Ken Fong - CONVICTED: Is There a Place for Homosexuals in the Body of Christ? (Part 1) - 2008-04-13

Here We Stand Growing Christians That Will Endure

PLACE ? IS THERE A for HOMOSEXUALS

Another Doomed Attempt
Why even try and lay out a theological framework on one of the most pain-filled and divisive issues today?
Conflicting and often contradictory ‘explanations’ for same-sex attraction
Nature or Nurture? Creation or Choice? Spiritual warfare or divine determination? Permanent or reparable?
Where a church stands on the issue of homosexuality has, for many, become the most important litmus test of orthodoxy even as the unwillingness to address this issue head-on has caused many to feel alone, ashamed, marginalized, ostracized, and even hated.
Christians need to find biblically congruent ways both to think through this issue and behave towards those affected by it
Members of LGBT communities need to understand why some Evangelicals feel unable to endorse these other lifestyles yet feel constrained to walk together in our shared brokenness to experience the recovery of God’s wholeness thru Christ alone

conviction Part One The Traditional Christian Understanding of the Meaning of Sex & Marriage

Os Guinness
“ Convictions are more than correct beliefs. They are beliefs that should dictate our behavior.”

Framing the Issue of Sexuality
God created a gendered people with divine intent, with both sexes made “in the image of God” (Gen 1:27) and both male and female together declared “very good” (Gen 1:31)
Gen 2:18 – The first man, though he and everything was perfect, is judged incomplete by his Creator
Perfection in all other areas can’t erase divinely created human need for “the other.”
Gen 2:23-25 – God creates the first woman and the man recognizes the profound complementarity of this new partner. This union of husband and wife is tied to passionate love and deep communion (Song of Songs; Prov 5:18-19).

“… Christian rejection of homosexuality is rooted here, in the creation story and its assumption of the intentionality of God in designing one male and one female to be united in permanent union. This vision of sexuality in marriage stands in stark contrast to an individualistic ethos of the type that permeates contemporary secular psychology and that celebrates human autonomy and a presumed capacity to shape and form our erotic choices in the absence of transcendent and fixed meaning and purpose for our sexuality .”
Jones and Yarhouse, Ex-Gays? , IVP 2007:48

“The Two Will Become One Flesh”
The foundational teaching of the Christian tradition anchoring its view of marriage. But there are other meanings besides one-flesh union attached to full sexual intimacy:
Prospect of bearing children (Gen 1:28)
Physical pleasures of sexual union (Prov 5), linking eroticism explicitly with romantic love and intimacy (Song of Songs)
Apostle Paul declared to married couples that fulfillment of sexual need is a legitimate function they should provide for the other (1 Cor 7:1-6)

The Always-on Power of Sex
Inevitably, sexual intercourse unites a woman and a man in a one-flesh unity that forms the argument against adultery, all sexual union outside of marriage (1 Cor 6:12-20), and divorce (Matt 19:1-10).
Bible says that sexual intercourse has a determinate or fixed meaning, regardless of the intentions of the participants in the act.
So biblically-speaking, there is no such thing as “casual sex,” even if that’s the couple’s intention.
Sexually intimate acts have a fixed meaning: the establishment of a one-flesh union between the partners, e.g., 1 Cor 6:12-17.

God Is Excited about Sex!
In the context of marriage, the Bible clearly states that sexual intercourse is a created good that “should serve the wholly positive purposes in marriage of one-flesh union and also reproduction, pleasure and need gratification (Heb 13:4; 1 Tim 4:1-5).” (Ibid)
Marriage is an earthly model for the relationship between the risen Christ and his “bride” (Church, Eph 5:25-33).
Formed by sexual union and by public exchange of vows of fidelity
Engaging in sexual union with one’s spouse continually renews and reaffirms the covenant between God, husband and wife

Tainted Longings
In Christian theology, humanity is seen as retaining the creational goodness but it’s also seen as “totally depraved”
Doesn’t mean we are always as evil as we can be
Means that every aspect of our human existence reflects our brokenness and rebellion against God
Hasn’t erased the primal goodness of God’s image in us all, but it infects or conditions all of human experience
SEXUAL LONGINGS : grow out of our commonly shared and fundamentally good capacities for union, love and pleasure but are also tainted with sinful tendencies like selfishness, sensuality, subjugation, or violence

Morally Impaired People
Our sinful brokenness not only impairs our ability to be as good as we should be, but also impairs our desire to be good and even our ability to see and understand what is good.
Not only do we fail to be good
We also do not fully desire good or even recognize good
This is why God placed explicit moral boundaries on sexual behavior
Doesn’t trusts us to instinctively have the right moral compass; left objective instructions in the Bible

Consistent Convictions
If all forms of human sexuality are ‘broken’ and sin will often misdirect our sexual desires, then why should homosexuals who want to ignore God’s moral laws get a ‘pass’ when we won’t give ‘passes’ to sinful straight people?

Is there a place in the church for Christians who have same-sex attraction?
Christ’s Church should be the place where the salvation of the world can begin, where the world is the way God has always wanted it to be.
For people to hear the true story that begins with a loving, holy God creating us in Their image and the world for good
To learn how sin and evil entered the picture, distorting God’s original intentions but what God did thru Jesus to restore those intentions
To gather together as a Faith Village to embody that hope and to be sent together into the world to help heal it.

“ We Need to Talk”
Christians on Social Issues (C.S.I.) is sponsoring a forum on homosexuality and the API evangelical church.
Three old friends (2 straight and 1 gay) will engage in a conversation that needs to happen more often in order to dispel ignorance, quell fear and hatred, and foster greater understanding.
Even if we can’t agree on everything.
Saturday, May 10, 7-9:30 PM

http://nextgenerasianchurch.com	32
http://sdunited.org	4
http://www.netvibes.com	1

Ken Fong - CONVICTED: Is There a Place for Homosexuals in the Body of Christ? (Part 1) - 2008-04-13

by ebcla on Apr 14, 2008

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 37

Statistics

Ken Fong - CONVICTED: Is There a Place for Homosexuals in the Body of Christ? (Part 1) - 2008-04-13 — Webinar Transcript