Where Angels Fear to Tread...

Blame it on PMS or the fact that this winter hasn't been cold enough to freeze my head...

I've popped in to the Jesus Creed discussion about homosexuality after reading Scot McKnight's blog and comments for the last several weeks. I made the suggestion that perhaps we stop trying to figure out what we believe about homosexuality for awhile. Maybe it would be helpful if the church could open its doors to homosexuals - they can particpate at any level and go to seminary or study theology, they can lead worship, or pray for others.

What if we trusted the Holy Spirit and the Bible to be the guides Christians say they are and see what emerged after a generation of deliberate silence on the issue? Then maybe once we actually know each other - homosexuals and heterosexuals within the context of faith and church, we might learn some things and develop a deeper and more meaningful idea of what it means to be gay and Christian.

I am not gay (though apparently this suggestion made it appear that I am a radical lesbian to one commenter).

But I am stymied by what appears to be a need for the hetero community to define what is biblical and true for another whole community of people. The arguments that are used are usually moral (putting gays in the same camp as theives, murderers and adulterers). I can't do that. I've met and known too many and they just aren't like those people (unless they are also theives, murderers and adulterers... which they could be just like I could be).

I am all for ex-homosexual Christians being in on that conversation that would emerge after some time to let the issue be. It seems to me we need a much deeper and more nuanced understanding of sexuality than "hetero" good and "homo" bad. My God. Heterosexuality can be just as deviant if we want to get into each other's bedrooms. So there's a whole lot more to this discussion than a simple thumbs up or down on being gay and/or Christian.

So here's the funny thing. I got lambasted for my suggestion over there. And to be fair, I should not have commented. I am new to the site and it was like throwing a snowball over the fence at neighbors having a pleasant BBQ without me.

But then this a.m. I found support in a surprising quarter. I read a piece of Brian McLaren's blog at Christianity Today (posted on the pomoxian email list) and my jaw dropped. Here is numero uno Emergent Church leader calling for a very similar plan for how evangelicals can think about homosexuality:

Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about homosexuality. We've heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say "it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us." That alienates us from both the liberals and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should think. Even if we are convinced that all homosexual behavior is always sinful, we still want to treat gay and lesbian people with more dignity, gentleness, and respect than our colleagues do. If we think that there may actually be a legitimate context for some homosexual relationships, we know that the biblical arguments are nuanced and multilayered, and the pastoral ramifications are staggeringly complex. We aren't sure if or where lines are to be drawn, nor do we know how to enforce with fairness whatever lines are drawn.

Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. In the meantime, we'll practice prayerful Christian dialogue, listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably. When decisions need to be made, they'll be admittedly provisional. We'll keep our ears attuned to scholars in biblical studies, theology, ethics, psychology, genetics, sociology, and related fields. Then in five years, if we have clarity, we'll speak; if not, we'll set another five years for ongoing reflection. After all, many important issues in church history took centuries to figure out. Maybe this moratorium would help us resist the "winds of doctrine" blowing furiously from the left and right, so we can patiently wait for the wind of the Spirit to set our course.

My word! He only wants five years and it's a five year moratorium on pronouncements. I wanted a forty year moratorium on the endless need to define and control beliefs about homosexuality. But I'd take five!

There really isn't anything new to do otherwise. Ex-homosexual ministries have been in full fource for over twenty years. Christian churches have been saying that they will be welcoming to gays and helpful to them in becoming faithful believers, for at least that long. The theology that goes with that posture is not new or creative.

So if the status quo is what Evangelical Christianity wants to preserve, then even just going silent for five years would be a welcome change from the constant need to put their definitions out there, which end up sounding more like hand-wringing than anything useful.

If we want to see something different, then we have to be willing to take risks... Get to know people who don't share our point of view. Somehow homosexuality is up for discussion because it is no longer a culturally supported taboo to the degree that it once was.

Reminds me of women's rights, of abolition... An idea whose time has come, perhaps?