I appreciate what Tim Keller has to say here about how Christians should treat homosexuals. I especially agree with him that Jesus spoke so much more about the sin of greed than about the sin of homosexuality. Let the debate begin!
My take on all this is that, for many Christians, the conversation does indeed turn into "debate" (instead of dialogue) because its encased in fear. Fear of the "slippery slope" and "trajectory" (i.e. "if we are open to change a little here, where will this lead?"). I believe this whole question of whether homosexuality is a sin comes down to hermeneutics. Christians can disagree on this, but if what Keller says is true (that the REAL sin we need to be worried about is self-righteousness), then I think we need to take a hard look at the *way* we hold our hermeneutic. My observation is that most Christians (including myself) are pretty convinced that their hermeneutic for how to read and understand the Bible is right, and everyone else is wrong. And again, a lot of it comes from fear - fear of the "slippery slope" and that it will lead you to heresy or worse. That's why it will inevitably end up as debate, and not dialogue where people can amicably disagree.
My take on all this is that, for many Christians, the conversation does indeed turn into "debate" (instead of dialogue) because its encased in fear. Fear of the "slippery slope" and "trajectory" (i.e. "if we are open to change a little here, where will this lead?"). I believe this whole question of whether homosexuality is a sin comes down to hermeneutics. Christians can disagree on this, but if what Keller says is true (that the REAL sin we need to be worried about is self-righteousness), then I think we need to take a hard look at the *way* we hold our hermeneutic. My observation is that most Christians (including myself) are pretty convinced that their hermeneutic for how to read and understand the Bible is right, and everyone else is wrong. And again, a lot of it comes from fear - fear of the "slippery slope" and that it will lead you to heresy or worse. That's why it will inevitably end up as debate, and not dialogue where people can amicably disagree.
ReplyDeleteWell said Aram. Thanks for the input and comments.
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