The Word revealed and revealing

Imagine a conversation about the Bible’s views on same-sex attraction between two very different people; a conservative  literalist and a liberal interpretationist

The liberal asks, “Do you believe in the inerrancy of the Bible as it is interpreted today? Including Leviticus 18:22?”  The conservative says, “Of course, “Thou shalt not lieth with mankind as with womankind.  It is an abomination.”  The liberal asks, “And you believe that to be the truth? Beyond interpretation and application of contextual understanding?”  The conservative asserts,”Yes, of course! I interpret no nuance or context there.” “Ok” then challenges the liberal, “What if they do it standing up?  There’s nothing about that, is there?” “Well,” says the conservative “lieth means…” “Aha!” says the liberal, “there you go interpreting!”

Humorous as it may sound, these conversations, or ones just like them, happen all too often between conservatives and liberal Christians and non-Christians when we talk about the GLBTQ community. 

The conservative and liberal are two culture warriors fighting over an inch of unforgivable land. Neither understands nor respects the other and both sides denigrate the Word.   They argue between themselves for their own ends: Who’s right (going to Heaven) and who’s wrong (going to Hell).

Yet this kind of discourse is sinful in its own right because the desire to be “righteous” is exceeded by the desire to be “right”. It simply takes God out of the discussion and reduces the dialogue to the semantics of interpretation and the interpretation of semantics. It is not a glorification of God, but rather a glorification of self.

What if the two instead talked about the arc of the Bible? The journey God’s people take from Creation, to settlement in the Promised Land and then in the Exile.  What if they talked about the New Covenant and how each of them is a broken and shattered piece of God’s greater work of salvation? What if they each recognized each other as child of God? What if they each glorified the spark of Divinity that burns equally in each of them?  What if they each realized that we are not called “Levites” or “Romans” or “Corinthians” but Christians?  Followers of the Christ, who is the New Law? What if they revel in the certainty of the Fall and celebrate mystery of Grace?  

That kind of conservation would begin with an invitation like, “walk with me brother/sister. I am not sure where are led, but I know who leads us. And we will not be lost”.  It is a conversation that is rooted in faith and trust and not one rooted in semantics and interpretation. It is one in which the participants accepts the unrevealed authority of God to triumph and allows their own perceptions of their own authority to die.

The Holy Spirit has led the Church out of many wildernesses before: Prescription for circumcision and the adherence to kosher law. Justification by faith alone versus justification by acts, abolitionism, simony and the practices of indulgences, the central role of women as leaders in the Church, just to name a few.  In each case, the Holy Spirit has led and we have followed.  None of those who entered into those conversations ever saw the end of them.  Yet in those conversations, the Holy Spirit triumphed and revealed itself as the eternally present element of the Trinity.  One that leads in generations, not in single arguments. Do we have the same faith to listen to It again and set aside everything else?  

In Luke 24:45, part of the lesson read in my church today, Jesus appears to the disciples after the Resurrection.  "then, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures". Each of them knew the laws of Moses and the history of their people. But even the disciples had to have their hearts opened to understand the Scriptures and they needed a very real, very present, and a very risen Christ to do it.  May Christ be with you in all of your journey with scriptures.