The elephant of Genesis

About a month into my ministry, 14 years ago or so, I got a call from a woman, ex-military, who wanted me to baptize her child. After we had talked for a while about the United Methodist view of baptism (everyone has to have a view, you know), she said there might be a problem. She said she lived with someone and wasn't married.

I told her that we would work around that. I told her everyone sins, but I didn't want that held against his child so if she wasn't comfortable with church, I said her grandmother (the connection to my church) would come forward and speak for the child, saying she would make sure the child was brought up in Christian manners and ways, I would still do the baptism. She agreed that would probably be alright.

I asked her if she had thought about coming to church. She said there would be a problem. I said no one would have to know she was living with someone. That was her business, she said. There was silence on the other end of the phone. She then said, well, I'm living with another woman and I think they might know.

I paused only slightly, then said, "Well, I still believe church would be the best place for you to be, and we would welcome you."  I never met her after that phone conversation. I meant that then, and I mean that now.

If we're going to empty our churches of all sinners, we're going to empty our churches. One sin, I believe the Bible teaches, is not greater than others. We all sin.

The difference, I believe (and let me stress, I believe) is some groups are trying to say the Bible doesn't teach that their actions, or their sins, isn't sin. I disagree, as is my right as a Christian believer and reader of scripture. I accept that I committed sin when I was divorced and married another woman, for example. I do not try to argue that wasn't sin any longer because culture has changed. I accept my sin, and I have prayed for forgiveness and believe I have been forgiven.

I guess it's time to get the elephant out of the room, as they say, now that our president has made his declaration public. I would not and will not marry two persons of the same sex. That doesn't mean I don't believe in their civil rights or I condone any actions against them or anyone else. Doesn't mean I don't understand the possibility of love between two persons of the same sex. That is what it is. But it does mean I won't do this because I believe they commit an action that is contrary to what the Bible teaches, and I know all the contradictory discussion, all the debate about the various texts both Old Testament and New.

I know what I'm saying and why, and the fact is that I believe Jesus believed, and I used the quotation each time I do a marriage, that passage from Genesis where God says, "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one."

I know and understand that I am basing my beliefs on a line of scripture that comes from the same section where there is a talking reptile. I understand I'm basing my beliefs on a book of the text that talks of creation in seven days, and man being created from dust, and man naming all animals but finding no time to name dinosaurs. I understand all that. And I still say a man is united with his wife and they become one. I do not see where believing that means I hate others.

That is my right, as a pastor of the United Methodist Church, till it's not. It does not, I believe, make me a bigot or backward or whatever the latest thing shouted from the left. It does not mean I do not love my gay brothers and sisters, and I am not condemning them to an eternal separation from God. I also believe that scripture teaches that if one believes in Jesus Christ, believes he was raised from the dead, confesses that he is Lord openly, repents of his or her sin, and is baptized, one will be saved. It is the acknowledgement and turning from sin that is an active component of that formula. It is not enough to believe. The Bible says the demons believe Jesus is the Christ.

It does not mean I do not sin, as I've said before. It means I'm better yesterday than I was the day before and with Christ's help, I might be better today. It means I'm trying to eliminate all those messy things I still do though I do not want to do them. It does not mean I simply say they're not sin because the culture changed.

I've never written this, and if I offend any of my liberal readers (if I have any liberal readers), I'm sorry I offend but not sorry that I feel the need to write this. When in the same story our vice president is described as devout Catholic and in favor of gay marriage, I can't help but wonder where we're headed.