Homosexual preachers?
By By Craig Ziemba
Aug. 10, 2003
Bit by bit, the homosexual culture has worn down American morality like water lapping on an earthen dam. This week's announcement by the Episcopal church that an openly homosexual priest was promoted to bishop crashed like a tidal wave.
Did I miss something? Forgive me for asking such a basic question, but how did a homosexual come to be a minister in a Christian church in the first place?
Evidently, it has become necessary to state the obvious: Homosexuality is one of the lifestyles that are expressly prohibited by both the Old and New Testaments. No one of Jewish or Christian faiths, which are based upon the Scripture, can ignore this fact any more than they can ignore the prohibitions against adultery, bestiality or incest. This is not a matter of personal interpretation. It is black and white (Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-28).
Since it's impossible to logically arrive at a pro-homosexual position from the Scripture, the question really is whether or not Christians and Jews should base their doctrine on the Bible at all or on their own personal feelings. This is the struggle facing the American church.
Arguments
Listening to the arguments last week of those in favor of homosexual clergy and those opposed made this distinction clear. Those opposed to the ordination of homosexuals cited scripture as the basis for their position, while those in favor of homosexual clergy based their arguments on sociological or psychological grounds.
Homosexual activists in the church conspicuously ignore what the Bible teaches about morality and choose instead to cut and paste together a picture of a God who makes no demands or commands on how we should live. In other words, God is not to be obeyed, but remade into an image that suits our own taste. Each of us, therefore, is free to pick and choose which commandments we will keep and which we will discard as too much of an infringement on our perception of personal rights.
All of us, including preachers, are sinners who fall dreadfully short of God's standards. That doesn't mean, however, that we should put men and women who openly espouse lifestyles that are prohibited by Scripture into positions of leadership in the church. To sin is normal. To encourage others to disobey God's commandments from the pulpit and assuage guilt with false teaching is quite another.
Divinely inspired
Either the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God (II Timothy 3:16) that should be taught in the church and obeyed, or it's a collection of fables and lies that should be thrown out. The church can't have it both ways.
The events of the week should serve as a wakeup call that America's foundations of faith and family are under serious attack. Social and theological liberals are engaged in a vigorous campaign to wage a cultural war that we cannot afford to lose. Their attempts to normalize what is abnormal must be resisted with the truth.
I neither fear nor hate homosexuals. They are caught up in a lifestyle that is degrading to them and devastating to the culture around them. It's past time for churches and communities to stand up against homosexual marriages and homosexual preachers before our children grow up confused about both.
Craig Ziemba is a pilot who lives in Meridian.
