Matthew Vines who claims to be an “evangelical gay Christian” has written a book, God and the Gay Christian. He writes that biblical passages on the matter of homosexuality have been misinterpreted. James Brownson agrees and has published a similar work, Bible, Gender, Sexuality.
Both are touted as having a “high view” of the Scriptures meaning they believe the Bible to be the final authority in matters of faith and practice. They also claim the Scriptures should not be interpreted to accommodate personal beliefs. They say the Church has made mistakes in the past like excommunicating Galileo suggesting it is making a mistake now regarding homosexuality.
In an article titled Kirsten Powers: Christianity’s new look on gays, Powers mentions all of this and asks, “Could there be a future where most American Christians support same-sex relationships?”
We live in a culture that breaks its neck to jump on the bandwagon of “anything goes” and many claiming to be Christians are all too willing to go along for the ride. So to answer Ms. Powers, there is no way to predict what those who claim to be Christians will say or do, but Christians will continue to hold to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures as Christ did.
There will always be men like Matthew Vines and James Brownson who in the name of interpretation “exchange the truth of God for a lie,” Romans 1:25. The mendacity of Vines’ self-serving interpretation and Brownson’s popular perspective are clearer than the nose on Pinocchio’s face. Peter tells us the Scriptures are not a matter “of one’s own interpretation,” 2 Peter 1:20, and those who do interpret God’s Word to promote error “distort…the Scriptures, to their own destruction,” 2 Peter 3:16.
The Church has made mistakes and there is probably none more glaring than the one made regarding Galileo. The Church stubbornly embraced the Ptolemaic theory of a geocentric (earth centered) universe. The Bible says nothing of the earth’s position in the universe. When the Bible is silent on a subject, the Christian should be silent. Galileo proved the earth was not even at the center of its own planetary system, but was heliocentric (revolved around the sun). The Church unwisely kicked Galileo to the curb.
The Church made a mistake, but the Bible did not. Even the Church cannot invent truth by filling in a biblical blank. And the Church discovered it is not the final authority; everyone including the Church is subject to the Scriptures.
Christians do not hate or fear homosexuals; we love and respect the God of the Bible. We will not change on the issue of homosexuality because the Bible addresses the issue clearly. We are not afraid of being on the wrong side of history; we do not want to be on the wrong side of God. Not because we are homophobic, but because we are theophobic, we love and fear God.
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