Understanding God...or not
This past Sunday I came across and intersting article in the Points section of the Dallas Morning News about Hilaire Kallendorf, a 31-year old Texas A&M Scholar who just won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities. This award is given to a person whose work in the humanities shows extraordinary promise and has a significant public component. Kallendorf devotes her life as a scholar to the study of religious experience in human culture. She was to receive the Hiett Prize last night at a cermony in Dallas.
One of the quotes from Sunday's article keeps finding its way to the forefront of my mind, so perhaps if I share it, it will retreat to the recesses and I can go on with my life.
Kallendorf said, "...that's what religion does: fills in the spaces between what we can understand and what we can't. Personally, I wouldn't want to believe in a God I could fully understand. Then he wouldn't be God."
It's strange to think that we'll probably never have a complete understanding of God, and yet we devote an incredible amount of time and energy attempting to do that very thing. At least I do. I study, pray, analyze, act, and think in ways that might draw me nearer to God, knowing full well that I won't reach full understanding in this lifetime. I doubt that I even achieve full understanding in each situation that I end up in. But it's in my nature to try, and it's in God's nature to beckon me. At least with those two components in place I can rest assured that I will understand as much as I'm capable of.
Kallendorf is right about religion filling in the gaps. Organized religion today seems to be marketed as something that can comfort us, help us through times of trouble, keep us safe, and elevate us to a place where we might have a better view of God. And it often comes with a set of preconceived ideas about what God thinks, which simplifies our personal journeys of faith. If someone else tells us what God thinks about certain things, we don't have to waste valuable time discovering those positions on our own.
The most obvious thing that becomes attributed to God is the idea that God is disgusted by homosexuality. This is just one way to attempt to make sure that everyone's image of God stays as neat and orderly, and as understandable as possible. Since homosexuality is not something all humans understand, the same inability to understand has become attached to God. But since none of us will never achieve a full understanding of God, isn't it logical to assume that there will also be things on earth that can't be understood? Perhaps homosexuality is one of them.
God never said everything in creation would be explained perfectly, and frankly God doesn't owe anyone an explanation. As gay Christians, we are products of God's creativity. Perhaps as we stake further claim to God even in the face of adversity, broader understanding will come.
Kallendorf doesn't say in the article how she feels about homosexuality as it relates to Christianity, but she does make an interesting comment about where Christianity itself stands at this moment in history. She says we're seeing a return to conscience, or re-enchantment, which includes "a return to the sacred in very odd and unexpected ways."
Perhaps gay and lesbian people are just odd and unexpected enough have a dramatic impact.
One of the quotes from Sunday's article keeps finding its way to the forefront of my mind, so perhaps if I share it, it will retreat to the recesses and I can go on with my life.
Kallendorf said, "...that's what religion does: fills in the spaces between what we can understand and what we can't. Personally, I wouldn't want to believe in a God I could fully understand. Then he wouldn't be God."
It's strange to think that we'll probably never have a complete understanding of God, and yet we devote an incredible amount of time and energy attempting to do that very thing. At least I do. I study, pray, analyze, act, and think in ways that might draw me nearer to God, knowing full well that I won't reach full understanding in this lifetime. I doubt that I even achieve full understanding in each situation that I end up in. But it's in my nature to try, and it's in God's nature to beckon me. At least with those two components in place I can rest assured that I will understand as much as I'm capable of.
Kallendorf is right about religion filling in the gaps. Organized religion today seems to be marketed as something that can comfort us, help us through times of trouble, keep us safe, and elevate us to a place where we might have a better view of God. And it often comes with a set of preconceived ideas about what God thinks, which simplifies our personal journeys of faith. If someone else tells us what God thinks about certain things, we don't have to waste valuable time discovering those positions on our own.
The most obvious thing that becomes attributed to God is the idea that God is disgusted by homosexuality. This is just one way to attempt to make sure that everyone's image of God stays as neat and orderly, and as understandable as possible. Since homosexuality is not something all humans understand, the same inability to understand has become attached to God. But since none of us will never achieve a full understanding of God, isn't it logical to assume that there will also be things on earth that can't be understood? Perhaps homosexuality is one of them.
God never said everything in creation would be explained perfectly, and frankly God doesn't owe anyone an explanation. As gay Christians, we are products of God's creativity. Perhaps as we stake further claim to God even in the face of adversity, broader understanding will come.
Kallendorf doesn't say in the article how she feels about homosexuality as it relates to Christianity, but she does make an interesting comment about where Christianity itself stands at this moment in history. She says we're seeing a return to conscience, or re-enchantment, which includes "a return to the sacred in very odd and unexpected ways."
Perhaps gay and lesbian people are just odd and unexpected enough have a dramatic impact.
posted by Jen Austin at 10:41 AM
8 Comments:
I read your post today and it was interesting, I to am a Christian, and I think God is who He is regardless of what we make Him. And yes we will never fully know or understand Him or a lot of things in this world. God however has revealed to an extent who He is through Scripture and through nature itself. And the Bible does state that God doesn't approve of homosexuality or any other sin for that matter. The problem with homesexuality or any sin that involves our bodies, such as adultery or fornication is that it can destroy our relationship with God because we are misusing the His temple, our body. We are to put these desires aside and live for Christ not continue to live in sin.
As has already been stated, God loves homosexuals. God does not, however, love homosexuality. For instance, God says, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable" (Leviticus 18:22) and "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads" (Leviticus 20:13). God views homosexuality as "detestable" or, as in the King James version of the Bible, "an abomination". Notice also that in the Old Testament, the Mosaic law required that people who committed homosexual acts were to be put to death. Of course, no true Christian today would expect a homosexual to be put to death. CHRIST CAME TO FREE US FROM THE BONDAGE UNDER THE LAW. However, anyone who tries to assert that homosexuality is not opposed to God's will, or that homosexuality is okay with God, must go through some severe scriptural contortions to try to prove their point.
Some may say that God only viewed homosexuality as a sin in the Old Testament, but because of Christ's sacrifice, it is okay today. Again, scripture has to be twisted in order to come up with this understanding. Romans chapter one makes it clear that homosexuality is still detestable to God: "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (Romans 1:26-27). Notice that these verses equate homosexuality with "shameful lusts", "unnatural [relations]", "indecent acts", and "perversion". Some argue that the verses preceding these say that the people were given over to homosexuality because they did not worship God, but that homosexuality is okay for those who worship God. However, if you read the verses as stated, it is clear that homosexuality is not only a result of worshiping the creation rather than worshiping God, but it is in its own sense worshipping the creation rather than worshipping God.
With the homosexual who claims to be a Christian, they should be shown that, from a biblical standpoint, from God's point of view, homosexuality is a sin. Homosexuality is a sin that destroys their relationship with God, and it is a sin that will destroy their lives.
It's not me saying it but God's Word, and I can't relate to your situation, but I can relate to sin because I to am a sinner and struggle daily to live a life pleasing to Him.
God Bless
Hmmmm.
So if we're going to take the Bible (and Leviticus specifically) literally, word for word, it's only "detestable" for men to be with men?
I think Jen's in the clear then.
Unless there's an oversight to not include women, which seems silly as God doesn't forget things like rules and death-worthy offenses.
Or can the Bible imply things like women are included in this denunciation? Because if we're going to open up the implications door, there are many things that could be construed from these and other passages.
Jen, as always, excellent post. You inspire me daily.
(Oh, and if you'd rather I not start this one your blog, feel free to delete this. No hurt feelings or anything.)
i like the idea of being dramatic enough to have an impact. I also enjoy the irony that my simple life, which has as a goal, giving love might be considered at all "dramatic"...as though God ever meant love to be controversial. I defy anyone to say that God frowns on any love. If they do say that, they dont get it.
I particularly defy those who wont see a document (beautiful and full of much good though it may be) written, edited and compiled by regular human guys with politics and agendas in mind to deny the truth of Love as an absolute for the sake of tradition and what that document says.
To them i say, see Shakespeare: There are more things in heaven and earth [] than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
thanks for the article
This one is for "whinger" no one is in the clear and that's the problem! I to include myself in this because I struggle with sin just as everyone does. But when I sin or anyone else sins I'm going to call it what it is...this doesn't change my love for people or for myself, or even that I look down on anyone for any particular sin... sin is sin. From stealing a pen from work to robbing a bank. There are no degrees, just sin. And I can't say that Jen or you or myself are clear of that.
How do you tell whether something is sin or not? Look for the fruit of the Spirt. If there is goodness, kindness, gentleness, love, faithfulness etc. it is not sin. It is impossible for sin to produce these things. Can homosexuality be sinful? Absolutely. Just look at same-sex child molesters. But a homosexual orientation is not sinful by nature. It depends what you do with it.
You're right Nena. Sin is an obstacle that seperates the sinner from God and it can destroy that relationship. I've mentioned the biblical passages you refer to in previous blogs so I'm not going to dive in here. But homosexuality does not seperate us from God. In fact, the more I've embraced the truth about who I am, the closer I've grown to God. My partner and I go to church, have Bible studies, and talk about God incessantly. And our relationship with each other and with God thrives as a result.
When I gossip about someone, it comes back to bite me. Bad things happen. That's sin. When I love my same sex partner, the number of good things that stem from it are too numerous to count. God is alive in me as a lesbian, alive in my lesbian relationship, and concerned not with the ways in which we love one another, but with the things that grow out of that love. Are we kind? Generous? Faithful? It's the heart that matters. Not only does this mean that homosexuality is not sin, but it makes it completely irrelevant in the grand scheme.
Jen,
First I would like to thank you for writing again. Believe me that I like to read what people believe about God and his Word. Do you believe the Bible is God's Word? If you do, which I believe that you do. Then we as Christian can't pick and choose only the verses that we like and use them to condone what we do. We can make the Bible say anything we want it to, that's how most of the cults get started. We are to view the Bible as a whole and view verses in light of other verses to get the complete and full meaning. I read a quote once that stood out... "whole Bible makes a whole Christian"
We are no longer under the law because Christ came to fullfil it, and he has freed us and we are no longer slaves to it. This does not mean however, that we are to ignore what the Bible and the law teaches us. It simply means that we won't be judge by it when we die. And that now we have the promise of the Holy Spirit to help us walk in the light.
How do you avoid the other verses, included in the New Testament that do not condone homosexuality?
I also don't see how other Christians only choose to bash and condem homosexuals using the Bible, but they don't choose to read the other verses where it tells us to love one another...
Nena -
I absolutely believe the Bible is God's word. I believe God inspired each of the Bible's authors and that they wrote the chapters using that divine inspiration in tandem with their own perspectives. The authors were humans, and as humans they addressed the culture of the time as they saw it.
That doesn't mean what they said is not applicable today. Of course it is. But when it comes to gray areas in the Bible (and there are many), I think you have to take cultural bias into account.
Just one example of a gray area in the Bible - Genesis 1 and 2. Two different accounts of the creation story, each varying slightly from the other. Chapter One says God created animals, then Adam, then Eve in that order. Chapter Two says God created Adam out of the dust of bare ground, then animals, then Eve. If the Bible were flawless and literal, wouldn't God have fixed the inconsistency? If the Bible is to be taken literally, which of these accounts are we to believe?
I don't "avoid" any Bible verses. I've been over all of them a hundred times, and I still don't find the Bible to be anti-gay. The New Testament verses where Paul says things like "homosexual offenders will not inherit the kingdom of heaven," and "God gave them over to their shameful lusts" address things in the culture of the day, like temple prostitution and older men keeping younger boys, and does nothing to address homosexual orientation as we know it. Paul was not talking about two same sex partners who stayed home on Saturday nights and fell asleep on the couch watching Blockbuster movies. Paul was adressing true sexual perversion.
I could go on and on. But I want it to be clear that I'm not trying to pick and choose which verses I like and which ones I don't. While I may not take the Bible literally, I do take it extremely seriously. I just don't think we all have to see it from the same angle in order to be moved by it.
Thanks Jen!! =)
I could write another long comment, but like you said there are so many arguments, I guess we will know the true meaning of a lot of thenigs when we get to heaven, some of us will find the right ones now or we might be wrong. We are all in search of the truth. Regardless, it's been very interesting talking with you and I'm sure I'll see you in heaven one day! =)
God Bless
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