Pharisees, sin and guilt...
This post is one that the Spirit has put on my heart to write, and has been nudging me for some time to get it done. It is also one I have resisted doing, as some of what I have to say will be controversial. I tried to do this in two or three part postings, but it really needs to be all in one. As such, this will easily be the longest post I ever do. So get your bathroom needs out of the way, get some food and snacks, and get yourself comfortable. All set? Let's go then..Not quite a year ago, I had no idea I would ever have my own blog. I knew a couple of people with blogs that I followed regularly, but I really had no idea that this whole world of blogging existed. Throw in the fact that I am one who likely has little to say, and it would not be something I would have expected myself to be doing. Funny how the Spirit works sometimes, though.
At the time, issues dealing with homosexuality were in the news, almost daily it seemed. Issues concerning the ordination of gay clergy and the issue of gay marriage were at the forefront of the debate. It was on these issues, especially concerning marriage, that I felt myself drawn in. Even to the point of writing a lengthy letter to the editorial section of our newspaper.
Now, I would like to be clear on my views at the time. I have never been what I thought of as homophobic, and actually I have friends who are gay. I have, however, always viewed the homosexual lifestyle as sinful and wrong. I was well aware of all the Bible said in Leviticus and Deuteronomy concerning homosexuality. All of this was on my mind as I sat down to write. In truth, I had no objections to 'civil unions' of gays and lesbians, even if they were legally recognized. I have always believed that you cannot enforce religious beliefs on others. You need only look at countries being run by Muslim extremists to see the end result of that kind of thinking. Christianity is a choice, and to enforce my beliefs on someone else goes against the very core of choosing Christ. Laws should only be about protecting personal freedoms, property, or personal safety, not enforcing moral beliefs.
But I was incensed over the idea of gay marriage. You see, to me, marriage is something sanctioned by, blessed by, and performed in front of God. In the beginning, only churches, not governments, kept track of, and regulated, marriages. So, in my mind, I believed that while the government and courts could define legally what they would recognize as a union, they had no business even trying to tell the church what define’s marriage. It is my belief that only a ceremony performed by actual clergy, and blessed by God, actually constitutes a marriage. All those weddings done at City Hall, or in Las Vegas, are really just legally recognized unions, in that they were not truly performed in front of God, and as such, nor are they blessed by Him. Now, the government and courts had decided that they would legally define marriage, when, in truth, it is the church, and only the church, that should define marriage. And, going back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy, it was very clear what the Bible said about homosexuality. So there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that not only was a church wedding of any kind involving homosexuals wrong, but that it was an insult to God. It would be asking God to not only condone, but to bless a sinful situation. This is what was on my mind as I sat down and prepared to start writing.
But a funny thing happened. As I was ready to write, I heard that whisper, and felt that little push. Those who have felt the Spirit may know what I mean. The whisper was telling me to look at Scripture. So, I opened my bible, instinctively, turning to Leviticus first. There was that whisper again..'No, read what Jesus said..' So I turned to the Gospels and started reading. Jesus talks about the Commandments, and makes a reference to 'sexual immorality', but never actually defines it. I have been advised by more than one person with Theological schooling though, that in the original Greek text, this was referring to the Temple prostitutes of the time. So I kept reading, looking for anything dealing with homosexuality. I was finding nothing at all. Then I saw it. A short little verse that began to change my thinking. But before I tell you about it, let me tell you about Dan.
I have known Dan since we were little kids. Now, growing up, all of us who knew Dan were pretty sure that he was gay. There was no mistaking the feminine mannerisms in him. However, at that time, in the early 70’s, it was not something that was talked about. In fact the term gay was unheard of, instead replaced by much more vile names like faggot, queer, and worse.And, while we didn’t know it at the time, Dan struggled with his identity all through junior and high school. He had many relationships with girls, but they seldom lasted more than a couple weeks. He started drinking, and then moved on to doing drugs, which in itself was not unusual at that time. But then he started secretly meeting with anonymous men for anonymous encounters, and afterwards, turning to more alcohol and drugs to drown the guilt. It became a cycle for him, as we, his friends, watched him self destruct, unsure what was really going on. We did not get the whole story until he came out years later. By then, he had contracted the HIV virus, and numerous complications from his drug and alcohol use. I can state two things as fact with Dan. First, Dan was born homosexual. This was not a choice thing. This was not picked up in his home. His parents were, and still are, active in their church, as was Dan when he was a teen. I have absolutely no doubt that Dan was born homosexual. In fact, science continues to find that there are actual biological differences in the brains of homosexual persons, that they are, in truth, wired that way. Second, the HIV, liver damage, depression, and the rest was not a result of being a homosexual, but was a result of the guilt thrust upon him for being something that he couldn’t help being, something society, at the time, told him was evil and perverted. If society had not labeled what he was as so wicked, he likely would not have ended up abusing alcohol and drugs as he did, and he likely would have been in a long term relationship. Ask yourself, what would Jesus have said to him? Would Jesus have said it was better to live in guilt and shame? Isn’t guilt and shame what keeps many people from being able to worship God? When Jesus died on the cross, it was not just so we would be forgiven, but so that the guilt and shame in all of us, the guilt that keeps us from God, would be removed. Do you remember when, as a child, your parents caught you in a lie. When they questioned you, what was your natural reaction? Didn’t you look away from them, afraid to look them in the eye? It is the same in our relationship with God. We cannot look at him with guilt in our hearts. It is only when guilt is removed that we can truly turn our eyes to our Father. Dan could not change what he was, so he tried to mask the guilt with drugs and alcohol. In the end, it almost destroyed him.
So lets go back to my search. What I found had nothing to do with homosexuality. It actually dealt with the issue of divorce. In Mark 10:5-9, which are verses used quite often to condemn homosexuality, it is written;
"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
But it is the first part of the verse that I was led to see, "Moses wrote you this law..." The Old Testament does not say a lot about divorce, but what it does say is mostly in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the same texts that ban homosexuality. The implications of that statement by Jesus is that the law concerning divorce came from Moses, not God. So I asked myself; was it possible that the other laws came from Moses also?
First, let’s look at "the law". It is actually two separate laws. The first, the Ten Commandments, we all know came to Moses while he was on the mountain with God. The second part, the Covenant, came later. In the New Testament, when Jesus talks about rules to live by, he talks mostly about the Commandments. Further, in Matthew 15, when Jesus is addressing the issue of uncleanliness, which itself is from the Covenant, Jesus refers to it as a "tradition", rather than a law. In fact, Jesus spends much of his ministry speaking against many of the "laws" of the Covenant, including the laws dealing with cleanliness, fasting, and circumcision. In Matthew 23:4 Jesus says about the Pharisees and the teachers of the law; "They tie up heavy loads on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them". Jesus is laying the fault for the guilt on the Pharisees. Later, in Matthew 23: 13-14, Jesus states; "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
He is talking about the guilt the Pharisees piled on the Jews, guilt which kept them from truly worshiping God. Now, if the laws in the Covenant were just, and from God, would Jesus have blamed the Pharisees for the guilt that came from disobeying them?
As I began to consider this, I asked myself why laws would be presented as from God, even if they weren’t. I looked into Leviticus, and at the laws contained in it. There were laws on what food was clean or unclean, laws about infectious diseases, and even mildew. The law that stated a woman could not be touched while she was having her period, or the person who touched her, like the woman herself, would be unclean. People were not allowed to plant a field using two different kinds of seed. People were not to wear clothes made of two different fabrics. Men were not to cut the hair on the side of there heads, or clip their beards. Many of these laws were senseless and petty. But they had one thing in common: a price had to be paid to the temple if they were broken. See, the Levites, having received no share of the land in Israel, were given charge of the temples and ministry. They received their living from the sacrifices and offerings people were required to make. Consider then, that if the people had only the Ten Commandments to obey, the priests might have been living a rather meager life. They had an incentive to find ways to make the people feel guilty. Or, as Jesus said, "They tie up heavy loads on men’s shoulders.."
Of course, in the end, it doesn’t matter whether the laws were given to the people by God, by Moses, or by some other Levites. You see, when Jesus died on the cross, we were given a NEW Covenant, and the old one was erased. I know that some will say we honor God by obeying all His laws, yet, anytime we hold any of the laws from the old covenant over someone, we dishonor Jesus, and the sacrifice of his life, sacrificed so we would not be under the old law. Consider also, that those old covenant laws are a package. You cannot pick and choose which to follow, and which you will not. If you are going to condemn homosexuality, you must condemn those who eat pork, those who eat shrimp, lobster, crab, clams or even catfish. You must condemn anyone who wears clothes made of a cotton/polyester blend, or any other type of blend fabric. Men who cut their hair, or shave their beards will also be condemned. And if by chance, you decide to try to follow all those laws, good luck. And don’t forget to bring your offering to the nearest Jewish temple, because, in fact, you will be living according to Jewish law, not according to Christ’s law. But sadly, too many Christians today still try to live according to the old covenant, and too many churches are only too happy to encourage it. Just like the ancient Jewish priests, certain preachers and evangelists seem make their living off filling people with guilt, shame, and even hate. Yes, the Pharisees are with us, even today.
Now I know that someone out there will tell me that if the old covenant laws are gone, then it would be okay for men to have sex with children, or animals, or a host of other behaviors listed in Leviticus. But that is not so. See, Jesus gave us the laws to live by; love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor (that is, anybody you have contact with) as yourself. He also preached love, forgiveness, and sacrifice above all else. So, if a relationship is grounded in mutual love, even if it is between to people of the same sex, I believe Jesus would not condemn it, and perhaps, would even give it his blessing. And that is the one thing most people miss about homosexuality: it is very often not about sex, but about love. For those whom it is only about lust, whether homosexual or heterosexual, it could be considered sin. That would include "one night stands", prostitution, cyber sex, or the "friends with benefits" thing that seems to be popular these days.. That would especially include those who want to have sex with animals or children. Motive; love versus lust, is the key, and God will know the motive on your heart.
Then there is the one teaching Jesus seems to touch on more that any other: Do not judge others. First, there are the words in Matthew 7; "Do not judge, or you too will be judged..." Then he drives the point home in the encounter with the adulteress woman in John 8. The woman, having been caught in the act of adultery, is brought to Jesus as a test. The law (old covenant, again) says that she must be stoned. Jesus, however, turns the tables on the Pharisees, and tells them that whomever is without sin may cast the first stone. Of course, just like us, they were all sinners, and they knew it. So they all dropped their stones, and walked away. But, here is the good part. Jesus, alone now with this woman, has the authority and the power, as the Son of God, to judge this woman for her sin. Instead he asks her, "Has no one condemned you?" When she affirms that no one has, he says "Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." There is our model. If Jesus refused to judge this guilty woman, who are we to judge anyone, guilty or not?
So that’s my thoughts. I must say, this is certainly not where I started, belief wise, nor where I expected to end up. Interestingly though, it was shortly after I began to study this issue, that I began my journey into blogdom. I felt the stirring to start my own blog, to share my thoughts with anyone who would listen. I also started reading many other blogs. Although most of the blogs I read today I found through links on others, the first ones I found were completely random. And by "coincidence", one of the very first was Deb’s. Deb is a Christian. She also admits to having Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder, sometimes drinking a little too much, as well as many other of the same flaws that affect us all. Oh, she is also a Lesbian, and like my friend Dan, has known it since she was a little girl. But what really impresses me about this amazing lady, is the fact that out of all the Christian blogs I read, (and I read quite a few), she has one of the most Christ-like attitude I have seen. Even when attacked for her lifestyle by another "Christian", she reached out with love, patience, and forgiveness, even going so far as to allowing her attacker to post his/her views on her (Deb’s) blog. She has been an inspiration as I have tried to understand this whole issue. I believe she is closer to the Christian ideal than myself. Of course, I believe almost all of you are closer to that ideal than myself.
This has taken hours to write. It has gone from one part, to two parts, to three parts, and back to one part. It is the longest post I ever hope (and pray) to have to write. In truth, it could have been much longer. I invite all comments, whether you agree or not, I only ask that you be respectful. Keep in mind, I do not present this as truth, only as something the Spirit has laid on me to put out in front of you. I pray that you will receive the words in the same way I have tried to present them, that is, thoughtfully, and prayerfully .Let me leave you with this one final thought; On my judgement day, as I stand before the throne, I would rather be found guilty of doing like Jesus, and refusing to judge the sinner, than to be like the Pharisee’s, and be guilty of condemning an innocent person. May God bless each of you richly. Ken
posted by the voice @ 8:26 AM
9 comments
