|
|
|
Accepting Evangelicals
Copy of Letter Published in the Church
of England Newspaper 19th February 2004. |
| Dear Sir
| | As an evangelical
clergyman and member of General Synod, I am becoming increasingly disturbed that the variety
of evangelical attitudes on homosexuality is not being adequately expressed.
| | From Christian
Unions to Oxford University OICCU to Trinity College Bristol, I am an Evangelical. I believe
in the authority of Scripture, I am passionate about the Gospel, and my greatest desire in
ministry is to see people come to Christ.
| | But over the years I
have become increasingly alarmed by the way in which Evangelicals like myself, have been told
to regard homosexuality. As a result, I am no longer willing to be counted as part of the
opposition to acceptance of Gay Relationships in the Church, both from my reading of
Scripture, and from the damage which this stance is causing to the mission of the Gospel
today.
| | More to the point, I
am increasingly meeting Evangelicals who will say in private that they too, are no longer
persuaded by the traditional line on this issue, but like myself, have been reluctant to
publicly stand up and say so.
| | My position is drawn
principally from my reading of the Bible. The most significant passage is, perhaps, Romans 1.
Yet as I have read and re-read this passage I have become convinced that, far from giving us
clear direction on this issue, it does not speak to the current debate at all!
| | Taken out of
context, the verses do appear to condemn outright both gay and lesbian sexual activity.
| | But the context is
not that of devout, homosexually orientated people, seeking to live out their lives in a way
that is honouring to God, but of a rebellious, sinful people, whose only priority in life is
to satisfy their own lusts and desires in ‘godlessness and wickedness’.
| | If we believed in
that approach to gay Christians, then we would have to apply the rest of Romans 1 to them as
well. We would have to describe them as having become, “filled with every kind of wickedness,
evil, greed, and depravity… full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice”, and we cannot
describe our gay Christian brothers and sisters in Christ in this way.
| | I believe that there
is a clear and urgent need to find a way to move forward to the acceptance, at every level of
church life, of a positive gay Christian ethic of permanent, faithful, same sex partnerships.
| | I also believe the
time has come for Evangelicals who, like me, have begun to see things differently to stand up
and speak out. We need to be willing to accept different interpretations of scripture on this
issue and move on, for the sake of our gay Christian brothers and sisters and the Gospel
which we hold so dear.
| | Benny Hazlehurst
General Synod No. 267
|
|