C. S. Pearce is the director of media relations for Claremont School of Theology and authoress of an article on the "Christian Case for Same Sex Marriage" as well as a book entitled, This We Believe: The Christian Case for Gay Civil Rights. Inasmuch as she stated, "And since Christians are a people of the Word, we look to the Bible to justify our thinking," it is only right that we LET THE BIBLE SPEAK on same sex marriage by reviewing her rationale.
Theological universities, in today's world, do not have the same respect for God and His Word as in the day when our colonial forefathers established these schools for training "ministers of the Gospel." Most of them have "denied the faith" upon which they were founded. They no longer emphasize the Bible as God's holy Word much less believe in the inspiration thereof. It was sometime back in the 60s when one of professors of a theological institution classified himself as "a Christian atheist!" There you have it, they claim to be Christians but deny the existence of the God!
In her article, she quotes a fellow "scholar" as stating, "Instead of taking the Bible literally, we should take it seriously." Words do have meaning but the context always determines if they are figurative or not. Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:49-53) used "circumcision" both ways. He is addressing an audience of literally "circumcised" Jews, and calls them "uncircumcised in heart and ears," which is obviously figurative. The serious student of God's Word will indeed study it "seriously" and take it "literally" when the context demands it.
Speaking of context, our authoress does cite the three major passages (Romans 1:23-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; and 1Tim. 1:9-11) in the New Testament condemning homosexual and other perverted sexual activities. However, she neglects the mention of sodomy! The sin of sodomy was named after the city of Sodom (Genesis 19) for their literal practice of this sexual perversion - and it had nothing to do with Pagan Temple worship. Jesus mentions Sodom a number of times with reference to God's judgment. Peter references Sodom (2Peter 2:6) as an example of those that live ungodly lives. Jude, the brother of the Lord, refers to Sodom and Gomorrah in connection with those who turning the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jude 1:1-4, 7-8).
Speaking of literal sodomy, it is indeed condemned in both the Old and New Testaments! There is a figurative, but serious, use of "dog" with reference to the sexual perversion of sodomy. In reiterating His Law to Israel (Deuteronomy 23:17-18) God stated the following: "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God." It obviously, in context, means the contribution of a whore or dog (figurative for sodomite) is not acceptable to Jehovah!
Now, for the rest of the story, we turn to The New Jerusalem vividly described by John in Revelation 22:13-16. Those that do God's commandments have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter the New Jerusalem. However, without are dogs(figurative for sodomites -Deuteronomy 23:17-18), sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. The question is, shall we justify contemporary perversions or LET THE BIBLE SPEAK?
Dale I. Royal, Elk City OK
