yet I fear we are in danger of continuing the cruelty of stigmatising another generation of children.

Members of the LGBTI community know what it means to be stigmatised, shamed and outed. They didn’t want a plebiscite because they feared not only for themselves but for their children. I believe those concerns were justified.

The question we will be asked to answer in the upcoming plebiscite is simple: ‘Do you believe that two people of the same sex should be able to marry?’ Nothing more, nothing less. Yet opponents express concerns for the children of these relationships. Rationally, this has nothing to do with the question.

Same-sex relationships are already legally recognised. Same-sex families already include children. Some are the children of previous straight relationships where parenting may be shared between both parents as is the case with many other relationships. Others are conceived with the aid of donor sperm or eggs and some through surrogacy arrangements. This is not limited to the gay community so it is not relevant to the discussion.

Regardless of what we think about gay marriage our number one priority should be the children. When we use them to confuse the marriage question what message are we giving to the children? When we question the legitimacy of their families, suggesting they are illegitimate, inadequate, provide an unsuitable environment are we not in some way implying the children are inadequate, illegitimate, should not exist? When we stigmatise their parents don’t we by extension stigmatise them?

Their children will listen, and so will ours. Our attitudes will be picked up by their children and ours. And if there's one place where shaming and outing takes place it's the playground. Our attitudes will be reinforced by our children. There is, I believe, a very real risk that this debate will simply produce another generation of traumatised, confused children.

You may argue that their parents’ relationship will cause trauma and confusion regardless. If you believe that then surely you have a greater responsibility to consider the welfare of the children above all else.

Remember the saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. No family is perfect. No family alone can give their children all they need.We all need the support of the wider community to raise our kids. So please, in this debate, consider the children first and foremost.

Time to Stop Shaming the LGBTI Community

There is a term we all know, ‘coming out’. It is said it takes courage to ‘come out’ as LGBTI. Being something I have never had to do I can't say I know what courage it does take, but I have no reason to doubt the claim. I know there are things in my own life I have found hard to admit to, and the reason is the fear of rejection.

While we may not give the subject of shame much thought in Western society it is recognised by mental health experts as perhaps the most basic of human emotion. Joseph Burgo, in his article ‘The Difference Between Guilt and Shame’ posted on ‘Psychology Today’ (May 30, 2013) says shame is ‘the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another.’ It should not be confused with guilt, which is ‘a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined’

It has been said in another place that guilt is what I do, shame is what I am. Obviously a sense of guilt can feed into a sense of shame.

Shame is to do with my worth as a human being, with meeting the expectations of others, of being worthy of acceptance. Am I attractive enough, smart enough, talented or whatever. It asks the question what would others think of me if they knew how I felt, what I thought.

So when I talk about shame, the LGBTI community, and ‘coming out’ this is what I mean. Think of the potential social cost involved in coming out LGBTI. They face censure, bullying, condemnation, isolation and more. According to research this community has greater challenges with mental health and higher rates of suicide than the general population. This fact should challenge all of us.

I don’t profess to understand why someone is LGBTI. I know there are those who have felt trapped in the wrong body or felt same sex attraction all their lives. Their stories cannot be simply dismissed as aberrations, perversions, or whatever label one wants to apply. There are those who have an extra male or female chromosome. I do not, cannot, accept the argument that there are ‘cures’. Maybe some can and do change, but not all. There also remains the possibility that among the ‘rehabilitated’ are those that really haven't changed at all. Perhaps they simply hide their true feelings and associated shame under the cover of their new conformity.

If there is one place on earth all of us, including LGBTI people, should feel safe, feel accepted, it should be the Church. In reality, this is the last place far too many of them want to be, for if there is one place they will feel shamed it will be here. All that stuff about hell fire, sin and being an abomination.

At this point it is appropriate to ask a question. If the pain of isolation and rejection, that feeling of shame, leads to self-harm and suicide by LGBTI people, what responsibility is shared by those who shame? As Christians, will not God hold us accountable for our part in that shaming?

‘What does God want of us?’, asked the people of Micah’s day. To which the prophet replied ‘... the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6:8). ‘Stop judging others,’ said Jesus, ‘and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven’ (Luke 6:37,38).

As Jesus said to Nicodemus ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.’ (John 3:16-18).

It is not the place of the Church to judge, to condemn, to shame, nor to convict Rather it is to reach out to the shamed, the outcasts, the hurting, and to invite them into that safe place that God intended, the Church. For we have all known shame, rejection and hurt. If we have truly found healing in Jesus then we must invite others into that experience,  for love alone is the power of the Gospel.

Bible Quoted: NLT

The Nun and the Prostitutes of St Kilda

Our guest presenter this particular evening was a Catholic nun. I was enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in Health Education.

Our guest told how she had felt called to work among the prostitutes of St Kilda. Her initial response was along the lines ‘I’ll go anywhere you call me God - Africa, India, outback Australia, but please, not St Kilda.’ But it seems God was not going to relent, so eventually our nun ended up among the prostitutes of St Kilda.

She told how all those she worked with had been abused as children. Like many, if not all such victims, they felt shame and self-loathing. It is common for abuse victims to feel that the abuse was their fault, it was their punishment for being bad. So they turned to drugs in an effort to kill the pain, and then prostitution to pay for their addiction.

That is all I remember of what our guest said that night, so let me reflect on what it might mean. Here we have these victims who already feel lower than a piece of dog manure. What messages do they pick up from respectable folk? Those glances, comments, quickening steps to pass them by. After all, they’re only druggos and prostitutes, not the sort of people you would want moving into your street. If only the council would do something to clean up the neighbourhood by putting out the garbage.

Now along comes Johnny Christian. Johnny sees them a little differently. After all, didn’t Jesus count such as these among His companions. So Johnny decides he will go and witness to these prostitutes and invite them to follow Jesus. Now the solution is easy in our budding evangelist’s mind. Tell them to turn to Jesus and He will forgive their sins - that is their prostitution and drug addiction. All they have to do is confess, repent and lead a new life.

So how do they respond. Well I imagine some will say, perhaps not as politely as this, ‘Go away Johnny. I already loathe myself without you coming here and reminding me how evil I am.’ Others, perhaps, may feel ‘That’s alright for you Johnny Christian. Of course Jesus can love you. But me? I’m nothing more than a piece of dog dung’.

Then again, Johnny might end up with a star or two in his crown. One or two of them might get this ‘Jesus’ thing. Jesus will love me if I stop sinning and keep the commandments. After all, this Jesus bloke can deal with the guilt and once I’m forgiven I can have a new life.

There is an expression I picked up years ago that no doubt has its origin in the medical profession. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. Is Johnny guilty of malpractice?

Remember, these prostitutes and drug addicts were initially victims of sin, not perpetrators. Their core problem is not guilt, but shame. Yet Johnny has done nothing to address their shame because shame is something altogether different. Shame is what we are, how we believe others see us. While a violation of one of our core values may cause guilt and this in turn feed into our shame, simply addressing guilt does not necessarily do anything for our shame.

Shame is something we all live with. From the day of our birth we receive feedback from those around us, including parents, siblings, teachers, friends and other community members. We learn we are not smart enough, attractive, talented, athletic or whatever it takes to feel a valued part of our world. We hear those labels - bad, stupid, clumsy, failure and more. Our own failures and rejections only reinforce the picture we have picked up from others. So we try cover our shame with things like humility, passiveness, aggression, controlling behaviours, submission, power, the display of wealth and more.

In the Bible story of beginnings, Adam and Eve were naked, but knew no shame. After they ate the forbidden fruit they covered their nakedness with fig leaves.In the culture of the Bible nakedness is shameful, so a proper understanding of the story is that disobedience to God brought shame, not guilt. And when the Bible talks of being robed with Christ’s righteousness it represents the removal of shame, not guilt.

So back to our now saved prostitute. Now he has been saved the fruits of her salvation will be seen in her obedience to God - read, keeping the commandments. But there is still that matter of shame that has not been dealt with. He still needs to cover his ‘nakedness’, and so she pulls on the cover of her law keeping, just like the Pharisee in this story from Luke 18:10-14:

10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

This story comes from a culture where honour was everything, and those who did not live up to the expectations of the good, respectable people, were shamed, just like the prostitutes in the Nun’s story. The Pharisee, like many of us today, tried to cover his shame by pointing to his good deeds and comparing himself to that low-life over there. The tax collector, on the other hand, was without honour, burdened down with the anguish of his shame. He knew that so far as the good people like the Pharisee was concerned he was nothing more than dog manure, something you just did not want to get on the bottom of your sandal. It was from this place of shame that he cried out to God. And he was the one justified before God, not because he recognised his guilt, but because he recognised his nakedness, his shame.

The trouble with the Law is we can never keep it. So if being good enough, if being acceptable in the company of ‘good’ people, and, more importantly, God, requires us to keep the Law we will continually fail. So, if we are already trash, then every failure can only help reinforce our shame. So eventually we may just give up.

Or perhaps our failure will only motivate us to try harder, or to let others know how ‘good’ we are by putting them down, by pointing out their sins. Which may explain why we struggle in our churches with legalism, judgemental behaviour, and declining congregations.

Jesus lived with shame. He was born out of wedlock and so born into shame. He mingled with the shamed. The Cross was an instrument of public shaming, and so He died a death of shame. In all His recorded words there is no judgement of the shamed, no pointing out of their sins, no shaming. Instead He mingled, He communed, He encouraged, and He touched the untouchables. For He came to remove their shame, to cover it with the pure robes of His Righteousness.

Perhaps all the Johnny Christians of the world - you and I - are guilty of prescribing without diagnosing, of Christian malpractice. For until we recognise that shame is more ingrained than guilt, that more than anything else shame defines who we are as people, we will continue to prescribe the wrong fix.

Bible quote from: The New Living Translation