I listened, with interest, to a feature on BBC radio 5 live yesterday morning as I travelled to work. A Lesbian Church of England Priest was being interviewed because she, along with a number of other ‘couples’, was challenging the current arrangements relating to Marriage and Civil Partnerships.
Almost as an aside as part of the interview the BBC presenter Nicky Campbell asked this individual how she reconciled her Lesbian way of life with the very clear commands in Scripture against homosexuality.
The answer given was woolly to say the least. She began by saying there were a lot of things to consider when approaching this subject. In the first part of her answer she began to question the validity of Bible translations that suggested homosexuality was wrong. She asked were people consulting the correct manuscripts and were the manuscripts correctly translated.
Not content to bring God’s Word into question by textual criticism she then began to explain how the Scriptures needed to be understood in terms of the prevailing culture at the time that they were written. She suggested that the reason God was against homosexuality 4000 years ago was more to do with His desire to see a population explosion in the nation of Israel rather than any moral consideration. In other words times are different now. The world is heavily populated therefore, procreation is less important.
This type of interpretation of Scripture is known as ‘Relativism’ and this theory is very dangerous. Basically, ‘Relativism’ teaches that truth is not absolute but rather must be understood in light of the prevailing culture in any place at any time. In other words truth is relative to culture and therefore can change or truth is not absolute.
I ABSOLUTLEY REJECT THIS.
If this is how we are to approach Biblical Interpretation then we can make the Bible say all things to all men. If there is a bit we don’t like we can just say, ‘that was for Middle Eastern culture 2000 years ago but does not apply today’. This is no way to handle God’s Holy Word.
GOD SAYS WHAT HE MEANS AND HE MEANS WHAT HE SAYS!!!
How often does the Scripture ring with the authoritative ‘Thus saith the LORD’? We do not decide truth … God decides truth. Let us ever understand God’s word in the plain sense in which He gave it to us.
‘Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.’ Deuteronomy 4 v2
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Their error comes in two parts:
ReplyDelete1. They dishonestly claim the Bible text means something it patently does not.
2. They then go on to say even if it does mean what it appears to mean, God no longer feels that way and has changed His demands without letting us know.
We can expect that from those who are in the thrall of their father the devil - but sometimes even true believers are guilty of such sin. They pervert the word of God to justify their sinful conduct or carnal, man-exalting theology. Women pastors/teachers; theistic evolution; etc.
I agree entirely.
ReplyDeleteI heard this interview also when traveling to work and have remembered it ever since. To hear someone who claims the name of Christ, twist the Bible and make a fool of God' Word on public radio saddened me. Fools.
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