The
move to affirm
those living in committed same-sex relationships has championed itself
as a
matter of compassion, justice, and human rights, but does so by
ignoring the
primacy of the authority of Scripture, tradition, and reason. We, the
members
of the Zacchaeus Fellowship, have accepted the authority of Scripture
in the
face of same-sex attraction and have chosen the path it prescribes.
Some have
undergone transformation through their encounters with Jesus and are
now living
heterosexually, while others who accept the Biblical admonitions
against
homosexual acts are living in celibacy.
We speak from the
vantage point of having
subjected our same-sex passions and desires to the authority of
Scripture. We
have first-hand experience of the stigma against both the acts and the
person
associated with homosexuality as well as being marginalized and
dismissed for
who we are now.
Before the church can
resolve its
difficulties surrounding the issue of homosexuality, it might first
need to
take a hard look at itself and its mission. We have been
empire-builders. Jesus
commissioned us to make disciples of all nations; to teach, to baptize,
and to
obey God’s commandments. The focus was a personal relationship with our
Saviour. In sharing the Good News, we were encouraging each other,
nourishing
each other, and being accountable to each other—it was growing together
in
obedience to God’s ways, thus establishing His Kingdom. Buildings,
robes, numbers,
and other such current signs by which we measure success in today’s
material
world, were all unimportant. It was the message of hope of an eternal
and
transformed life as promised by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
A key was obedience;
but obedience to what?
Holy Scriptures has always been the guide for the church. The Bible
revealed
God’s ways over time. The mistakes, the corrections, and the lessons
were all
signs pointing to how we are to live. Over and over, when the people
turned to
follow the ways of the world, disaster soon followed. When the people
acknowledged their mistakes and turned back to the ways of God, rebirth
and
renewal followed.
In the West, society
and culture have moved
in the direction of loosening sexual and spiritual morals. Over time,
homosexuality became acceptable and the legal barriers were removed.
Government
has removed the stigma previously attached to such a lifestyle and
through
legislation and judicial decisions is ordering its acceptance in
society. The
church appears to be acquiescing and adapting to this new cultural
trend.
For us in the Zacchaeus
Fellowship, it
appears that our church in the West has evolved into a
secular-political
entity. We seem to have chosen leaders who tell us how to be most
successful—based
on numbers in the pews, money in the collection plates, and admiration
by the
society around us. Our leaders have walked side-by-side with their
societies’
political and cultural leaders, adapting church policies to reflect the
ways of
the world in which they live.
In many parts of the
Global South, the
society and culture remain rigidly opposed to homosexuality and uphold
strict
legal prohibitions against this behaviour. The church leaders are often
supportive, even of the extremes. Anyone who is struggling with
unwanted
same-sex attractions has nowhere to go in such a society, sometimes
under fear
of penalties of imprisonment and death. Where then is the mercy and
forgiveness
of God to be found, if the church supports the secular attitude?
We in the Zacchaeus
Fellowship can find
little comfort and acceptance in either situation. In the West, the
direction
of the church implies that we are either in denial of our God-created
natures
or that we were never homosexual in the first place. That does not
equate with
our experiences and our understanding of Scripture. In some parts of
the Global
South, the direction of the church comes across to us as unloving,
unfriendly,
and condemning—we feel we would be regarded as irredeemable and a lost
cause,
and thus should be excluded and rejected both by the church and the
society.
The members of our fellowship uphold the very Biblical admonitions the
Global
South uses to condemn homosexuality, but it appears we would not always
be
welcomed or tolerated in some parts of the Global South because of what
we were
and are: same-sex attracted.
We are left to ask if
our church has lost
its purpose of bringing people to salvation through a personal
relationship
with a Saviour—Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead. The
Anglican
Church claims that as its primary goal, but its actions say otherwise.
Oftentimes it appears to be obsessed with self-preservation. To survive
in our
world, it seems to believe that it must conform to the society around
it—whether it is supportive or not of homosexuality (in this case). Do
we as a
church really believe that if we walk in agreement with what society at
the
moment supports we will be successful in our mission? To the contrary,
it makes
us more and more irrelevant. The question becomes: What do we have to
offer
that the world is not already offering?
We in the Zacchaeus
Fellowship have been
transformed by our encounters with Christ. We have looked at our
brokenness and
failures in the eyes of God—how we have missed the mark, as defined by
Scripture. We have not felt loved by those who advocate moving in the
populist
direction of the West and we are concerned for our brothers and sisters
dealing
with unwanted same-sex attractions in the face of the rigidity
demonstrated in
some parts of the Global South. We have felt loved by God. We have been
aided
in our journeys by those who have not been judgmental or rejecting of
us as
persons, but who have supported us in love to help us find our ways to
be
obedient to God. It is in our personal relationships with Christ that
we
experience God’s mercy and love. That is how we walk in faithfulness
and hope.
It is not an easy walk, but it is possible, as demonstrated by those
who have
shared in this journey with us, from many countries and within many
ministries
around the globe. We seek to conform to God’s commands for righteous
living as
given to us in the Bible. Sadly, the Anglican Communion is slowly
losing its
appeal for some of our members because both sides appear extremist and
unloving—despite
their professions to the contrary.
For a long time, the
church has failed to
teach its moral theology—Biblical standards for holy living—as
evidenced in its
lack of speaking out against heterosexual couples living together
outside the
bonds of Holy Matrimony. In the past, moral theology directed our
pastoral
theology. Those who struggled with sin could come for help because that
help
would be based on the boundaries set forth in the Bible. The ideal was
no
judgment of the sinner but a freedom to confess and seek the root
causes of the
desire to give in to any particular sinful desire. Now, by allowing its
pastoral theology to direct its moral theology, the church has left
itself
vulnerable to the dictates of the society and culture around it. This
lapse has
introduced fear into the equation. For those seeking help for unwanted
same-sex
attractions, there is a fear of speaking up because it is not known
whether the
response will be supportive, misleading, or condemnatory. The church is
not a
safe place to discuss this issue for many people.
The Church must love.
Part of that loving
calls on the Church to stand in its compassion against the societal
injustices
and stigmas levied against same-sex-attracted individuals. No one
should be
treated as harshly as many of these people have been treated in the
past and
sometimes are today. Would society apply the same punishments and
discrimination to someone guilty of the sins of gossip, gluttony, or
pride? No.
The answer is to profess our love for all sinners, including those with
same-sex attraction, but also to point out through Scripture that we do
not
approve of their behaviour. This is what Jesus did with the rich young
man.
Jesus clearly loved him and welcomed him into His presence but taught
him that his
idolatry of material wealth would keep him from being a disciple and
inheriting
the eternal Kingdom. Jesus did not reject him but held firm to God’s
ways and
God’s truth. It was the rich young man’s choice to walk away. He was
not
excluded or rejected by Jesus; he chose to walk away. If the church
upholds its
traditional teachings on morality and is prepared to walk with those
who
struggle in any of these areas, then it will be the genuinely loving,
open
community it seeks to be and which we are commanded to be by God.
Healing in the Bible is
grace in
action—mercy in response to faithfulness. The call to hear and live the
Good
News is focussed around a call to obedience to God’s ways. Above
everything, we
need to remember that God respects the free will He gave us and will
only work
with what we give Him. A life totally surrendered to God is a life that
God can
transform. Left to our own devices, we are inclined to make a mess of
things,
and incapable of rising above sin. It is in surrendering the broken
areas of
our lives to God that healing becomes possible. The Lord is bigger than
the
traumas and shame that have caused us to act out, and ultimately, it is
when we
learn to surrender our life to God and invite the Lord into our
brokenness that
healing can begin. That is the essence of a personal relationship with
God
through Christ.
The Christian’s
theology and ethics need
not be held captive to modern science or personal conceptions. It has
been
suggested that it is a matter of justice to accept and affirm the inner
compulsions, in this case to act out same-sex attraction but in a
committed,
covenanted relationship in a way that is asserted to be analogous to
what
heterosexually oriented people do in marriage. Regardless of
orientation or
compulsion, it is a choice—to act out or not. Gossips, thieves,
pedophiles and
even murderers can claim their orientation—their inner compulsions—are
geared
to their particular sins, so how can you deny them if you are going to
affirm
another’s sin?
For all of us who
believe it is wrong in
the eyes of God, according to Scripture, there is another serious
danger if the
church does opt to dismiss the Biblical teachings on homosexuality:
what else
in the Bible by which we are seeking to live a holy life might likewise
be dismissed?
That truly undermines our faith! If what we had always believed to be
sin in
the eyes of God is no longer such, then we will ultimately get to the
point
where we ask: Why did Jesus die on the Cross? The whole foundation of
Christianity can be dislodged if we base our pastoral theology on our
human
feelings of love, compassion, and justice unless that theology
is also
grounded squarely on Biblical teachings of moral theology for holy
living.
It is not too late, but
the church has
reached a major crossroads with this issue of homosexuality. If we are
to
continue walking together to further our mission of bringing the Good
News of
salvation through Jesus Christ to this world, then we must come
together and
walk on the foundation of Biblical authority, led by the Holy Spirit.
We must
walk in humility and acknowledge that we have all missed the
mark—sinned—and
seek mutual forgiveness and understanding to seek obedience to our
calling as
God’s people.
Respectfully submitted
by
The Reverend Dr
Don Alcock, Vice Chair of The Zacchaeus Fellowship and rector of St
David’s and
St Thomas the Apostle Anglican Churches, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
and
The Reverend Dawn
McDonald, Chair of The Zacchaeus
Fellowship and Priest in charge of St Mary Magdalene Anglican Church,
Fort
Nelson, B.C., Canada