JESUS IF HE CHOSE PAUL WAS AS HOMOPHOBIC THEN AS HIM!
A TOP SCHOLAR SPEAKS
"The practice of same-sex relations as a sign that the human world in general
is out of joint" according to Bishop Wright.
"This out-of-jointness is the result of God allowing people to follow lust
wherever it leads—once they have lost their grip on God’s truth and, like Adam
and Eve in the garden, listened to the voice of the creature rather than the
voice of God…"
As early as 2002, in a paper shared at a conference in Oxford, Wright wrote:
“It is, of course open to anyone to say, on the basis of my argument so far,
that they regard the distinction between homosexual and heterosexual behaviour
as one of those cultural distinctives which are irrelevant in the gospel; that
homosexual behaviour simply is part of some cultures today, and that the church
must respect, honour and bless it. You will not be surprised to know that I do
not share this view. I am not an expert on current debates, and defer to two
splendid books: Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, and Robert
Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics. But I may
perhaps, as a long-time specialist on the letter to the Romans, put in my small
contribution.
Paul’s denunciation of homosexual practice in Romans 1 is well known but not so
well understood, particularly in relation to its place in the argument as a
whole. It is too often dismissed as simply firing some Jewish-style thunderbolts
against typical pagan targets; and it is regularly thought to be dealing only
with the deliberate choice of heterosexual individuals to abandon normal usage
and indulge in alternative passions. It is often said that Paul is describing
something quite different from the phenomenon we know today, e.g. in large
western cities.
This is misleading.
First, Paul is not primarily talking about individuals at this point, but about the entire human race. He is expounding Genesis 1-3, and looking at the human race as whole, so here he is categorizing the large sweep of human history as a whole – not, of course, that any individuals escape this judgement, as 3.19f makes clear.
Second, the point of his highlighting of female and male turning away from
natural usage to unnatural grows directly out of the text which is his subtext,
here and often elsewhere: for in Genesis 1 it is of course male plus female that
is created to bear God’s image. The male-plus-female factor is not of course
specific to humanity; the principle of ‘male plus female’ runs through a great
deal of creation. But humans were created to bear God’s image, and given a task,
to be fruitful and multiply, to tend the garden and name the animals. The point
of Romans 1 as a whole is that when humans refuse to worship or honour God, the
God in whose image they are made, their humanness goes into self-destruct mode;
and Paul clearly sees homosexual behaviour as ultimately a form of human
deconstruction. He is not saying that everyone who discovers homosexual
instincts has chosen to commit idolatry and has chosen homosexual behaviour as a
part of that; rather, he is saying that in a world where men and women have
refused to honour God this is the kind of thing you will find.”
EXCERPT FROM GALATIANS 1, WHERE PAUL SAYS HE LEARNED HIS GOSPEL FROM JESUS
INSIGHTS
Paul stresses that his teachings are not human opinion and the Christians true to Jesus don't care about human opinion.
It is a clear revelation so you cannot turn to Romans 1 and say Paul condemned only a type of homosexual misconduct.
You cannot call Romans 1 wrong without calling Jesus wrong.
Galatians 1:1 starts off with,
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
2 and all the brothers and sisters[a] with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to
live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you
a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I
trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be
a servant of Christ.
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not
of human origin.
12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
