Is the church just slow to accept change?

Question: Thanks for answering my question I know what you - and most churches think about gay marriage. But how does the public know that you aren't just "not living in the right times"? For example, the church for a long time opposed divorce, blacks, premarital sex, adultery, which you now see in even senior pastors. How does the public know that gay marriage isn't just one of these things, and the church is just on a losing slope? Is the church just slow to accept change?

Response:

I appreciate your willingness to read the answer given and to ask a further question. However, I think that you may actually be missing an important point in my responses to this whole issue. I am sure that you do understand that most Bible based Christians will be convinced that Biblical marriage is between one man and one woman, and believe that no other combination fits the definition of “marriage”. When it comes down to the issue of sexual relationship, the Bible makes it clear that the act of “having sex” is limited to this marriage relationship. Whilst homosexual sex doesn’t fit into this limitation, neither do several of the things that your question mention. Heterosexual premarital sex and adultery (2 that you mention) are just as far out of the limitation as homosexual sex (as are other things such as prostitution). What makes it wrong, is not that it’s homosexual, it’s simply that it is outside of the limitation that the Bible places on sexual practice – it actually makes no difference whether it’s homosexual or heterosexual, if it falls short of God’s standard then I believe that it is wrong. I should add here that I will not even say that it’s wrong to be attracted to people of the same sex (i.e. to identify as a homosexual). The issue is not about your sexual attraction/orientation, it’s about what you do with it. Temptation is not a sin, it’s acting on that temptation that is the problem. I am a heterosexual man, but that does NOT give me the right to practice my heterosexuality whenever and with whoever I choose – I must restrict my sexual activity to the confines of a marriage relationship. The same principle applies to a person who identifies as a homosexual, he/she is not free to practice homosexual (or heterosexual) sex outside of marriage and by that, of course, I mean Biblically defined marriage. Just as a heterosexual person must contain and control their sexual urge, so must a homosexual person. Any single person, regardless of the sexual orientation, is in the same boat (of course the same applies to married people outside of their marriage relationship).

You mention that the church opposed “blacks” for a long time – I’m not sure that your assessment is right, however I would make it very clear that there is no room in the Bible for racism of any sort. There are only two Kingdoms (two “races”, if you like) – the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness (Satan’s Kingdom). In God’s Kingdom there are people from “every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev 5:9) and we are one, united body. Wherever and whenever the church acted in a racist way, it was simply wrong and absolutely unsupported Biblically. One problem for those individual Christians who may be racist is with Jesus Himself. It is most unlikely that He was the blue eyed Caucasian that He is often portrayed as being. He was Middle Eastern, probably more likely to have olive skin than white skin.

You also raise the issue of divorce (actually, the real issue isn’t divorce, it’s remarriage after divorce). I certainly concede that there is debate within the Christian community on this issue, however there is a broad consensus that allows the “innocent” party in a divorce to remarry. It’s a very complex issue and certainly it’s true that there is no universal agreement within the Christian church on this one.

You ask if church is “on a losing slope” and simply “slow to accept change” on the issue of homosexuality. I accept that the church may be on a “losing slope” in terms of popular opinion – but so was Jesus. One minute He was hailed as a possible king, the next the very same people were demanding his execution. Popular opinion is not the governing factor here. I may appear to be slow to accept change on this issue because I will not accept change no matter how long the question is asked. Why? Because the Bible is unchanging, it is God’s Word and will never be altered simply to appease human whim or fancy. So yes, public opinion may change and the church may find itself in the minority on issues such as this, however it simply cannot change the Word of God that has been given to us in The Bible.