“My Romney Problem” by John McWhorter, The New York Sun, August 9, 2007.
“Choosing Truth Rather Than Words” by Alan Billings, Church Times, May 25, 2007.
“Clobber Passages” by Misty Irons, musingson.com, June 7, 2007.
by Dr. Ralph Blair
A noted linguist, author of the New York Times bestseller, Losing the Race, and a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, McWhorter cannot abide “Mormonism’s starkly official revulsion at the simple fact that some humans are sexually attracted to other humans of the same gender”. He deplores the fact that Mormon opposition to homosexuality leads to “the condemnation of countless good people to either living with passionless sex or none.” So he asks: “How could someone proposing himself as the steward of our great nation concur, in 2007, with views on homosexuality which in the future will look as blinkered as witch hunting does now?” He fleshes out his argument by recalling his sadness in watching gay Mormon friends turn away from those with whom they were in love, put on forced smiles and enter sham marriages or live in lifelong loneliness.
Of course, Romney isn’t the only benighted candidate when it comes to homosexuality. But McWhorter argues that, though a gay Baptist “can fashion a certain equipoise” to handle faith and same-sex relationship, a gay Mormon can’t, for, culturally, Mormonism is an “all-encompassing way of life”. And this is why he sees Romney’s candidacy as so “thoroughly ugly”. Yet ironically, Romney’s antigay bias attracts many evangelicals who’d otherwise not vote for a candidate from what they’ve always called a “cult”.
“I conclude that we ought not to judge homosexuality according to a few passages of scripture, but in accordance with the principle of equity.” So said John Calvin. Or, so said Anglican Canon Alan Billings – deliberately misquoting Calvin to make Calvin’s own point – a point “of utmost importance for moral debate within the Church”. Calvin said exactly what the canon said he said – except that Calvin was speaking of usury. Usury is no big deal in today’s church debates, but it was a big deal in the 16th-century – as circumcision, kosher foods and Sabbath-keeping were big deals in the 1st-century, as slavery was a big deal in the 18th and 19th-centuries, as racial integration and interracial marriages were big deals in the 20th-century and as same-sex marriages are big deals now.
Billings echoes Jesus’ definitive interpretation of Torah, focusing on meaning rather than minutiae. He says: “As well as recognition that moral principles can be in conflict, there is the realization that we need ways of understanding how and why some general moral principles can override narrower – even biblical – prescriptions.” He notes: “For Calvin, the issue was this: biblical texts about usury which were framed to stop the poor falling into debt-slavery were now preventing people from borrowing to finance enterprise”. He quotes from a Calvin letter: “Our situation is quite different. For that reason I am unwilling to condemn it, as long as it is practiced with equity and charity.” Calvin invokes the idea of “a hierarchy of moral values as a result of which the more general principle of equity finds against the narrower matter of a continuing prohibition. Calvin’s overturning of an absolute ban on usury resulted in the economic development of Europe and prosperity on a previously unimagined scale.”
Choosing to be led by the clearest Word of God, rather than fixate on a few unclear words, is not only the time-honored hermeneutical choice, it is the compassionate choice of Golden Rule living. When consulted on homosexuality by several Reformed denominations, Marten Woudstra – chair of Old Testament translation for the NIV, Evangelical Theological Society president and Calvin Seminary Old Testament professor – stated: “I do not think the O.T. and N.T. texts are all that clear to warrant a strongly negative stand of the Christian church.” He emphasized “the more general question of love that is fulfillment of law and of love doing no harm to the neighbor”, concluding: “I think, as those who love the inerrant Word of God, we want to be doubly sure that we read that Word correctly.”
Misty Irons describes herself as a “straight, married with three kids, homeschooling, evangelical Christian of the Reformed variety”. Her blog, www.musingson.com, reaches out to gay people with postings filled with informed good sense and Christian grace. Anyone should be able to identify with her, “I Did Not Choose to be This Way”, and be deeply moved by her poignant account of “My Friend Buddy and the Conservative Church”. And yet, ecclesiastical leaders, with what, by now, can hardly be anything but willed ignorance, have gone out of their way to damn her Internet ministry with ruthless retaliation against her and her minister husband.
She’s saddened by the fact that gay Christians say they don’t read the Bible because of the verses many Christians use against them. She notes that these “are only six passages in the entire Bible, yet because they are cited ad nauseam with an aim to humiliate and destroy people’s sense of self-worth, most gay people I know view the Bible with anywhere from fear to outright hostility.” She challenges: “If you’re one of those demoralized people, I say go ahead and read the Bible for yourself, and don’t let those crazy fundamentalists tell you what it’s all about. They may sound like they know what they’re talking about, but believe me, they don’t.” Then, with great good humor, she quips: “Think about it. If they really know so much about the Bible, why do they keep quoting the same small set of passages over and over again?” She argues: “The whole story of the Bible is how God sets out to save sinners from himself.” This sentence can be misunderstood, but it’s jarringly and profoundly orthodox.
Irons concludes by asking: “Are you going to miss out on the ultimate story of God’s love, forgiveness and compassion for you, just because some whacked-out extremists know how to rip a handful of Bible passages out of context and throw them in your face out of hatred and cruelty? I don’t think they deserve to have that much leverage in your life. Do you?”
Scottish Old Testament scholar Robert Davidson observed: “It is possible to hide from God behind the words ‘the Bible says’”. But anyone who’s honestly open to God’s grace can see, though “through a glass darkly”, what “the Bible says.”