Conformity
Paul said, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2). Some who hold the
contrary view on this topic say that Paul failed to heed his own admonition
not to be a conformist. They allege that the dim view he undeniably took
of homosexuality was thoughtlessly picked up from the culture around him.
It cannot have been from the Gentile culture around him that he picked
up this hostility, though. The pagan world of classical antiquity was a
Golden Age for homosexuality. Popular literary works the day, like Plato's
'Symposium,' if rewritten today, would need to be updated to take place
in a prison rec room, because that is where these known pederasts would
find themselves. Emperors were even rumored to have contracted gay marriage:
"He [Nero Caesar] castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make
a woman of him. He married him with all the usual ceremonies, including
a dowry and a bridal veil, took him to his house attended by a great throng,
and treated him as his wife. And the witty jest that some one made is still
current, that it would have been well for the world if Nero's father Domitius
had had that kind of wife. This Sporus, decked out with the finery of the
Empresses and riding in a litter, he took him him to the assizes and marts
of Greece, and later at Rome through the Street of the Images, fondly kissing
him from time to time." (Suetonius, the Lives of the Twelve Caesars,
Nero).
There is no possibility at this late date of confirming or denying scurrilous
palace gossip of the first century, but whether this story is true or false,
people at the time found it credible. Imagine if, instead of Monica Lewinsky,
our former president had had a dalliance with Morris Lewinsky! What changed
all this is Christianity.
The 'homosexual rights' advocates of the day knew who their enemy
was, which is why it was Crescens who got rid of Justin Martyr: "Crescens, who made his nest in the great city, surpassed all men
in unnatural love [paiderastia], and was strongly addicted to the
love of money. Yet this man, who professed to despise death, was
so afraid of death, that he endeavored to inflict on Justin,
and indeed on me, the punishment of death, as being an evil,
because by proclaiming the truth he convicted the philosophers of
being gluttons and cheats." (Tatian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter
19).
Vindication
Those falsely accused of a crime like murder or robbery angrily demand,
not forgiveness, but vindication. No one offers to forgive faithful married
heterosexuals for their lifestyle, because "Marriage is honorable
among all, and the bed undefiled..." (Hebrews 13:4). It would be presumptuous
and insulting to offer forgiveness in those things which people are doing
right, not wrong. No one begs forgiveness for wearing red socks, or living
on Elm Street, or receiving the Employee of the Month Award, because these
are things which are morally neutral or even commendable...unless one is
employed as an exotic dancer. Certainly we are all sinners, yet not all
we do is sinful. It is those things which are morally blameworthy for which
we come to God for forgiveness: "To the Lord our God belong mercy
and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him." (Daniel 9:9).
Discussions of this issue tends to veer confusingly between vindication,
claimed by the innocent, and forgiveness, pleaded by the guilty. There's
no question that God's forgiveness is free to whosoever will come, like
the song says, "The cross upon which Jesus died Is a shelter in which
we can hide; And its grace so free is sufficient for me, And deep is its
fountain -- as wide as the sea. There's room at the cross for you, There's
room at the cross for you; Though millions have come, There's still room
for one -- Yes, there's room at the cross for you." (Ira F. Stanphill),--
and not only that, but power to bring to birth a new creation. What advocates
of Bishop Robinson are demanding, as best I understand it, is vindication.
Testimony
The early Christians left behind a body of literature which, while not reliably inspired, does offer worthwhile
guidance as to the mind and practice of the early church. These authors did
not approve of homosexuality:
- “For those who have set up a market for fornication and established infamous
resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure, — who do not abstain
even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging
all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways, so dishonoring
the fair workmanship of God (for beauty on earth is not self-made, but
sent hither by the hand and will of God), — these men, I say, revile us
for the very things which they are conscious of themselves, and ascribe
to their own gods, boasting of them as noble deeds, and worthy of the gods.”
- (Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians, Chapter 34).
- "The second commandment of the teaching is: You shall not murder;
you shall not commit adultery; you shall not corrupt boys; you shall not
be sexually promiscuous; you shall not steal; you shall not practice magic;
you shall not engage in sorcery; you shall not abort a child or commit
infanticide; you shall not covet your neighbor's possessions; you shall
not commit perjury; you shall not give false testimony; you shall not speak
evil, you shall not hold a grudge."
- (The Didache, 2. 1-3)
- "And what kind of deeds are recorded of each of these reputed sons
of Jupiter, it is needless to tell to those who already know. This only
shall be said, that they are written for the advantage and encouragement
of youthful scholars; for all reckon it an honorable thing to imitate the
gods. But far be such a thought concerning the gods from every well-conditioned
soul, as to believe that Jupiter himself, the governor and creator of all
things, was both a parricide and the son of a parricide, and that being
overcome by the love of base and shameful pleasures, he came in to Ganymede
and those many women whom he had violated and that his sons did like actions."
- (Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 21).
- “Do you, therefore, show me yourself, whether you are not an adulterer, or a
fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a purloiner; whether you do not corrupt boys;
whether you are not insolent, or a slanderer, or passionate, or envious, or
proud, or supercilious; whether you are not a brawler, or covetous, or
disobedient to parents; and whether you do not sell your children; for to
those who do these things God is not manifest, unless they have first
cleansed themselves from all impurity.”
- (Theophilus, To Autolycus, Book 1, Chapter 2).
|
|
|
