Linkathon!

Duane Arnold says:

“When a liberal church goes pro-gay, we yawn. When an Assemblies of God congregation announces it’s “gay affirming”, we wake up.”

I wish that we did not have to deal with this issue… but we are faced with it every day. I think part of the issue is that despite a 2000 year tradition of Moral Theology, we have failed in affirming a consistent sexual ethic. I do not hold to an inerrant or fundamentalist view of scripture. Yet many who do seem to be very accepting of divorce while condemning the LGBTQ community. Additionally, they often choose not to “see” couples who are living together without benefit of marriage. Beyond that, the explosion that we have seen in allegations of sexual misconduct by clergy – often covered up or even, upon occasion, excused – should help us to see that there is clearly something that has gone wrong.

We cannot condemn one behavior while excusing or overlooking another. If we do, we should rightly be condemned as hypocrites. On the other hand, I’ve not noticed a movement to “affirm” divorce, premarital sex, extra-marital sex, or sexual misconduct by clergy… at least not yet. We live in a broken world. Part of that brokenness involves relationships. It seems to me that we need to arrive at a consistent ethic, but perhaps not one that affirms the brokenness we see around us.