The problem with Citing Scripture

Citing references from scripture is sure tricky. Now don’t misunderstand me as saying that scripture references are unimportant. I am just a little bit wary because I’ve seen too many conversations degenerate into a process of one-upmanship where one person (or caucus) tries to pile up more references than the other, thus mistakenly believing that the bigger pile proves their point of view. We have far too many examples of how this method delays and sometimes closes down the discernment process, be it about racial justice, women’s rights, or nowadays the question of full participation of our gay, lesbian, and transgendered colleagues, so many of whom are sons and daughters of our church and who have suffered quietly for so many years while we throw scripture verses at each other.

When our family lived and worked in Chicago some 20 years ago, I regularly attended the yearly ad-hoc retreat of persons associated with the Northern Illinois Conference who were John Wesley fanatics like me. I remember one late night conversation between several of us and Stanley Hauerwas, where when the question of scripture and homosexuality came up, he readily admitted the ambiguity around this issue, but he continued by saying that for him he finally could not discount the witness and compassionate service shared by his gay and lesbian colleagues and friends. Sadly that was 20 years ago.

Paul is often quoted as condemning homosexuality and I won’t argue with that. Leviticus condemns cheeseburgers. Where I have been driven to take a second look at Paul has to do with the fact that in the sheer face of his experience, like Hauerwas, Paul was willing to re-image the tradition. Righteousness was clearly associated with the following the details of the Jewish law, but clearly Paul could not finally discount the witness and compassionate service shared by his Gentile colleagues and friends and therefore he was willing to re-think the meaning of righteousness in his age. Today, we celebrate Paul’s witness as a prime example of a willingness to faithfully discern what God (Yahweh) requires of us in our times.

Let me call your attention to the attached article by Wendy Farley , Homosexuality and Gospel Christianity as it addresses this concern. (See upper left - What Others Are Saying)

Grace and Peace,

John